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Room treatments and acoustics…. How to begin?

Hello,

 

I have spent the past year and a half going to town. I have mindfully and exuberantly engaged with every aspect of my system, with one exception… acoustics and room treatments. 
 

I have a 14’x18’ x8’ high living room that is also my current listening room. I live in New York City, queens, and am an architectural designer with some fabrication ability. I am just beginning to get privy to how to approach acoustics and room treatments and find it fascinating. I would very much like to do the following:

 

-maximize the room acoustics in my living room, while maintaining or enhancing its visual appeal

 

-begin learning about acoustics as a whole, so that I may lean into designing architectural spaces intertwined with hifi listening..,, ie: large volume chamber woofers and open baffles incorporated into the architecture, even speakers partially or entirely cast into the floor walls or ceiling. 
 

how to begin? 

thanks for your insight and inspirations, fellow obsessives…!

 

r 

 

whyrichard
kofibaffour
713 posts
 

you may not need more than deep bass absorbers for your four corners and ceiling cloud absorbers and that is made easier as your room is a Bolt Area/Sepmeyer Ratio approximate.

get a UMIK-1/2 and get to some RTA data using REW @whyrichard 

and design the bass traps with aesthetic wrapping with these videos as guides and target 6 inch thick graduated density bass traps and ceiling clouds - 

1 - https://youtu.be/Zl2YqHURMB0?si=sVPVL9hJtMIXHAeA

2 - https://youtu.be/j1mO5p0W384?si=yf4M2vHwJZ9GIMb2

3 - https://youtu.be/-Lk8xoSHF7g?si=tU-dX3tbqlEjia4I

combine the above with DIRAC ART and you’re going to achieve tremendous tactility, snap and pop and cavernous bass that doesn’t ring endlessly. it is a revelation

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
5,993 posts
 

I've learned a lot from youtube videos by different people -- including folks at Audioholics.

REW and a miniDSP UMIK-1 are invaluable.

I've had good experiences with bass traps from Real Traps. I'm also interested in active bass traps, but they're a relatively new technology.

willyht
83 posts
 

I second GIK. Great website, nice designs, effective acoustic panels.

ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,397 posts
 

I would begin by experimenting. Use couch cushions, pillows and blankets. Put in your room descriptions into and AI and ask for some likely placement of treatments. Then use stuff around your house to try it. Listen. This will give you some idea of the sonic benefits you will get and how to tune. 

Then as an AI on what you should read to create and build traps... if that is what you want to spend you time doing. Or engage and buy from ACS. Or you can use stuff like I have... heavy wool oriental carpets as wall hangings and pillows... etc. if that blends with your decor better. 

emergingsoul
1,524 posts
 

I have taken pictures of my listening space and downloaded them to ChatGPT which is incredibly easy and allowed ChatGPT to provide ideas and advice and it works pretty well.

 

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