Room Acoustics

[systemerror909]

Just wanted to put up a post to explain my new dilemna, I just moved into my new dorm room and to my horror, the acoustics SUCK!!

I was excited when I first got in because I noticed very tall ceilings (9ft or more) and all the walls made out of cinderblocks. I remember seeing some exotic speaker designs made with concrete and was hoping that it would be better than my bedroom at home with it's drywall. Basically though the walls act like mirrors for the sound, the bass being a particular problem.

My setup is a Sony CDP CA70es, early 90's pioneer reciever and a pair of wharfedale 8.2's, all of which I am very happy with.

Hopefully in a couple days I'll post a pic of the setups i've tried so far, some were much better than others, but still not as good as at home. I'm looking into buying some foam insulation panels from home depot in the next few days to try to tame this beast. Any suggestions/recommendations would be welcome.

[Volenti]

http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

You'll want basstraps, and lots of them.

[filgor]

If you cant afford bass traps (they are usually unreasonably expensive) then any large blocks of soft foam will do the trick.

Another pragmatic option is to hang a heavy curtain on one or more walls. This option is a lot cheaper and curtains if heavy enough can actually take energy out of bass waves quicker than Bass traps due to the fact that they have such a high surface area. When a wave hits a curtain it delivers a large amount of its kinetic energy to the fabric which absorbs the energy very quickly.

Hifi places like to sell bass traps because they can charge lots for them and they would probably disagree that curtains do the job because it will kill their bass trap sales!

For a given amount of surface area bass traps might be better but cost per area may be a bigger issue for you!

[thalis]

Yes, heavy curtains will absorb lower frequencies but in the same time they will absorb mid and high frequencies in a greater amount. In the end he will have the about same reverberation slope and comparative room frequency response. A cheap diaphragm construction would be perhaps better. Either plasterboard or thin mdf or plywood, preferably with some pitching, lightly braced, 10-12 cm cavity and some absorbent material inside, in his roof for instance. In general, the best way to absorb lower frequencies is with heavy and not stiff diaphragms. No special material required either.

Regards,
Thalis

[filgor]

Originally posted by thalis
Yes, heavy curtains will absorb lower frequencies but in the same time they will absorb mid and high frequencies in a greater amount.

Damn right.. It absorbs just about everything. Thats the way I like it!

If you want to keep the room live in the mids and highs a diaphram might be a better option!