Building a room from scratch

Professor smith · 24th May 2009, 12:45 AM

Its interesting there is no section titled room acoustics on this forum. That is the most important aspect in my opinion when it comes to high fidelity sound reproduction.

I would like to settle this issue of room acoustics once and for all.
So I am considering building a room from scratch.

The main question is what size and shape should it be?

The problem with my current room is that its not symmetrical so the imaging is not either but more significantly its not of the correct dimensions which means I get horrible harmonics all over the place. Its mainly the lower end of the spectrum and of course it all depends on what recording is being played back. At any rate, I dont believe that I can fix this problem. Every possible position in the room causes some harmonics within some range of frequencies.

thanks.

Moondog55 · 24th May 2009, 01:28 AM

Might be cheaper to buy an old barn or church.
How about the classic golden ratio to start with? but make the ceiling an asymmetrical cathedral ceiling and make the room non-rectangular by making one end slightly wider and taller than the other, then put in bass traps in the corners and diffusers on the walls and ceilings.

I would have thought that not being symmetrical would be an advantage, unless you meant that it was "L" shaped which is terrible.

I assume you have reasonable funds, so heavy; massive wall construction and low transmissiveness would be my priorities, and make sure that the internal noise floor was as low as possible, sound does not escape and external sound does not come in.

Windows triple paned in 12mm glass and air-locked double doors at least 100mm thick.

You know -- just your normal above average recording studio.

planet10 · 24th May 2009, 01:33 AM

The AES did a lot of work and, for a rectangular room, the golden ratio was choosen.

In a presentation i attended at an AES convention the fellow suggested that sloping the roof in 2 axis would automatically fixget you a significant portion of the ay to a really good room.

My room has a large slopw in 1 axis and it is a very good room.

dave

GM · 24th May 2009, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Professor smith
Its interesting there is no section titled room acoustics on this forum. That is the most important aspect in my opinion when it comes to high fidelity sound reproduction.

Agreed. The best room I did was an LEDE recording studio clone that was a 'room' within a room with the inner walls, ceiling expanding and acting as bass dampers with the back wall peaked as outlined in Don and Carolyn Davis's SOUND SYSTEM ENGINEERING.

With hotrodded Altec A7s further customized with sealed sub-woofers in the bottom half and flush built into the front corners it was right impressive.

Anyway, Art Ludwig got pretty serious into his room design as part of the system some years ago and a 'must read' IMO: http://www.silcom.com/~aludwig/

GM

Pano · 24th May 2009, 02:42 AM

Ditto! If a new forum gets added, room acoustics gets my vote.

It's such an important part of the system.

Pick up a copy of the 'Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest. My wife gave me a copy for Christmas. Lots of good info in the book. Enough to confuse you completely. :P

Cal Weldon · 24th May 2009, 04:47 AM

Photos of the scantily clad one and subsequent posts removed.

Moondog55 · 24th May 2009, 05:28 AM

Having determined the requirements next is deciding on the ideal dimensions, you can always use the old rule of thumb that the long dimension should be one wavelength of the desired bass frequency or about 10/15 meters long axis

Alex from Oz · 24th May 2009, 05:49 AM

Here's an interesting treatment for a listening room!
After you've finished laughing, apply to all four (4) corners of the room and enjoy!

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...07#post1833507

Cheers,

Alex

StigErik · 24th May 2009, 08:23 AM

I build myself a LEDE room 12 years ago with a little design help from Lars Tofastrud at Francis Manzella Design Ltd. Its the most important part of my system, and the best investment in audio quality I've ever made.

My room is 7x5x3 meters, rectangular shape with sloped ceiling. I have a short article about it here:
http://memweb.newsguy.com/~stigerik/...ning_room.html

Brett · 24th May 2009, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Alex from Oz
After you've finished laughing

That will take a long time.

If anyone offers you Kool Aid, be sure to enabl the rim of the cup to ameliorate the effects of this Universe.

24th May 2009, 12:45 AM	#1
Professor smith Banned Join Date: Sep 2008	Building a room from scratch Its interesting there is no section titled room acoustics on this forum. That is the most important aspect in my opinion when it comes to high fidelity sound reproduction. I would like to settle this issue of room acoustics once and for all. So I am considering building a room from scratch. The main question is what size and shape should it be? The problem with my current room is that its not symmetrical so the imaging is not either but more significantly its not of the correct dimensions which means I get horrible harmonics all over the place. Its mainly the lower end of the spectrum and of course it all depends on what recording is being played back. At any rate, I dont believe that I can fix this problem. Every possible position in the room causes some harmonics within some range of frequencies. thanks.

24th May 2009, 01:28 AM	#2
Moondog55 diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Norlane; Geelong: Victoria: Australia	Might be cheaper to buy an old barn or church. How about the classic golden ratio to start with? but make the ceiling an asymmetrical cathedral ceiling and make the room non-rectangular by making one end slightly wider and taller than the other, then put in bass traps in the corners and diffusers on the walls and ceilings. I would have thought that not being symmetrical would be an advantage, unless you meant that it was "L" shaped which is terrible. I assume you have reasonable funds, so heavy; massive wall construction and low transmissiveness would be my priorities, and make sure that the internal noise floor was as low as possible, sound does not escape and external sound does not come in. Windows triple paned in 12mm glass and air-locked double doors at least 100mm thick. You know -- just your normal above average recording studio. __________________ QUOTE" The more I know, the more I know, I know (insert maniacal laugh >here<) NOTHING"

24th May 2009, 01:33 AM	#3
planet10 frugal-phile(tm) diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Victoria, BC, NA, Sol III Blog Entries: 4	The AES did a lot of work and, for a rectangular room, the golden ratio was choosen. In a presentation i attended at an AES convention the fellow suggested that sloping the roof in 2 axis would automatically fixget you a significant portion of the ay to a really good room. My room has a large slopw in 1 axis and it is a very good room. dave __________________ community sites t-linespeakers.org, frugal-horn.com ........ commercial site planet10-HiFi p10-hifi forum here at diyA

24th May 2009, 02:42 AM	#5
Pano diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: North Carolina Blog Entries: 4	Ditto! If a new forum gets added, room acoustics gets my vote. It's such an important part of the system. Pick up a copy of the 'Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest. My wife gave me a copy for Christmas. Lots of good info in the book. Enough to confuse you completely. :P __________________ Take the Speaker Voltage Test!

24th May 2009, 04:47 AM	#6
Cal Weldon Speakerholic diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: British Columbia	Photos of the scantily clad one and subsequent posts removed. __________________ Next stop: Margaritaville Some of Cal's stuff \| Cal Weldon Consulting


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24th May 2009, 05:28 AM	#7
Moondog55 diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Norlane; Geelong: Victoria: Australia	Having determined the requirements next is deciding on the ideal dimensions, you can always use the old rule of thumb that the long dimension should be one wavelength of the desired bass frequency or about 10/15 meters long axis __________________ QUOTE" The more I know, the more I know, I know (insert maniacal laugh >here<) NOTHING"

24th May 2009, 05:49 AM	#8
Alex from Oz diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Canberra, Australia	Here's an interesting treatment for a listening room! After you've finished laughing, apply to all four (4) corners of the room and enjoy! http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...07#post1833507 Cheers, Alex __________________ EnABL: block size calculator v2.0 - Listening impressions & techniques - EnABL kit Other: 35 second tune-up (WAV file - 2.95MB) - Groundside electrons

24th May 2009, 08:23 AM	#9
StigErik diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2008	I build myself a LEDE room 12 years ago with a little design help from Lars Tofastrud at Francis Manzella Design Ltd. Its the most important part of my system, and the best investment in audio quality I've ever made. My room is 7x5x3 meters, rectangular shape with sloped ceiling. I have a short article about it here: http://memweb.newsguy.com/~stigerik/...ning_room.html __________________ dipoles dipoles dipoles dipoles dipoles dipoles dipoles dipoles and dipoles

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