yes, GIK not "E"
Sound correction in small room
Hello All,
I’m having a hell of a time with the sound in my newly constructed sound room and have spent the past couple of months learning about acoustical engineering (4+ months in theory being proactive, the past 2 weeks reactive trying to solve specific problems). I know there are a multitude of threads, videos, and websites about the subject across the innerwebs and I have looked at many, but they start to blur together so I am hoping to get some tips on my specific situation. But first, a couple of disclaimers: 1) 5 months ago I knew nothing about acoustical engineering... I now know just enough to know that I don’t know… 2) I blew waayyyy (I mean wayyyyyyyyy) past my intended budget many many moons ago.. So please keep these two things in mind when commenting/making recommendations. I’m trying to provide the necessary information without being too verbose so apologies for the length of the post…
The main characters:
Raven Nighthawk integrated tube amp (I believe 2x20w…)
Tekton Double Impacts (yes, I put 5ft. tall speakers in a room with a 6 ft. ceiling.. no, I can’t change that fact..)
Denon dvd player for the source (it’s been around a while and was probably lower midrange 8+/- years ago…)
Supporting cast (My room…):
Dimensions are 15’1” x 10’2’x 6’3” (176.5x122x76.75) yes, the ceiling is just over 6 ft. tall as I did the decoupled thing and there was also venting in the way
carpeted floor, standard walls and ceiling (textured and painted drywall), components are on 5’x2’ table, and there is a 58 inch plasma mounted on the wall. Single seat glider/rocking chair and footrest, 5’x5’ cube bookcase, minifridge, and lamp. I’m skipping over the sound proofing measures used when building the room as I don’t think they are relevant at the moment..
The villains:
1) I have a bass tone (produced by the bass guitar) that just floods the room if I have the speakers at the 2 ft. by 1ft. and toed inward placement. Ironically, moving the speakers back to only 2-4 inches from the front wall helps with this, however, I lose the lower/bottom end almost completely. From what I have read this is completely backasswards and makes no sense but here I am…
2) I am failing the “clap” test which leads to lack of clarity/intelligibility (I believe acoustical panels should address this… see below)
3) Not getting that “wow” factor that I know these speakers can produce (I had them hooked up to my main system for a few days whilst building the room and it was definitely there.. I can best describe it as lacking the immersive power that I was expecting… maybe described as loud and clear with all sounds well represented without blasting at the same time???)..
1st attempts at sound management/correction
1) Speaker placement (2ft. from front wall/1 ft. from side walls, 3in.from front wall/~1ft. from side walls, as well as a multitude of other positions)
2) Seating placement (38% from rear wall.. can’t do it from the front wall, too close..) as well as further back and forward.. Farther back seems to sound better at the moment
3) Equilateral triangle placement of seat and the speakers (ironically very close to 38% anyway…) making sure the sound shoots behind me, not directly at my ears
4) Diffusion: 5’x5’ cube bookcase with CDs and whatnot on rear wall (also a minifridge and lamp…) A few of the resources either directly stated, or at least implied diffusion can be effective this way…
Forthcoming sound management
1) I am attaining the materials to build 6 panels (2’x4’ with OC 703 already purchased) and will put 4 of them at the 1st and possibly 2nd reflection points with the other 2 as clouds at 1st reflection. The only door to the room may impact that 1st reflection point on one wall though…
2) Considering bass traps but want to see how the panels affect things first.. Regarding this, I love that deep low bass but I want it accurate and appropriate, not that singular hum sound
3) Also considering more panels (the only real space left would be the front and rear walls. Possibly more on the ceiling)
The actual questions
1) Does it seem like I am on the right track?
2) What am I missing/what should I be attending to that I am not?
3) If I end up doing bass traps, what material???
4) Any other suggestions (speaker placement, seating location, more panels, etc…)
Thank you in advance, these forums are a great resource!
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- 17 posts total
You have a relatively small room. My room is somewhat similar shaped at 11 x 17 x 9. Based on amroc, you have room nodes at 55hz, 75h, 90hz, 110hz, 111hz, all at different walls, but always in the corners: https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=15.1&w=10.16&h=6.25&ft=true&r60=0.6 If you had the budget, I would get the GIK Monster Bass traps with FlexRange Limiter (important) to fill the rear corners. You can get two 2’x4’ panels and two 2’x2’ panels to fill the entire rear corners. This will definitely help with bass and bass definition. If you wanted to, you could also put these in the front corners (if you had room). The GIK "FlexRange Limiter" panel works significantly better in the bass region (60hz to 120hz) and will also not absorb as much high frequencies. Absorbing too much high frequency can suck the life out of the room and you only want to absorb the mid/high frequencies where it is important to do so. I have a couple in my room and I can attest to their effectiveness. You should also research Speaker Boundary Interference Response (SBIR). Your Tekton midrange is very close to the ceiling and your speakers could be very close to the side walls. Putting the Owens 703 on the ceiling and walls surround the speakers may work out better than trying to target the first reflection points. That’s what happened in my room because I had to put my bookshelves about a foot away from the side wall due to space restrictions. In any event, the 703 will help with slap echo wherever you put them. |
If you wanted to try to build your own bass panels, I would use two different types of panels. I would put a layer of Owens 2" 703 FRK in front and then a standard 2" 703 panel in back (making a 4" panel). The FRK has a metal foil coating. This servers two purposes. The foil acts as a "membrane" to resonate the bass frequencies, and the resonation energy is absorbed by the 2" fiberglass behind it. Also, the foil will reflect more mids/highs instead of absorbing, which can be a good thing. The FRK will absorb the lower frequencies better than non-FRK. The GIK Monster Bass traps with FlexRange Limitor will still work better in my opinion. The GIK stuff is so cost effective that you wouldn’t really be saving much (maybe 25-30%) if you attempted to build the same thing yourself. Additionally, the FRK foil will reflect reflect high frequencies even more than a standard wall. Having too much FRK foil in a room can cause the high frequencies to become out of control. So it is always a fine line of experimenting until you get the best results. The GIK FlexRange does not have this high-frequency reflection problem. Check out the ATS Acoustics website. You can buy different type of fiberglass panels direct. |
It’s not clear from your post which wall you have the speakers on but I think it’s the short wall. Have you tried them on the long wall? My room is a similar size to yours and this works very well for me You can use the Cardas speaker placement guides as a good starting point, treating the corners with traps will then help on top http://www.cardas.com/room_setup_horizontal_and_square.php |
- 17 posts total