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Room treatment in phases...where to start

I am going to try and treat my small listening room. I want to do this in phases so I get a clear idea what each addition does to the sound. Given my room size and layout, I will getting bass traps and panels for the front corners and walls. Between the corner bass traps or acoustic panels behind the speakers, which one would give me the biggest impact?

Here are the details of my room and setup:
Dimensions:9x10x9
1/3 height wall behind listening position opening up to my large family room
Speakers positioned 3ft from front wall and 2ft from side walls
Listening position is 6ft from speakers
128x128tboooe

Showing 5 responses by tboooe

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tboooe OP
1,009 posts
 
Thanks Bigsutterbug, I appreciate the input. I did some experiments last night and put some pillows in between my speakers on the front wall and noticed an immediate difference. Everything sounded more organic and the soundstage increased in width.

With my little monitors I dont think I have any bottom end issues. As for the wall behind me, its only 1/3 height about 3ft high. Above that there is open space that leads into my family room so I dont I am having any issues on this back wall.
tboooe's avatar
tboooe OP
1,009 posts
 
Thanks folks. I am thinking that with my semi nearfield listening, open back wall and monitors, I dont need bass traps in the corners. Probably all I need is some treatment on the front wall.
tboooe's avatar
tboooe OP
1,009 posts
 
Thank you justlisten. Your comment about leaving then front wall bare is interesting to me because that is the only place where I want to use treatments. Right now I am listening to music with a bunch of pillows stacked up on the ball between my speakers. I get better layering of the instruments and side to side separation. I will probably end up getting the GIK 242 panel covered with some custom artwork.
tboooe's avatar
tboooe OP
1,009 posts
 
08-01-13: Larryi
My dealer believes that the center of the front wall should be a hard reflective surface. This is consistent with a listening room a friend of my has which was designed by the acoustic firm Rives. The front of the room has a very large, curved, convex reflector made of wood. The corners of the room have bass traps built into them.

Thank you Larryi...I am going to give it another listen tonight with and without the pillows on the front wall. This feedback is very interesting. When I look at people's room setup, I usually see either some sort of diffusion like the curved surface you refer to or absorption panels. Now I am utterly confused on what to do. What I do know is that I need minimal treatments in my room. Unfortunately I cannot treat the first reflection points because there is a window on one side and a closet door on the other. Hmmm....what do to???
tboooe's avatar
tboooe OP
1,009 posts
 
Davehrab, thank you for taking the time to writeup such a thorough response! I truly appreciate it. Just to be clear, when you say "back wall" you are referring to the wall behind my speakers right?
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