Let's get an acoustics thread going

[DoubleZedRed]

some of you guys have some killer rigs going, but out of all the pictures i've seen i haven't seen one bit of acoustic treatment. have any of you thought about it? it may just be the one thing that's missing from your home theater/studio that's preventing you from truly appreciating what you're listening to.

ofcourse those of you that are headphones only, this doesn't make a bit of difference for you.

i've built my own bass traps using 4 inch roxul rockwool, it was pretty easy to do, there's plenty of DIY information available online (if you're one of those diy'ers)

 

[CJRP]

I would love to build a room just for music/movies/games and give it the acoustical treatment it needs. Unfortunately, I'm still missing the most important part of doing this.....my own house. Can't wait to knock some walls down and build a room just like this once I have my own place.

 

[obobski]

well, I don't have any acoustic treatment, and I can truly appreciate what I'm listening to, so I don't see what the problem is?

 

[criccio]

Most of my music listening happens at my desk so the best I could do was a pair of Auralex de-coupling pads for my M200MKII's. Made all the difference in the world though.

 

[betweenthetines]

i've built my own bass traps using 4 inch roxul rockwool, it was pretty easy to do, there's plenty of DIY information available online (if you're one of those diy'ers)

Pictures? Also, I agree with you on the lack of much focus on this forum to room treatment and second the idea of having a thread similar to the "Post your speakers" etc. threads for this.

 

[criccio]

Pictures? Also, I agree with you on the lack of much focus on this forum to room treatment

Unfortunately alot of members on this forum still think the Logitech Z5500's are good speakers...

 

[SYN ACK]

some of you guys have some killer rigs going, but out of all the pictures i've seen i haven't seen one bit of acoustic treatment. have any of you thought about it? it may just be the one thing that's missing from your home theater/studio that's preventing you from truly appreciating what you're listening to.

ofcourse those of you that are headphones only, this doesn't make a bit of difference for you.

i've built my own bass traps using 4 inch roxul rockwool, it was pretty easy to do, there's plenty of DIY information available online (if you're one of those diy'ers)

links would be helpful (diy acoustic treatment) - any literature/readings, etc... thx

 

[phide]

The trick with acoustic treatment is that it's difficult to do properly. I'd like to think I know a little more about acoustics than most of the members here, but I know less than 1% of what a good acoustician knows, and that's just not enough to do a good job of choosing and placing room treatments.

Sure, I can make a dead-sounding room, and, with a little luck, I might be able to clean up major issues like standing waves (which are relatively easy to fix), but do I know how to make a good-sounding room? Nope. Not a clue.

 

[Sycraft]

I've got some and plan on getting more, it is just expensive. Bass traps are probably up next, but it'll be damn near a grand to do the room with those.

 

[DoubleZedRed]

Pictures? Also, I agree with you on the lack of much focus on this forum to room treatment and second the idea of having a thread similar to the "Post your speakers" etc. threads for this.

those were the first two i built, i'll post some instructions on how i made them in a few.

links would be helpful (diy acoustic treatment) - any literature/readings, etc... thx

http://www.realtraps.com/howto.htm
http://www.realtraps.com/info.htm

http://www.gikacoustics.com/education.html
http://www.gikacoustics.com/room_setup.php

http://www.basstraps.net/

those are all pretty good resources, some people will disagree but for the most part there's alot of good *general* information available.

The trick with acoustic treatment is that it's difficult to do properly. I'd like to think I know a little more about acoustics than most of the members here, but I know less than 1% of what a good acoustician knows, and that's just not enough to do a good job of choosing and placing room treatments.

Sure, I can make a dead-sounding room, and, with a little luck, I might be able to clean up major issues like standing waves (which are relatively easy to fix), but do I know how to make a good-sounding room? Nope. Not a clue.

the only way to make a *great* sounding room is to have one custom built, but for those of us who don't have the $ or option to build another room/alter one where we live. it seems like bass traps work reasonably well compared to blankets/egg crates *shudder*/cheap foam

and they're not too hard or expensive to build.

 

[DoubleZedRed]

Most of my music listening happens at my desk so the best I could do was a pair of Auralex de-coupling pads for my M200MKII's. Made all the difference in the world though.

if you have some wall-space in your room you could throw up a couple traps on your wall behind you and on your ceiling, or wherever you have space.

 

[DoubleZedRed]

*bump* come on, some of you have to atleast be somewhat interested in the concept.

 

[guppy]

well, I don't have any acoustic treatment, and I can truly appreciate what I'm listening to, so I don't see what the problem is?

Because acoustically treating a room can make a far greater difference in improved SQ than a new $10,000.00 amp will.

 

[Davidion]

*bump* come on, some of you have to atleast be somewhat interested in the concept.

I would be but it's out of the question with my budget and living arrangements, both are built around space constraints, budget constraints, and girlfriend constraints. I would like to have a treated room some day...some day...

 

[SYN ACK]

im highly interested - would love to see / link to more DIY projects (pictures a must)

 

[Retronym]

way back when I covered the entire front wall of my basement with aurelex, despite being headphone based. It did manage to quiet the room and computer more.

 

[MisterSparkle]

Living in rented + small places does cut back on a lot you can do to acoustically treat a room, but there's still some very solid improvements you can make that won't damage the house and can look good to boot. Acoustic panels are a good start, with a wood framework and a nice fabric covering the front, they can look really good and take up very little space.

A handy, good value diy page: http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/a1.htm

 

[DoubleZedRed]

im highly interested - would love to see / link to more DIY projects (pictures a must)

i think there's a video on youtube with a tutorial, i didn't like the way they built it so i went with a slightly different method.


the materials you need are:

1 sheet of insulation (atleast 4 lb. density)
2 2x4x8's (one of them cut into 48" segments, the other cut into 27" segments)
two pieces of cloth, the front piece should be big enough to fit around the sides and into the back. the back side just needs to be 50" by 27" or so.
a box of staples, and some 8x3 wood screws

so the first step is to cut the wood (if you haven't had it cut already)
then onto building the frame, the way it's built is the 2 27" pieces go on the ends with the 48" pieces in the middle, instead of 51" pieces on the sides and 24" pieces in the middle.


27"|-------48" cut---------| 27"
cut|~~~insulation~~~|cut
|-------48" cut---------|

if that shitty diagram makes any sense. anyways, i used a square to adjust the 2x4's then i drilled holes through the 27" cuts into the 48" cuts.

after that i put some wood glue (for a little extra strength) then added the screws.

once you let the wood glue set a little bit, it's time to put on the fabric, for this i used a staple gun. i started by folding over however much i needed tucked in to cover a decent amount of space on the inside side of the 2x4 (27" cut) and i stapled it, then i worked down the sides, and did the other end last. *it helps to have someone to hold the cloth tight while you staple it.*

after that you pull the insulation out of its packaging and stick it in there, it'll be a semi-snug fit, but that's fine, you want it to hold it. then stretch the back side over it, and staple the back onto the 2x4's

you can kinda see in this picture, i cut the cloth more after i took it to tidy it up some, but toward the top you can see the staples, that's how i'd advise doing it.

oh, then position where you want them and rock out.


hopefully that helps some.

 

[guppy]

One of the best treatments you can do to any room is to get rid of the corners by using bass traps. You can even make rudimentary bass traps by putting large basket planters in the corners that are filled with a light soft soil and peat moss. That way it won't look so ugly. On one wall that one speaker is closer to than the other I nailed up a thick carpet that has a nice design on it. That cuts down on high frequencies bouncing off the wall and doesn't look so bad either.Don't over do it though. You want a mixture of hard and absorbing surfaces. Getting rid of corners is the first step I would take though as they cause the bass to sound boomy.