Room acoustics

[sheggs]

Thanks I was wondering about it. Some forums like you to declare and some others kick you off if you reveal. I get mized up which is which sometimes! :roll:

 

[PEAYEL]

Not wanting to get too techie, but it is possible to work out your room acoustics with a little knowledge of sound absorption coefficients. This indicates how much of the sound is absorbed into the actual materials that the room is made out of and the furniture, similarly for the reflections. You can use the equation below OR simply look the figures up in those already published and you can arrive at a mean for the room. This is what can be done with listening auditoria and concert halls, you have to include people in your calculations as well.

A = S1 α1 + S2 α2 + .. + Sn αn = ∑ Si αi

where

A = the absorption of the room (m2 Sabine)

Sn = area of the actual surface (m2)

αn = absorption coefficient of the actual surface

Me, as a sound engineer, I did none of this I just 'borrowed' equpiment in my price range until I found kit that I enjoyed and worked in my room and bought it. A big Hi five to audio specialist outlets...........thank you all.

 

[sheggs]

Alternatively to this if it looks a little daunting there is some relaly simple software you can but to measure your room acoustics. They produce graphs which will hsow your nulls and peaks at different hertx and waterfall graphs (demonstrates decay time of each of those waves).

A really good one to use is REW which cna be downloaded for free -

http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

We also have a video tutorial which helps you use this software that is worth checking out -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4uSR3cUUSY&feature=relmfu

And if you are unsure of the reuslts you could post them up here I am sure there a replanty of people who can help

 

[RobinKidderminster]

This should be a sticky thread. So much good advice. Forget the cables & blutac. Go BT.

 

[RickyDeg]

Excellent thead with excellent points! :clap: I do agree that the listening room and how it affects the outcome of the sound reproduction is the most reglected component by most of us. It's weird ain't it? Room EQ can only do so much however great it may be. As much as I like how my current set-up sounds I wish I knew in detail what and how to treat my own room. I'd have to bring in a specialist, I think. My room is a bit tricky for placing absorbers and/or diffusers in, except possibly for the front wall and the ceiling. I only have one side wall with a narrow window across. At the same time it has to look nice and neat, which isn't always the case with those things.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

nice room but minimalistic. Thats not a critisism but it makes room treatment rather tricky I guess. White base traps maybe? Try my 'chuck rw3 at the corners' idea to see if it makes a difference maybe?

 

[RickyDeg]

nice room but minimalistic. Thats not a critisism but it makes room treatment rather tricky I guess. White base traps maybe? Try my 'chuck rw3 at the corners' idea to see if it makes a difference maybe?

Thanks RobinKidderminster!

You are right - having a minimalistic room like mine (and a desire to keep it that way) does make it even more of a challenge (hence me being a questionmark as to what to try). Your suggestions are interesting though! And a solution to hang from the ceiling, perhaps.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

And a solution to hang from the ceiling, perhaps.

I have tried this one but it gives me an awful headache.

Cheers

 

[RobinKidderminster]

I recon RickyDeg that VoodooDoc's setup may be the only way to go but I'd still suggest a quick 'test' to see the difference. Keep us informed.

Cheers