Tapestrys, quilts, etc on the wall at 1st reflection points (on sides) Pillows in the upper corners. For cheap bass traps, stack a couple of boxes in the corners, fill up with newpaper about 1/2 way in each box. There are several do it yourself idea's on other sites. email me and I'll point you there. There may be something in the archives here as well. |
Quilts and rugs hung on the walls at the first reflection points are a cheap and easy was to begin treating the room. Have someone sit in the primary listening location, take a mirror to the side walls opposite each speaker and move it until the seated person can see the speaker reflected in the mirror. These are your first reflection points. Start from there. |
Go to the resource section on our site. It has lots of DIY links for acoustical treatment devices. It also has links to many articles on the web and books that may help you as well. The most important aspect is getting the size right--size matters, but it's the ratios of dimensions and what you do within that space that really counts. Here's a link to our resources: Rives Audio Resources |
Spend your first $40 on F. Alton Everest's "Master Handbook of Acoustics". Lots of easy and cheap ways to deal with high frequency problems, but low frequencies and room modes are best (if not only) handled right now, while you have choices about dimensions, orientation, and expected seating positions. |
No mention of DIY acoustical treatment resources is complete, I think, without Jon Risch's pages. Jon Risch's pages You will find user's comments on the results if you search Audio Asylum. Search in AA's Tweaks Asylum for "John Risch acoustic" |
Go to Home Depot, or your local flavor of Hardware Warehouse store. Go to the concrete department. Look for the tubular cardboard concrete molds. At Home Depot I bought some in an 8-inch diameter for about $6 each I think. These are heavy cardboard tubes four feet in length - like a huge heavy-duty mailing tube for a poster. You can experiment covering these tubes with various fabric or foam to create your own bass traps. Stack'em, put'em in rows, make'em different colors, collect'em and trade'em with your friends. I used egg-crate foam, which was easily attached to the outside of the tube using a staple gun (adhesives may work too, but the staple gun makes it pretty easy. You can make these as pretty as you like. I buy the denser egg-crate foam (meant for sound applications) from a local foam store. There are some online sources as well. I think the foam to cover one of those tubes was about $20. Have fun! Marco |
