Room treatments

[Steve81]

Thanks for the input FR,

Yours is a case where you need measurements and analysis....

So I'd highly recommend that you start by contacting Auralex and taking advantage of their Room Analysis services . In your case, I feel strongly that paying for the "Room Analysis Plus" service would be worth your while. But start with the free service. I mean, it's FREE. So why not, right?

There's no point in guessing blindly as to what sort of treatments will benefit you most, and where they should be placed. Gather your data first, have it analyzed by Auralex, then come up with a plan of attack from there

I believe that's what I'm looking for. You're a wise and knowledgeable man

Of course after I get their recommendations, the big question will be whether or not I can actually treat the room appropriately without incurring the wrath of the wife

 

[jostenmeat]

Could it go in the corner diagonal to the sub? The white box above the sub is the breaker box, so I'm not exactly keen on covering that up.

Can't keep up with this thread, so I'll address the only question that was addressed directly to me: Sure, why not? Forgive me, I thought the 4' tall trap would still fit there, I apparently misjudged ceiling height. I will say that I usually read that if there are only a couple corners to be addressed, it's usually the front ones that benefit most.

Regarding ceiling/floor bounce, if you discover that this is your most bothersome issue, when you do ever change out speakers, you might consider vertical MTMs which greatly reduce this issue. This does not mean that certain scenarios will not still benefit from ceiling traps however. Also, what makes MTMs good in this regard sort of makes being on the "design axis" all the more important (but don't freak out over it too much, some people might say).

Also, IMO, however you go about this, the most surefire way for the money is to simply experiment and remeasure with various traps in various placements. I trust a lot of what FR offers for advice, and that said my sole reservation right now regarding a paid service *which is not done by someone right in your room* (I don't know even know what these services entail, didn't look, so this is just for discussion), is that I believe it's so hard to distinguish room issues from speaker issues, speaker placements, listener placements, etc.

 

[GIK Acoustics]

I would suggest proper treatments instead of certain types of foam treatments. Foam is useful but using proper broadband traps will take care of frequency issues throughout the whole spectrum, negating the need for foam. From the tests we've done, even the foam "bass traps" don't do much at all under 200 Hz. You can check out our tests we did here: Comparing Foam to GIK 244 Bass Traps

GOM fabrics tend to have a very high W.A.F. (That is, wife approval factor) so maybe checking in with a company that offers that type of fabric can be handy. You can order a whole sample book from us with all the different Guilford of Maine acoustically transparent fabric colors so your wife can pick her favorites out. Another idea could be something like our ArtPanel - that is, panels that have whatever images you want dyed into the fabric. Though they aren't 'printed' so they look much better and still retain their acoustically transparent property.

It seems that you want to treat your room because of the results you hear about, but aren't sure if you will hear as large of a difference. Even doing something as simple as adding 4" absorbers at first reflection points and some corners can make a large difference, for a small investment.