Modernists Unite, or: saying no to room treatment

Soundgasm wrote:

"So is it true? Are all the modernists suffering with 80th percentile sound?
It's not about WAF. I don't want to live in a rug-covered padded cell either"

I'm a designer (pointed towards minimalism/modernist) and an audiophile.

To respond with my opinion inserted, I would have to say definitely NO that modernist are not suffering with 80th percentile sound.
While yes it can be hard to get proper acoustics out of an existing modern room for many different reasons, however with proper knowledge and thought (and sometimes money) you can have a beautiful sounding modernistic room.

I had the privilege to work on the design team for the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles with Frank Gehry. As an example this is a very modern building and typical to other projects we worked on but still used some very simple rough basic materials that are readily available to the common builder.

The difference was the knowledge and importance of acoustics. While the main concert hall space is an amazing room (subjective to some), it's not something that me or you can ever afford to have as a living room. However, down below there were many rooms and offices that needed excellent acoustics while still keeping up with proper aesthetics but with a low build cost. There are practice rooms for the musicians to warm up and learn pieces of music. These rooms were mostly exposed plywood & white wall spaces, they sounded excellent.

They were not complicated to build and the shape was very usable. If it were a living room the WAF and design friends would give it two thumbs up.

Bottom line is that the knowledge and factoring the importance of acoustics and implementing it is the key to making any room sound worthy whether it's ultra modern minimalism or classic country.

Currently I'm living in a modern house and my listening room is too lively but that because I'm too lazy to do anything about it.

Crad, excellent post. Can you provide some more detail, or (very) general specifications for these rooms?

'there were many rooms and offices that needed excellent acoustics while still keeping up with proper aesthetics but with a low build cost. (edit) These rooms were mostly exposed plywood & white wall spaces, they sounded excellent.'

Keep in mind furniture and window coverings are room treatment too. This never mentioned.

Commercial room treatment is getting like aftermarket power cords. Everybody thinks they need it whether they need it or not.

First you must determine if you need it in the first place. Room treatment is something that can easily be over done.

This posting is from what I have heard in a demo by frank tschang of acoustic resonator . He treated a demo room during KL Hifi show 2009 and the sound improve drastically . I believe that if u want non intrusive method the tiny acoustic resonators and it's cube can certainly help but it's very expensive
All I have to find out how much a room can degrade the sound is by clapping your hand as u move around the round and hear the unwanted echo.
I started this hobby by placing my system in my living room and when I shiifted 1.5yrs ago I built a dedicated room designed by rives audio level 1 ( only available level in my country). Hugh difference.
Dedicated lines and room treatment is certainly more important than mindless changing of gears. I am amaze with some very expensive set up with hardly any room treatment and with the sitting position against the wall

I'll take a treated room over a non-treated room any day of the week. Can you say "bass buildup" or "reflective surfaces"?