How can I make my own acoustic materials?

If i remember correctly, someone on the Asylum did a "shoot-out" by setting up a room following Jon Risch's directions and then using Steve Deckert's directions. They brought in a varied group of "local audiophiles" and listened to both groups. The group pretty unanimously picked Risch's set-up as being far superior in terms of sonics, especially imaging. Like anything else though, personal tastes and installations vary. The fact that Jon "gives" his designs away doesn't hurt anything either : ) Sean
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Try checking out this site. Jon is an electrical engineer and works for a company designing Pro Sound equipment. He is well versed in pretty much every aspect of sound reproduction. Hope this helps... Sean
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http://members.nbci.com/Jon_Risch/index.htm

Psychicanimal, i have nothing to gain by promoting or belittling either Jon Risch or Steve Deckert. Both are making a valiant attempt to help people out. One does it by sharing his knowledge, designs and offering advice / guidance for free while the other makes / sells / markets various products and services. You be the judge as to who is more likely to "hype" their product. In my eyes, it would be the one that stands to make money.

As i mentioned, the results of that specific test were documented somewhere on the Asylum. If i can remember correctly, there were over a half dozen audiophiles that were involved in the listening test.

Either way, i wish you luck in your project. I hope that the bass traps turn out as your expecting and solve your problem. Sean
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Here's a few things to take into consideration:

First of all, Jon works for a major corporation that designs sound gear that is used by professional musicians, recording studios, pro sound reinforcement and "hobbyist" musicians. As such, he has access to EVERY imaginable type of test procedure / test equipment / computer simulation product available to a company of that size & nature. He uses this equipment on a daily basis as part of his job of building & designing both electronic and acoustic based products.

Previous to doing this, he had worked for several other manufacturers in the audio industry. As such, he has over 25 years in the industry. On top of that, he is a degreed EE and a member of the Audio Engineering Society with published papers in their journal and several different patents to his credit. Needless to say, he is well educated in the field, has TONS of education and first hand experience with THOUSANDS of testimonials / posts of praise to his credit. If you want "science", rattle off some technical questions to Jon over at the "cable asylum" and see if he can answer them. I'm sure that he can give you more than your fill of terms like velocity factor, dielectric absorption ratios, conductivity in mho's, reactance at various phase angles, etc...

Don't get me wrong as i DON'T "worship" the guy. He simply has very worthy credentials and lives up to them.

Secondly, some specific "cable burners" DO work. Regardless of the claims, hype, lack of understanding, etc... the sonic results can be QUITE obvious. I do agree that the text used in that specific case is "mumbo jumbo" and could have been worded in a far better manner.

Finally, ANYONE can talk a good game. Con artists make a living out of doing such. Just because someone has "marketing skills" DOES NOT mean that they can support their claims or deliver the goods when called upon to do so. Just because one can talk the talk doesn't mean that they can walk the walk. Unfortunately, some of us have learned the hard way that some folks are more "charlatan" than "genius". Sean
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I agree that some "tweaks" are outrageously priced. Keep in mind that even though you might be able to go out and pick up all of that stuff mentioned for about the same price, you STILL might not be hearing what your system (especially your cables ) is capable of doing. Believe it or not, it is the "truth".

For the record, one can make a VERY heavy duty "cable burner" for well under $100 if one was "handy". It might not be as pretty as the fancy mass produced ones, but it WOULD work. Sean
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