Introduction come Room treatment advice

[fishball79]

Hiya,

I found this forum sometime ago but decided to join today I'm a 22yr old, currently serving my compulsory military service (20 more months) in Singapore. Likes solid state affairs, jazz, alternative, classical and rock.

My current system comprises of:-

[list = A]
[*]Denon DCD2880 CD Player
[*]Dynaudio Contour 1.3SE Bookshelf speakers on some Rovan 5 pillar stands
[*]Made in China Mosfet integrated 80wpc (great sounding but on loan too)
[*]Goertz Micropurl Silver interconnects
[*]Goertz MI1 speaker cables (on loan)
[*]DIY Teflon/copper shielded Power cords
[/list]

As you can see i dont have my own amplifier at the moment as i attempted to DIY one but blew up the $$$ transformers and now is recouping the losses before i go at it again.

It is also a very 'bare' system as I am slowly listing out and saving up for modifications. Nothing will be spare! > I also have diy speaker cables and interconnects but not using them at the moment as i have a pair of Goertz MI1 on loan.

I will be moving into a new room soon and would like to make some preparations acoustically. Its is a 12'x9' room in an apartment with tile floor. One short wall as the door and cupboard, the other windows. The room has 41.966hz, 60.585hz & 70.563hz as its resonant frequencies. You can see the schematics of the room here -> http://www.geocities.com/deepfriedsotongball/room.gif

It is ALSO my bedroom so there'll be a 6'x3' bed and a small computer table.

I would like u guys to reccomend me on speaker placement as well as cheap room treatment stuff. Am currently sourcing for some eggcrate foams from thailand to use for acoustic panels. Feel free to comment on my setup/room/me

 

[Super]

Jon Risch's website has a few examples of DIY room treatment projects, including sound absorbing acoustic panels and DIY bass traps. These can be found here: http://members.nbci.com/Jon_Risch/

One thing I would do, if you have a tile floor, is to buy a cheap area rug to put on the floor in front of the speakers. You can get some nasty reflections coming off of hardwood floors. To help reduce standing waves, you can buy some of those ridiculously expensive foam corner traps, or simply hang a heavy sheet or blanket in the room corners.

In terms of speaker placement, this may require some time. Any objects in between them may cause need for further adjustment (i.e, a television). Some speakers need more room to "breathe" where as others can be placed closer to walls. I would suggest having the speakers no less than a meter from both rear and side walls, but I would not suggest having them equadistant from the side and rear walls. I find that this can do some nasty things with room resonances. But again, this is going to be a matter of playing with them.

But considering that your room's main resonant frequencies are so low, I would suggest looking into Jon Risch's bass traps. They're cheap, easy, and can aid in damping different frequencies depending on how large you make them.

Regards

Bryan

 

[fishball79]

Yes I have been looking into Jon Risch's recipes for a while. I intend to make a pair of bass traps based on his recipe but as for side walls and corner panels i am thinking of some eggcrate shaped 2lb/ft cube dense foam.

I might or might not use fibreglass for panels and carpeting as they would heat up the room. Being in Singapore and lack of air conditioning, carpets and fibreglass panels might increase the temperature of the already hot climate... what do you think?


[Edited by fishball79 on 09-18-2001 at 10:24 AM]

 

[Super]

The fiberglass panels maybe, but you can keep them to a minimal size. You dont necessarily have to use heavy carpet. A thin area rug in the space between you and your listening rug shouldn't doesn't really make a difference temperature-wise, and it can make a huge difference. If you cant use fiberglass, look for other heavily textured (in my opinion, fairly dense) materials like the egg-crate foam that items come packaged in. Even some lighter materials like batting (the stuff used to make blankets and some pillows poofy) can be good for high frequency absorbtion. I've even heard of people staggering lots and lots of books around their room to diffuse the sound. If you do end up buying the foam panels, make sure not to line them up directly across from each other when placed on the walls. They should be staggered, as to diffuse the sound better. Good luck.

 

[chris ma]

I am using 9 of these foam panels measure 24"X48" each, placed 4 as in the picture, 2 in the front wall above the TV screen, and 3 on the other side wall.

Got into big trouble with the wife, but she accepted the fact that when I told her she sound better in the room when yelling at me.

 

[BrianGT]

Chris, I am looking to build similar type panels. Where did you get the materials from? What exactly did you use?

Thanks.

--
Brian

 

[chris ma]

Brian,

These panels come as is. I like this one is because it has a fine carpet like surface and different colour to chose from (mine is rose pink) others are just gray or brown.
It has been more than two years now, once I dig out the paper work I'll post it, I found it on the web. I remember it came in 2 boxes, 6 pieces for each box, I imported it from the State, it end up costing me just around $110cdn each including shipping.

Chris

 

[chris ma]

FOAM

Brian,

Lost the invoice, but found the site, the ones that I am suing is the 2 inches thickness and pink rose since my walls are painted in dusty rose.

Here is the link to the ones that I ordered.

http://www.illbruck-sonex.com/pdf/p_sonextextile_panels.pdf

It was cheaper to buy it from Illbruck than Sonex, eventhough it is Sonex product.

Happy shopping,
Chris

 

[chris ma]

Notice the corner in the picture posted above there is a 50" tall shape like a christmas tree corner treatment to absorb bass. It really is just a wire mesh for tomato plants, cover with a neated blanket of wool by my wife of course and inside the mesh are all my old clothes like soft sweaters, jumpers, T-shirts stuffed full from the ground all the way up to the top...It is a cheap alternative than a tube trap. I have one in each corner. Before I put this up in the room I always complain there was not enough bass and it was very soft if any, normally corners enhance bass, but for my room the corners seems to cancel the bass badly. Now is much better defined.

For you folks want to deal with DIY foams please consider their fire rating, some can be deadly or easily caught fire and release deadly smoke. Do not just use any foam... check please..

My 2 cents

 

[Ken L]

Book Shelves

With a variety of books in them are an excellent and cheap room treatment device

They are most frequently placed in the corners opposite the speakers with their full width and the books facing the drivers or in a similar position directly behind the the speakers

Hope this helps

Ken L