Treating a small room with diffusers?

To the OP

1. What are diffusors?

**** Proper diffusion scatters sound not only in the physical domain but also in the time domain. There are a variety of uses from minimization of comb filtering behind bipole/dipole speakers to minimization of slap echo high in a room to providing the illusion of a larger sound field in the rear of the room.

2. What's the minimum I'd pay for these in a room my size

**** I'd need to know a lot more about it in terms of usage, construction, seating locations, furnishings, etc. before we could even make a rough guesstimate as to what would be appropriate.

3. How do they make a room sound bigger than it is?

**** When you scatter sound physically and in time, it can give the same aural cues as being in a larger space by giving you lower amplitudes from more directions and generally later in time.

Bryan

Sorry - I'll have to disagree. Diffusion is best when you're farther away as the waves need proper time and distance to spread out. When you sit very close to a boundary, the biggest issue is actually bass buildup which requires absorption.

I agree that many people put up too much thin absorption and ignore the bottom end. A balanced approach is much better.

Smaller rooms require proportionately more broadband bass control. On the positive side, their modal activity is higher in frequency due to the smaller room dimensions.

Bryan Pape
Lead Acoustical Designer - GIK Acoustics

Absolutely. He's several feet away. Also, it matters what range of frequencies the diffusion is effective in as to the minimum distance. Those diffusers shown in those pics are probably maybe good to 700Hz or so if that low.

Bryan Pape
GIK Acoustics