Soffit mounting-

RyanC · 17th May 2005, 06:02 AM

Hello-

After all the help I got hear building my first pair of studio monitors (I will never go back to off the shelf crap again), I'm remodeling my studio and I'm looking to start with the most important part- The monitors (and their room).

I have a room (used to be my bedroom) that i am going to turn into my control room. It is 8' cieling, 9.5' wide and about 20' deep. I'm thinking about drivers (I'm an active man myself) for now but the 1st thing I need to get going in my plan is placement and soffit mounting.

So my main question is, what are the benefits of soffit mounting? And what is the optimum wall for this? I can afford to loose a couple of feet say about 3 at the most for the soffit wall. My room will have standing waves now at 30hz in the long direction so-

I want the wall to also be a bass trap (possibly a helmholtz resonator tuned to 30hz) and an equipment rack to show off power amps for the active system.

So should it be flat (the wall) and reflective (drywall)?
Should the speakers be slightly recessed into the wall eg if you were looking at it from the top should it be a sort of \_/ with the speakers in the sides?
should the wall itself be made out of a fir-ed out absorbant material eg semi regid fiberglass or even memory foam (expensive but high nrc ratings at lower frequiecies) or should it be as solid a wall as possible-

Would it be better to build the drivers flush mounted right into the wall? Or better to use somthing to decouple them from it?

Again my point is to have an extreemly consistant room- one where you can walk around and while the imaging might change the overall tonality will remain consistant. Any ideas-

Or should I avoid soffit mounting all together?

Thanks

Ryan

azrix · 17th May 2005, 08:23 AM

Soffit will do away with baffle step issues and so will give you a 6db increase in bass. It might also give you a slightly different reverb sound from one you are used to, because of the lack of wall reflection from behind the speakers. The usual way soffit mounting is acomplished is to take a normal rectangular box speaker and mount it into a recess in a paritially finished wall, get the speakers to a spot where they sound good, and finish the wall around the speakers. Supporting the weight of the speakers in the wall can also be a challenge. Check here for more info: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php And here for more info on acoustics: http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

pinkmouse · 17th May 2005, 08:44 AM

Current practice in recording studios is to have the front wall fairly reflective and solid, with accoustic treatment around the other walls. This means brick or stone. However you may have building issues if this room is not on the ground floor so proper footings can be dug.

If you're investing money and time in this, I would recommend a very good book by Phillip Newell, "Studio Monitoring Design" that goes into a lot of detail about monitors and room accoustics.

RyanC · 18th May 2005, 04:02 AM

Cool-

I just discoverd the johnlsayers website it looks great for room acoustic type stuff. I'm waiting to glean what I can here to before I go post the same thing over there, much to everybodys annoyance.

Anyway

I'm on the 2nd floor so bricks, stone or concrete isn't going to happen. That is what I am trying to figure out- Since I will be building the speakers I can build them into the wall. But I'm just trying to figure out if it is worth doing that or going with good floorstanders.

I have heard soffit mounted speakers and I like the sound but I'm not completely sold that it is better, just different. Especially because my walls would be plywood or MDF (or both) then it may not be as effective. Anyway thanks for the in[put-

RC

conscious · 18th May 2005, 04:44 AM

In addition to the baffle step effect, soffit mounting can really improve:
1. the midrange due to a reduction in diffraction, and
2. soundstaging due to the elimination of reflections from behind the speaker

Here's a link to a nice thread and diagram, with other links as well:
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/ide...ng=&sessionID={FD7BB7CA-BD1D-47FB-AF0E-119D392185FE

Oooh, I just found another one that has some cool software projected responses comparing soffit mounting to different sized baffles:
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/ide...&searchstring=

17th May 2005, 06:02 AM	#1
RyanC diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Denver CO	Soffit mounting- Hello- After all the help I got hear building my first pair of studio monitors (I will never go back to off the shelf crap again), I'm remodeling my studio and I'm looking to start with the most important part- The monitors (and their room). I have a room (used to be my bedroom) that i am going to turn into my control room. It is 8' cieling, 9.5' wide and about 20' deep. I'm thinking about drivers (I'm an active man myself) for now but the 1st thing I need to get going in my plan is placement and soffit mounting. So my main question is, what are the benefits of soffit mounting? And what is the optimum wall for this? I can afford to loose a couple of feet say about 3 at the most for the soffit wall. My room will have standing waves now at 30hz in the long direction so- I want the wall to also be a bass trap (possibly a helmholtz resonator tuned to 30hz) and an equipment rack to show off power amps for the active system. So should it be flat (the wall) and reflective (drywall)? Should the speakers be slightly recessed into the wall eg if you were looking at it from the top should it be a sort of \_/ with the speakers in the sides? should the wall itself be made out of a fir-ed out absorbant material eg semi regid fiberglass or even memory foam (expensive but high nrc ratings at lower frequiecies) or should it be as solid a wall as possible- Would it be better to build the drivers flush mounted right into the wall? Or better to use somthing to decouple them from it? Again my point is to have an extreemly consistant room- one where you can walk around and while the imaging might change the overall tonality will remain consistant. Any ideas- Or should I avoid soffit mounting all together? Thanks Ryan

17th May 2005, 08:44 AM	#3
pinkmouse diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Chatham, England	Current practice in recording studios is to have the front wall fairly reflective and solid, with accoustic treatment around the other walls. This means brick or stone. However you may have building issues if this room is not on the ground floor so proper footings can be dug. If you're investing money and time in this, I would recommend a very good book by Phillip Newell, "Studio Monitoring Design" that goes into a lot of detail about monitors and room accoustics. __________________ Al I conceive of nothing, in religion, science or philosophy, that is more than the proper thing to wear, for a while. Charles Fort

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17th May 2005, 08:23 AM	#2
azrix diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2004	Soffit will do away with baffle step issues and so will give you a 6db increase in bass. It might also give you a slightly different reverb sound from one you are used to, because of the lack of wall reflection from behind the speakers. The usual way soffit mounting is acomplished is to take a normal rectangular box speaker and mount it into a recess in a paritially finished wall, get the speakers to a spot where they sound good, and finish the wall around the speakers. Supporting the weight of the speakers in the wall can also be a challenge. Check here for more info: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php And here for more info on acoustics: http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

18th May 2005, 04:02 AM	#4
RyanC diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Denver CO	Cool- I just discoverd the johnlsayers website it looks great for room acoustic type stuff. I'm waiting to glean what I can here to before I go post the same thing over there, much to everybodys annoyance. Anyway I'm on the 2nd floor so bricks, stone or concrete isn't going to happen. That is what I am trying to figure out- Since I will be building the speakers I can build them into the wall. But I'm just trying to figure out if it is worth doing that or going with good floorstanders. I have heard soffit mounted speakers and I like the sound but I'm not completely sold that it is better, just different. Especially because my walls would be plywood or MDF (or both) then it may not be as effective. Anyway thanks for the in[put- RC

18th May 2005, 04:44 AM	#5
conscious diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Vancouver Island	In addition to the baffle step effect, soffit mounting can really improve: 1. the midrange due to a reduction in diffraction, and 2. soundstaging due to the elimination of reflections from behind the speaker Here's a link to a nice thread and diagram, with other links as well: http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/ide...ng=&sessionID={FD7BB7CA-BD1D-47FB-AF0E-119D392185FE Oooh, I just found another one that has some cool software projected responses comparing soffit mounting to different sized baffles: http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/ide...&searchstring=