I want to add a few recent lessons as a newbie. I have not yet purchased anything from a vendor. If any of this sounds wrong, I would appreciate correction.
If one reviews user posts about room treatment, many are content. Still, many also tell stories of buying a lot of stuff that they didn't wind up needing. They overspent in part because of the advice they got from vendors. This is not necessarily because of vendor incompetence or greed (though that happens) but because the vendor wants to make sure a difference is made, and that results in overkill. This pattern recurs in reader comments.
The basics of what is problematic with rooms is easy to learn and there are many videos which explain it well. Speaker and listening position changes have an enormous impact. They MUST be worked at before contacting vendors, or vendors may assume one's problem is worse than it is.
Non-basic room analysis and experiment is very complicated. It will likely require expert help to reach beyond some basic band aids unless users are willing to really school themselves.
There are many experts on forums willing to answer questions with their own expertise. People are generous and kind much of the time.
DIY is quite doable for some of this. Maybe not all, but costs can be seriously defrayed by a trip to Lowes.
Even if one knows they will go to an expert/vendor, basic preparation can avoid the problems listed first, above. That preparation includes learning a bit, reading a bit, and playing with room analysis software to see what the biggest problems are. Then, one can proceed stepwise by starting with the biggest problems, first. No need to go whole hog all at once. Better to do something and see how it suits.
If one reviews user posts about room treatment, many are content. Still, many also tell stories of buying a lot of stuff that they didn't wind up needing. They overspent in part because of the advice they got from vendors. This is not necessarily because of vendor incompetence or greed (though that happens) but because the vendor wants to make sure a difference is made, and that results in overkill. This pattern recurs in reader comments.
The basics of what is problematic with rooms is easy to learn and there are many videos which explain it well. Speaker and listening position changes have an enormous impact. They MUST be worked at before contacting vendors, or vendors may assume one's problem is worse than it is.
Non-basic room analysis and experiment is very complicated. It will likely require expert help to reach beyond some basic band aids unless users are willing to really school themselves.
There are many experts on forums willing to answer questions with their own expertise. People are generous and kind much of the time.
DIY is quite doable for some of this. Maybe not all, but costs can be seriously defrayed by a trip to Lowes.
Even if one knows they will go to an expert/vendor, basic preparation can avoid the problems listed first, above. That preparation includes learning a bit, reading a bit, and playing with room analysis software to see what the biggest problems are. Then, one can proceed stepwise by starting with the biggest problems, first. No need to go whole hog all at once. Better to do something and see how it suits.