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Can you correct nulls with acoustic treatments.

I have Magnepan 1.6's. After hearing a musical clarity I really liked in a listening session at someone else's house, I broke down and bought a Rat Shack SPL meter and dowloaded some test files. I wanted to see if it was the acoustics or the type of speakers and system that made the difference.

A brief testing showed a 65 to 80 hz., 5 or 6 db. bump (the drywall bump?) that I had expected. What I didn't expect was 10 to 15 hz. wide nulls (-10,-15,even -20 db.) at several other frequencies.

I tried moving speaker positioning and the frequency of the nulls moved but the pattern was basically the same.

Acoustic treatment to tame + nodes seems intuitive. Can you treat nulls or is this a different problem?

Would really appreciate your thoughts.

Jim S.

stilljd

Showing 2 responses by plato

plato
1,543 posts
 
The room dimensions and speaker positioning are going to dictate the peaks and dips more than anything. Such large nulls would be difficult to treat.

I suggest you move the speakers around the room if possible; maybe to the adjacent wall or even firing across a corner. If you can't achieve good results like that, then perhaps considering a different room (or headphones) would be warranted.

Happy Experimenting!
plato
1,543 posts
 
Possibly putting a diffuser behind each speaker could help since you're dealing with cancellations from the rear output waves colliding with that of the front wave.

I had a room similar to yours and it was kind of tough finding the best speaker position and the best listening position. I had Acoustat dipoles and I recall that the bass was all over the map depending on which wall the speakers backed up to and where the listening seat was. With a lot of trial and error, you can probably find a configuration that will work pretty well. I remember that the Room Tunes worked very well in that room as did some home made Helmholz resonators (like the Argent room Lenses). Good Luck!
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