Slight echo caused by room?

[sgtpepper9]

The room I have my speakers set up in has wood floors and opens up into a kitchen that has tile. It seems to cause almost an echo when playing music. It does not sound bad but I was wondering if laying down a large rug in the living room would have any effect to minimize the effect of the room? I don't really have many other options and don't want to spend a lot of money on room treatments until I move to a house where I can have a dedicated home theatre room. Any suggestions on other cheap solutions would be welcomed. Thanks...

 

[Matt34]

The room I have my speakers set up in has wood floors and opens up into a kitchen that has tile. It seems to cause almost an echo when playing music. It does not sound bad but I was wondering if laying down a large rug in the living room would have any effect to minimize the effect of the room? I don't really have many other options and don't want to spend a lot of money on room treatments until I move to a house where I can have a dedicated home theatre room. Any suggestions on other cheap solutions would be welcomed. Thanks...

Your onto the right idea, curtains and rugs are a good starting point to hide some of the reflective surfaces.

I'm also on a realtively tight budget but found these acoustic panels for a good price(the 24x24x2" are only $21/ea). You could get a pair and place them at the first reflective point of you main speakers. It should make a noticable improvement.

http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat--ATS-Acoustic-Panels--100.html

 

[sgtpepper9]

Your onto the right idea, curtains and rugs are a good starting point to hide some of the reflective surfaces.

I'm also on a realtively tight budget but found these acoustic panels for a good price(the 24x24x2" are only $21/ea). You could get a pair and place them at the first reflective point of you main speakers. It should make a noticable improvement.

http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat--ATS-Acoustic-Panels--100.html

How do I find the first reflective point of my mains?

 

[mike c]

you have pics of your room?

 

[armaraas]

I'm also on a realtively tight budget but found these acoustic panels for a good price(the 24x24x2" are only $21/ea). You could get a pair and place them at the first reflective point of you main speakers. It should make a noticable improvement.

http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat--ATS-Acoustic-Panels--100.html

I actually just received 6 of those yesterday. In the process of hanging them now. Unfortunately I should have measured before ordering...

As for the first reflection points, one way is to sit in your normal spot, and have someone with a mirror go along the back wall across from the speakers, and where you see the speakers show up in the mirror is a first reflection point. Of course this may be affected by how your rooms looks or is setup. I haven't actually practiced finding the first reflection myself, and since my wife just went to bed looks like I won't be doing it tonight either. Ah well, the placement was going to be aesthetic mostly for these first ones anyway.

 

[sgtpepper9]

I'll post some pics of my room soon. In the meantime, the listening spot is against the back wall. Would that mean I would want to place the panels right behind me on the back wall?

 

[Adam]

I'll post some pics of my room soon. In the meantime, the listening spot is against the back wall. Would that mean I would want to place the panels right behind me on the back wall?

From the manufacturer's website FAQ page, aesthetic placement is just fine. There are "better" places to put the panels (i.e. first reflection points), but they indicate that you can put them anywhere.

I would think that one area would be the side walls in terms of first reflection points. I also believe that you are of the correct thinking that you'll benefit from putting panel directly behind you if you are sitting close to a back wall. In addition to any assistance from folks here, I'll bet that you could get some great help from the manufacturer.

 

[speakerman39]

From the manufacturer's website FAQ page, aesthetic placement is just fine. There are "better" places to put the panels (i.e. first reflection points), but they indicate that you can put them anywhere.

I would think that one area would be the side walls in terms of first reflection points. I also believe that you are of the correct thinking that you'll benefit from putting panel directly behind you if you are sitting close to a back wall. In addition to any assistance from folks here, I'll bet that you could get some great help from the manufacturer.

Very good advice here Adam. I could not agree with you more. As you mentioned, the manufacturer would be a great source of information. The op should call them if he can as I prefer to talk to someone as opposed to emailing them.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Pyrrho]

The room I have my speakers set up in has wood floors and opens up into a kitchen that has tile. It seems to cause almost an echo when playing music. It does not sound bad but I was wondering if laying down a large rug in the living room would have any effect to minimize the effect of the room? I don't really have many other options and don't want to spend a lot of money on room treatments until I move to a house where I can have a dedicated home theatre room. Any suggestions on other cheap solutions would be welcomed. Thanks...

As has already been said, you are on the right track with a rug. Other things that help are padded furniture (e.g., the typical couch, etc.), curtains, and even things like bookcases with books. Have you ever noticed that an empty room often has an echo, but one filled with furniture often does not? Basically, the more stuff, the less echo, though, of course, the kinds of things make a difference, as adding mirrors and other hard, flat things to the walls is not going to be helpful. With an empty room, you typically have large, flat surfaces, that allow sounds to bounce back and forth between them. Putting stuff in the way of that back and forth bouncing helps, even when some of the things have some hardness, as long as they break up the large flat surfaces, as the repeated back and forth movement of the sound is the echo. This also means that spreading the furniture around the room, as is typically done for other reasons, tends to be good, as there would still be the opportunity for sound to bounce back and forth if all of the furniture were crammed into one end of the room.