Recommend my treatment

[DrunkenWolf]

People keep saying that acoustic treatments make a big difference-more than they were expecting. I have a choice this year between adding two monoblocks to my Yamaha 2600 to drive my Axiom M80s and adding some room treatment. The message seems pretty consistent that treating the room will be the biggest upgrade.

It seems that people like to give recommendations for room treatment-who would I be to deny you the opportunity to give me some recommendations for my room before I go spend my hard earned money on acoustic treatment. (and let's be honest, I've only logged a few hours of internet research)

Here is a view of the room.

The primary listening position is low to the ground on bean bag chairs. I also spend some time listening to music on the chase lounge in the corner.

My thoughts are to do this:
1 GIK tri traps in each front corner.
1 GIK 244 above the tri traps in each front corner
1 GIK 244 in the corner above the chase lounge.
1 GIK 242 on the each wall near the speakers in the front of the room (I'm guessing this is were the first reflection point will be from the bean bags)
1 GIK 242 on the back wall above the chase lounge.

I'm open to other suggestions. I'm also curious-would I be better off moving my speakers closer to the television? I don't mind rearranging the front part of the room.

 

[Glenn Kuras]

I would say that is pretty much on the money to me. Most rooms may need more bass trapping, but from what you have listed it is "ONE HECK OF A START".
Maybe down the road we can talk you into our new diffuser the D1 for the back

I am going to email Bryan to see if he might have a couple ideas also.

Glenn

 

[bpape]

I think overall that's a good strategy. I would add another 244 straddling the wall/ceiling intersection either on the rear wall by the chase or centered on the front wall.

I also think that moving the speakers a little closer together will help minimize some bass response irregularities. However, I wouldn't move them too much since you're back pretty far from them in relation to how far apart they are.

Bryan

 

[DrunkenWolf]

Thanks guys-I was thinking of moving the speakers because of how close they are to the side walls. The pictures might be deceptive-the bags are only about 3-4 feet in front of the speakers-the dimensions of the room are 19Lx11Wx9H. My dilemma is that with my current arrangement I'm stuck putting those speakers pretty much right next to the TV or pretty much right next to the wall. I might have to move the sub and computer station somewhere else in the room (again!)

What is this diffusor you mention? I didn't see anything on your website. I fear that a diffusor might be hard to get into the decor. If you guys can make a diffusor with a tetris motif I might be interested-the room is video game themed and that would fit right in.

 

[Glenn Kuras]

The new diffuser (D1) will be hitting the website in about 2 or 3 days so you can take a look then and see if it would fit the look.. I will post when it is up and running on the website.

If the speakers are that close one trick is to place a panel on each side wall right where the speaker is. I had the some problem you do and that seem to clean up the sound stage very nicely.

Glenn

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

As a thrilled GIK customer myself....I think you're headed down the correct path.

I think a panel on the front wall (hung horizontally above & front-cent behind the tv) would be an excellent idea. Of course, you'll need to rearrange your picture frames, but that's besides the point

In my book.... Glen is da'man....

.......and no, this is not a paid advertisement. LOL

His treatments have made a huge improvement in my HT, and I highly recommend you treat yourself to a "room upgrade".

 

[Glenn Kuras]

In my book.... Glen is da'man....

.......and no, this is not a paid advertisement. LOL

Now that made my day!!

Glenn

 

[DrunkenWolf]

I got my panels today. I ordered a 2 tri-traps, 2 244's, and 3 242's.

Let's just start off by saying that this has been a bad day. My wife's car was broken into this morning and one of my cats broke a tooth. The money I wistfully spent on acoustic panels suddenly wasn't 'extra' money anymore. I was mentally prepared to send these things back if they didn't make a noticeable difference. I was kinda hoping that they didn't to be honest.

The boxes for these things are big. Go figure. It was obvious what was in each box. The tri traps were in a square box. The 242's and 244's were marked with the number of panels in the box.

So I opened the box with the tri-traps. Remember-it's been a rough day for me. The build quality is 'DIY' quality. Which is to say, far better than I could do, but not so good that you can't point little cosmetic flaws. And those little flaws fed my desire for low expectations. I heave ho'd the tri traps into the corners.

Then I opened the box with the '3' on top, presumably the 242's. I pulled two out and set them at the first reflection points. I decided to turn some music on while I finished the room.

I've been listening to 'MC Frontalot' recently-calls his style 'nerdcore hiphop'. Amusing songs and he's talented. Perhaps not the most obvious choice for critical listening, but I wasn't done yet. I sat down 'just for a sec' to see if could hear no difference just like I was expecting.

Wow.

Seriously-I thought people were overstating the improvement that a couple of panels makes. This was the audio equivalent of going from 480p to 720p. The resolution of the sound changed. The highs are more detailed than they were before. A LOT more detailed. The lows are more detailed as well-the bass line on the track 'This Old Man' has an extra note note-before the treatment both bass hits melded into one. Amazing.

I also played GrandFunk Railroad's "Closer to Home". I was talking to my wife and out of the corner of my ear I noticed that I could suddenly hear every individual string on the guitar plucked at a level of clarity I previous couldn't imagine.

I've also been through the Blue Man Group, Dire Straits, The Kinks, and watched a few scenes from Monsters Inc; As I'm posting this I'm giving Gov't Mule a quick listen. I managed to get a 242 on the back wall as well, and I still have 3 more 242's to hang-they accidentally sent me two boxes of 242's instead of one of 244's and one of 242's. This actually works out to my benefit-the 3 242's are worth more than the 2 244's, and I can treat one more corner.

These things aren't going back.

It's bed time. I need to figure out where to install the remaining panels tomorrow. I think I'm getting to the point of diminishing returns.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Show us some pictures!

 

[DrunkenWolf]

When I'm done I'll post updated pics Probably tomorrow sometime.

 

[bpape]

Sorry for the shipping error.

Glad to hear you like the improvement. It really is some of the best money you can spend on improving your sound.

As for the look, I don't think they're bad at all. No, there are no fancy wood/metal frames, it's not ultra expensive cloth, etc. We choose to put the money into performance and keep prices reasonable. We could certainly make them look drop dead gorgeous but then the price would double or triple and fewer people would benefit.

Bryan

 

[DrunkenWolf]

No problem on the shipping error-it's actually for the best, and Glenn offered to fix it (or course)

The price was right, and I'd prefer the more utilitarian look over spending more money to get frillies, it was just part of the experience on Monday and I figured I'd share. I think I described the look as 'minor cosmetic defects'; once installed you have to get right up next to them to notice. One major improvement you could make, however, is to improve the stability of the tri traps-I had considered buying 4 and stacking two in each corner. That wouldn't have worked they way these are designed now without some sort of additional support.

The important thing is that the improvement in clarity has really knocked me off my feet.

Now, for the next step. I have the tri traps in the front corners and one 242's right in front of the front speakers on the wall. On top of each tri-trap facing into the room I've placed a 242. On the back wall by the chase I have a trap in the corner facing into the room and another trap about midway on the wall. Is this the best way to set these up? Should I take the 242's in the front corners and use them somewhere else-like the ceiling or the middle of the front wall? I spose I should get the gear I need to take measurements...

 

[DrunkenWolf]

As promised:

 

[bpape]

Middle of the front wall up high is a good place for a multi-channel situation. The other thing would be to make sure you have all your side wall reflection points covered for all seats and all 3 speakers - 3 seats, 3 speakers, 9 points to cover on each wall.

As for the Tri Traps, we stack them all the time with no problems. I have many customers in studio situations where they get a lot of abuse and moving around and they 'stand up' to stacking quite well.

Bryan

 

[DrunkenWolf]

Yeah, I have to take that back I have the 242's sitting on top of the tri traps without any support and they are staying up fine (I'm going to mount them, but that will have to wait until the weekend. I love how they look installed.

It will be hard to treat the blue wall-it's supposed to be mario land, and the traps wouldn't fit in with a solid color. I'll probably have to DIY it over there and make something mario themed like a questionmark block. Would stuffing insulation in the PVC pipe be worth the effort?

Anyway my annual theater budget is blown for the year, so I'll have to make due with what I already have.