Need advice for acoustic treatment in small room

[SysteX]

Hello all--

I've decided that before investing any more money on my 2-channel rig I ought to do a preliminary acoustic treatment to my room. The room itself is very small: 9' x 13' x 8' (d x w x h). Here is my current setup to give you guys an idea of the arrangement:

A few notes:
- The thing along the entire left-hand wall is a radiator. It is about 2 feet tall.

- The TV that sits on the desk doubles as a computer monitor and a TV, so about 70% of the time I am in a hyper-nearfield configuration (when I'm sitting at the desk) and about 30% of the time I am in a more typical nearfield configuration (when I am on the futon watching TV).

- The rack along the left wall is my equipment rack; it is 46" tall. The shelves along the right wall are steel shelving units; the thinner one is 54" tall, the thicker one is 68" tall.

- There is a bunked twin-sized bed above the futon. There is about 14" between my head and the bottom of the bed when sitting on the futon. This leaves about 24" between the top of the bed and the ceiling.

- The square thing in the bottom-left corner is a small fridge. There is a hanging clothes rack above it.

My current plan is to buy some GIK bass traps. Specifically, 4 x 244 and 3 x 242. The 244s are shown in red; one will sit vertically and straddle the wall-wall corner in the upper-left of the diagram. Two will straddle the wall-ceiling corner at the top of the diagram. One will be directly behind the futon. The 242s are shown in blue (in reality, they are 3.5" thick; the software I was using did not allow me to shrink them more than to 5" thick, thus they are shown thicker than they will be in real life). One will go against the wall behind my audio rack, on the left wall. The other will go against the wall behind the more narrow shelf, on the right wall.

My questions are:
- Is this even a good investment, given how sub-ideal the room size/arrangement is?

- Do you have any feedback on my tentative placement? What should I do with the third 242 (they come three in a box...)?

Thank you guys for any input!

 

[bpape]

I think that's a reasonable investment for that room. I'd likely lay it out a bit differently.

I'd do 2 of the 244's in the rear wall/wall corners like you were going to do in the front. I'd do 1 of them straddling the wall/ceiling in the front centered with your listening position and the 4th on the rear wall.

The 242's:

1 on each side wall horizontally for reflections and the last probably either up high on the rear wall or straddling the rear wall/ceiling intersection.

The biggest thing you need to do in a small room like that is to get hold of the bottom end and spread the absorbtion around in all 3 dimensions.

Bryan

 

[SysteX]

Thanks for your input. The current layout of the room prevents some of the panel placements you suggested, though. The rear wall/ceiling corner is out of the question, given that I have a bunked bed above the futon--the matress itself is only 24" from the ceiling. Putting a panel straddling the wall/ceiling corner would severly interfere with the bed placement. As a side question, do you think that having that bed above the futon provides any positive effect? Or does it just cause more problems?

Also, the rear wall/wall corners currently are occupied with things (a fridge in one corner and a very tall shelf in another)--that's the problem with such a small living space; all my stuff has to fit in the room! How much do you think I am giving up by going with a configuration that does not put panels in either of the rear corners or the rear ceiling/wall corner?

A space that is actually open is the wall/ceiling corner to the right of the futon, above the dresser. Would sticking a 244 stradling that corner help?

I suppose it might be possible to try to get rid of some stuff in the rear corners if you think there will be a significant difference by having the 244 stradling those wall/wall corners.

Again, thanks so much for your help!

 

[bpape]

Understand the cramped quarters.

What I was trying to do was to maintain symmetry up front. The single panel in the left wall/wall corner was bothering me. The rest was fine - just trying to tweak a bit.

The futon/bunk really isn't likely doing much but at least it's behind you and pretty much centered.

Bryan

 

[SysteX]

Well I've gone ahead and ordered 4 x 244 and 3 x 242... now if only GIK would call for my CC info (in all fairness, I ordered on Friday afternoon, so I'll give them a call on Monday morning). I'll post an update once they get here and I've set them up.

 

[bpape]

Sorry for the delay.

Glenn had to go out of town on short notice to visit his uncle who is very ill - and he is the next of kin to him. I believe everything is caught up now. If not, PM me a way to contact you and I'll take care of it.

Bryan

 

[SysteX]

I thought I would update this thread in case anybody actually reads it. Bryan was extremely helpful in sorting out some credit card issues and despite Glen being out of the office, he was able to get the panels shipped the very next day. They are supposed to arrive tomorrow and I can't wait. Thanks again Bryan!

 

[the grunt]

I for one am following your thread. I have been considering room treatments for my small room. Just trying to balance the cost/benifits so your experience is apreciated.

 

[bpape]

You're quite welcome - glad we got it sorted out. Let me know if you need any assistance when you get everything.

Bryan

 

[SysteX]

I thought I would post some pictures now that I have them roughly where I want them. Of course, I'm going to need to experiment a bit with the placement over the coming weeks, but so far I'm really liking what I'm hearing--the bottom end is cleaned up a bit and the highs are not "ringing" like they used to. I still have to decide if I'm going to keep one of the 244s in the front-left corner, or if it will go at the wall-ceiling intersection above my monitor, next to the last 244 (that I still need to mount). Anyways, I can't say enough how happy I am with this investment--definitely the best $500 I've spent in quite a while on my rig.

And lastly, the overall view from the sweet spot...

 

[bpape]

If you can go front left and front right corners - I'd do that. If not, I'd go for symmetry and put it up at the wall/ceiling intersection straddling that corner over the monitor.

Bryan