Room Treatment Convert


Over the years I've spent thousands of dollars on various components looking for that 'next step' in my sound system.
One thing I've never done is acoustic room treatment.  My listening room is small (11' X 15" with 8' ceiling).  I listen to vinyl almost exclusively.  My system is a P8 Rega turntable with Apheta 3 cartridge, MA5200 McIntosh integrated with a Stellar phono stage.  Speakers are KEF Reference 1.  My speakers are placed on the short wall with heavy drapes over the window on the right wall and a line of shelfs holding my records completely covering the left wall.

I had obtained a quote for room treatment last year and decided it was too expensive to consider, though I wouldn't hesitate to spend much more on any component in my system if it would improve the sound to my ear.

While talking with a friend last week he suggested I try an experiment.  He said rather than have my spines of my LPs all aligned the same to try pulling small groups of LPs forward in a random manner, staggering them such that the grouping resulted in pockets between the groups.  I did so and put on one of my favorite records and the result was  increased clarity and detail that was nothing short of amazing!  Though my records look silly, I'm now going through LPs as if I have a new collection.  I've not experienced a more profound improvement in any component change I've ever done.  

When I contacted the person who had given me the quote on the room treatments, he said he was not surprised at the change, saying all I had done was broken up the sidewall reflections which reduces some of the conflicting timing information that confuses our brains (and ears).  He said I could expect more profound change once I added their treatments.  Well, I'm now a believer and will be placing my order once I receive money back Uncle Sam borrowed from me last year!
bluespiano
Anyone with even a basic knowledge of acoustics could have told you the same thing. What you did is create a diffuser, anything that reflects sound unevenly sending it off in different directions. Your room being fairly small the effect is greater. Because walls are closer together so all reflections arrive closer in time to the direct signal, and also higher in volume, than if the room were bigger. 

If you think the improvement you get from panels and traps and stuff is good, wait till you try some of the really amazing stuff like HFT.
Before you buy too much, buy a 100 dollar mic and the REW software. An enormous amount can be gained, first, by positioning of listening position and speakers, for the best bass response. Then the other stuff comes later.

Try this youtube channel and definitely download his free white papers. You will learn a lot and then will make a more informed decision about what to buy. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC57auUfJlTvIvW79pom_i1g
bluespiano, quite a few of us can relate to your story.  Most of us started off in love with the equipment, figuring the room is the place where the cool stuff sits.  You got lucky, in a sense, in that a small and insignificant change made a huge difference.  Imagine what is possible if you approach this in a deliberate and informed fashion.  hilde45 is right.  Don't buy too much stuff before getting up to speed on REW.   It is a bit of a pain to learn, but after you catch on, it makes everything so much easier.  In the end, it will save you money and frustration. 

As for HFT type products, they can be useful.  I use them in my downstairs living room system where I don't want a bunch of whacky looking panels.   In my dedicated room, which is well treated with traditional traps and absorption panels, the HFTs don't do a thing. 
I’d not heard of HFT’s. They certainly put their marketing vocabulary in overdrive, though.

"About the size of a shirt button, yet powerful enough to transform the way you experience music, HFT’s improve nearly all aspects of system and room performance. With HFT’s your speakers and room disappear leaving you with nothing but a live holographic musical event in your listening room, or living room. HFTs oscillate at high frequencies creating an energy field in your room that overpowers room vibrational distortions to correct phase and frequency interactions for harmonic balance in your treated room. You hear an increase in depth and width, with clearer more extended highs, and tighter bass. Everything sounds more live, clearer, and more natural than you could ever imagine."
https://www.synergisticresearch.com/acoustics/passive/hft/

It’s all about being aware of soundwave reflections coming from your room and how to manage or ameliorate them
If you earned little enough to get a stimulus check beware it will reduce your refund.
Sam didn’t classically "borrow" it. You gave it to him interest free.
Kind of nuts if you have any outstanding notes like a mortgage or car payment.
@hilde45, you are so polite, "put their marketing in overdrive." 
It is way past overdrive. It is oversilly. Maybe overstupid. Definitely descriptive of a sham item right up there with the Halographs. 
I wish people would not waste their money on such things. It incites these clowns to make more garbage.  
@mijostyn Yes, I suppose I am. Clearly, some people believe in these things, and I cannot gainsay someone else's experience. If they think they hear it, they at least think they hear it. But when I see language like that, I think of all the people I knew who got business degrees instead of learning about science, engineering, art, history, etc. and honed their skills to trick their fellow man. I was pulling punches, but as we've seen, social media leads to too much anger and viciousness and I'm doing my best to be chill, even about the bag-of-rocks-dumb stuff.