Intrested in peoples setups besides their lists of hardware-cables, and if/how they have improved its acoustics.
Do many of you have a dedicated listening or/and home cinema room rather than a multi-purpose living room? What are its dimensions, floor/wall/ceiling type and and amount of furnishings?
Have many of you measured your room acoustics? What did you use?
Do many of you use acoustic accessories like sound absorbers at the first reflection points on the sidewall-floor-ceiling, diffusers on the rear wall, bass traps in corners? What do you use?
Has what hifi magazine done much coverage of how the listening environment effects the music you hear?
I have a small spare bedroom used as a dedicated home cinema - listening room. It is 113" wide 168" long, with 93" high ceiling. Two walls are exterior plasterboard-gap-breezeblock- stone, two are internal plasterboard-airgap-plasterboard wall. The foor is black cloth over carpet&underlay over wooden floor boards. There a 66"x48" double glazzed window in the middle of the long wall, it is blocked off by curtains - board - black cloth. On the opposite long wall at the rear end of the room is one door and at the other - front end of the wall 24" into the room is a entrance alcove 40" wide and 50" long to another door, the alcove has inbuilt wardrobes each an aditional 24" deep with glass doors (now on the opposite way round so the backs of the mirrors face into the alcove and painted black).
The whole room is black, floor and walls covered in black poly-cotton cloth, doors painted matt black and ceiling out to 108" in black velvet then black cloth, with the area around the projector painted black. On the front 113" wide wall is my 96"x54" painted wall screen dulux lumitec light and space absolute white rich matt. Two each side of the screen on stands are my left and right speakers. 108" into the room is a two seater sofa. In the middle of the rear wall is a cupboard and at ceiling height the projector. In the corners of the rear wall on stands are matching back stereo pair speakers. In the back corner on the same side as the window in the corner of the two exterior walls is my active subwoofer 8" long throw 100watt, it is on top of a paving slab and has another paving slab ontop of it. In the opposite back corner is my equipment rack.
I have tried out poor mans room acoustic adjustments. My speakers and me are in a triangle with me 9ft from each speaker and the speakers 8ft4in from each other measured from the center of the tweeters. My ears are at tweeter height and the speakers are toed in to reduce the effect of the room. The distance of each speaker from the rear and side walls are not within a third of each other, both speakers are at identical distances from walls. I am 38% of the room length from the rear wall to reduce the effect of room modes. A thick rug on the floor half way to the front speakers, a spare double mattress on the wall with the window from the listening postion towards the front speakers, a spare single matteress on the opposite wall after the entrance alcove. So first reflections from the front stereo speakers are absorbed. This improved clarity and made the left and right speakers the same volume without having to adjust the amplifiers balance which I had previously had to do. I also had to now reduce the subwoofer volume. But it sounded too clincal - dead. So I tried adding some more poor mans room acoustic adjustments. I put some concrete rockery blocks which have uneven rippled-ridges surfaces against the back wall on top of the cupboard at ear height and another one at floor height under the center of the screen. These I think act sort of like sound diffusers as they are a uneven surface and concrete is very sound reflective. I know the front wall in a home cinema is suppose to be sound absorbent, but I found adding the diffuser helps make the sound more natural - live. Now the rear stereo pair are also volume equal without adjusting the balance. The sound has kept the extra clarity and now sounds more natural. It sounds noticeably better than it did before my poor mans acoustic adjustments. You can not see any of the mattresses, rug, concrete, as they are under black cloth.
I am thinking of doing proper acoustic measurements and maybe buying or making proper sound absorbers and diffusers and maybe adding bass traps. So am intrested in what other people have done to improve room acoustics.
Do many of you have a dedicated listening or/and home cinema room rather than a multi-purpose living room? What are its dimensions, floor/wall/ceiling type and and amount of furnishings?
Have many of you measured your room acoustics? What did you use?
Do many of you use acoustic accessories like sound absorbers at the first reflection points on the sidewall-floor-ceiling, diffusers on the rear wall, bass traps in corners? What do you use?
Has what hifi magazine done much coverage of how the listening environment effects the music you hear?
I have a small spare bedroom used as a dedicated home cinema - listening room. It is 113" wide 168" long, with 93" high ceiling. Two walls are exterior plasterboard-gap-breezeblock- stone, two are internal plasterboard-airgap-plasterboard wall. The foor is black cloth over carpet&underlay over wooden floor boards. There a 66"x48" double glazzed window in the middle of the long wall, it is blocked off by curtains - board - black cloth. On the opposite long wall at the rear end of the room is one door and at the other - front end of the wall 24" into the room is a entrance alcove 40" wide and 50" long to another door, the alcove has inbuilt wardrobes each an aditional 24" deep with glass doors (now on the opposite way round so the backs of the mirrors face into the alcove and painted black).
The whole room is black, floor and walls covered in black poly-cotton cloth, doors painted matt black and ceiling out to 108" in black velvet then black cloth, with the area around the projector painted black. On the front 113" wide wall is my 96"x54" painted wall screen dulux lumitec light and space absolute white rich matt. Two each side of the screen on stands are my left and right speakers. 108" into the room is a two seater sofa. In the middle of the rear wall is a cupboard and at ceiling height the projector. In the corners of the rear wall on stands are matching back stereo pair speakers. In the back corner on the same side as the window in the corner of the two exterior walls is my active subwoofer 8" long throw 100watt, it is on top of a paving slab and has another paving slab ontop of it. In the opposite back corner is my equipment rack.
I have tried out poor mans room acoustic adjustments. My speakers and me are in a triangle with me 9ft from each speaker and the speakers 8ft4in from each other measured from the center of the tweeters. My ears are at tweeter height and the speakers are toed in to reduce the effect of the room. The distance of each speaker from the rear and side walls are not within a third of each other, both speakers are at identical distances from walls. I am 38% of the room length from the rear wall to reduce the effect of room modes. A thick rug on the floor half way to the front speakers, a spare double mattress on the wall with the window from the listening postion towards the front speakers, a spare single matteress on the opposite wall after the entrance alcove. So first reflections from the front stereo speakers are absorbed. This improved clarity and made the left and right speakers the same volume without having to adjust the amplifiers balance which I had previously had to do. I also had to now reduce the subwoofer volume. But it sounded too clincal - dead. So I tried adding some more poor mans room acoustic adjustments. I put some concrete rockery blocks which have uneven rippled-ridges surfaces against the back wall on top of the cupboard at ear height and another one at floor height under the center of the screen. These I think act sort of like sound diffusers as they are a uneven surface and concrete is very sound reflective. I know the front wall in a home cinema is suppose to be sound absorbent, but I found adding the diffuser helps make the sound more natural - live. Now the rear stereo pair are also volume equal without adjusting the balance. The sound has kept the extra clarity and now sounds more natural. It sounds noticeably better than it did before my poor mans acoustic adjustments. You can not see any of the mattresses, rug, concrete, as they are under black cloth.
I am thinking of doing proper acoustic measurements and maybe buying or making proper sound absorbers and diffusers and maybe adding bass traps. So am intrested in what other people have done to improve room acoustics.
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