My Listening room is very Bright - Are Acoustic Panels my Answer?

[Lasareath]

Hello All,

My living room is very bright, Hardwood floors, only a couple of curtains, are Acoustic Panels my answer?

Trey told me I should look into GIK Acoustic Panels, the site looks good, but can I just buy some sonex and put fabric over them?

Thanks all for your input.

Sal

[wingnut4772]

That should help. Also try Real Traps. They work very well.

[honda cber]

My living room is very bright, Hardwood floors, only a couple of curtains, are Acoustic Panels my answer?

yes, probably...

i went the DIY route, which is an upgrade from the fugly aurelex foam i was using before. 2" thick rigid fiberglass, framed in 1x4", and covered with poly batting (it is thin, but really smooths out the fabric wrap) and fabric picked out by the lovelier occupant of the house. works really really well. are there any other placement options in your room? i looked at your pic and saw the speaks almost in the corners. i would guess that a decent bass trap (you can use the same materials) will make a large difference in your room. the fiberglass is on ebay most of the time, and where i got mine from. the case of 6 pieces ran a little less than $100 shipped.

try this: flea-bay search

a

[madmax]

Get some cheap mattress pad and tack it around the room. That will give you an idea of where you are and where you could go. Of course remove it and do in a better way afterwards. Always better to experiment with something cheap to figure out what you want to do.
madmax

[Lasareath]

Thanks everyone for your posts, Pearsall001 directed me to this site http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat--ATS...nels--100.html and I like the way they look and cost. Does anybody have any from this manufacturer?

Sal

[Lasareath]

Well, I just bought 6 panels.

(2) 48" x 48" x 4" Black

And

(4) 24" x 48" x 4" Black

Came out to $477 shipped. I will post pics when I get them. and then let everyone know how they effect my sound in my room.

Sal

[honda cber]

wow, that is a good deal... hard to build 'em for that kind of bread, and you cant feck up (measurements, wrapping, etc) when someone else is making them.

i will be very interested to see a close-up pic of their construction. i guarantee that they will make a difference for the better, though 64 sq.ft. x 4" might be a bit much if your room is as small as it seems in your pic... too much is better than not enough, since you can move/remove them as needed.

for example, the desk in my basement studio is in a very acoustically dead area; so much so, in fact, that sometimes my mixes end up on the bright side from the compensation. still, it is leaps and bounds better than my previous space which had somewhat severe low and mid bass room problems (was much smaller area), and made mixing unpredictable for "normal" playback.

will you be putting any in the corners? seems like their open-backed models might be ideal for corner trapping. can really make a huge difference.
a

[michael_w]

Get an area rug to throw between you and the speakers. It'll tame it down a LOT. Kills the hardwood feel and look, but it should sound better if them being bright is a concern if yours.

[Phil Dawson]

Throw rugs are great and you might also go for some stuffed couches/love seats/easy chairs. I have also found that bookcases with the books pulled out to different levels can improve the sound and get rid of standing waves. You might also try hanging rugs or some other type of cloth such as a patterned quilt or two. Is there a wife factor involved? Even paintings on canvas can help to quiet the room down and often you have some of this stuff laying around the house.
Good luck, Phil

[Lasareath]

wow, that is a good deal... hard to build 'em for that kind of bread, and you cant feck up (measurements, wrapping, etc) when someone else is making them.

i will be very interested to see a close-up pic of their construction. i guarantee that they will make a difference for the better, though 64 sq.ft. x 4" might be a bit much if your room is as small as it seems in your pic... too much is better than not enough, since you can move/remove them as needed.

for example, the desk in my basement studio is in a very acoustically dead area; so much so, in fact, that sometimes my mixes end up on the bright side from the compensation. still, it is leaps and bounds better than my previous space which had somewhat severe low and mid bass room problems (was much smaller area), and made mixing unpredictable for "normal" playback.

will you be putting any in the corners? seems like their open-backed models might be ideal for corner trapping. can really make a huge difference.
a

Honda,

I will submit close up pictures when I get them. This manufacturer’s website has a room calculator that will tell you how many panels you need based on your room's size and its materials.

They said I need (22) 24 x 48 x 2" panels, since my panels are all 4" thick they are equivalent to 16 of their 24 x 48 x 2" panels. so i only need another 6!

I will eventually buy them and place them on the ceiling over my listening chair at a 45 degree angle.

My room is 15' by 15'

Sal

[Lasareath]

Get an area rug to throw between you and the speakers. It'll tame it down a LOT. Kills the hardwood feel and look, but it should sound better if them being bright is a concern if yours.

I wish I could, I have 4 cats, all white haired, they love tearing up carpet and my dog thinks carpet is the same as her wee wee pads.

[pearsall001]

You're to a great start. Don't forget to look into bass traps & diffusion panels. The combo of all 3, absorption, bass traps, & diffusion really do the trick. Have fun with it but get it all done before the wife to be changes her mind.

[Lasareath]

The (4) 24" x 48" x 4" Panels have arrived. Here's some picture of the 1st panel going up.

[honda cber]

nice. i like:
the bevel on the edges.
the mounting system.
the way they look next your towers!

have you gotten them all up yet? big difference, eh? like a new pair of speakers, right? room treatments were easily the best thing i have ever bought or done for my listening and recording areas, save for discovering large-diaphragm condensers, lol.

a

[Lasareath]

nice. i like:
the bevel on the edges.
the mounting system.
the way they look next your towers!

have you gotten them all up yet? big difference, eh? like a new pair of speakers, right? room treatments were easily the best thing i have ever bought or done for my listening and recording areas, save for discovering large-diaphragm condensers, lol.

a

I just finished hanging them but I'm late for work. They'll have to wait for extreme listening.

[Lasareath]

The 48" by 48" are here!

Check out how big they are!

I'm going to mount them over my windows in my living room. I never open these windows and I have black plastic bags taped over the windows to help block out the sunlight.

I may need 1 more 48x48 since I have 3 windows,

I most likely will buy around 8 to 10 more 24x48x4's

Sal

[PolkThug]

If you deaden the room too much, you might not like the sound either, ala truth vs beauty.

[Lasareath]

If you deaden the room too much, you might not like the sound either, ala truth vs beauty.

Yea, i thought about this. I figured that if I get to that point I will just sell some panels off. I'm sure I can get rid of them at the next polk fest ;)

Or I can just Karma them away!

Sal

[Lasareath]

Here's something funny that happened today:

I went into NYC to pick up some money from a few clients and I went to this one client and they just set up a video recording room and one of the partners wanted to show it to me.

Guess what was hanging on the walls?, like 10 to 12 24x48x2" ivory colored ATS panels, wow that's a coincidence!

Sal

[Lasareath]

Here's the 48x48x4 over my window that is closest to my left 1.2TL

There are 3 windows and I will most likely buy 1 more 48x48 but for now I only have 2, so I must choose which window to put the 2nd one over.

Which one would you do?, the other angled wall (the mirrored window of the 1st window) or the middle one where the air conditioner is?

Sal

[Lasareath]

I'm really liking this system from ATS.

The mounting hardware is so easy to use.

They give you so many hangers, different screws for wood and screws for sheet-rock. They also give you those little plastic expansion inserts that you put into gypsum walls when you can't find a stud.

The Hangers are very easy to use. I used the instructions only on the 1st panel and thereafter I did the rest on my own.

Below are 3 pictures, I moved my speakers away from the front wall because the bass was a little boomy. But now I needed move the panel forward around 8 inches. So I just mounted two more hangers.

I used my 36" level and marked off two locations with a sharpie and then I just drilled 2" screws directly into my walls (my house has lats and plaster)

The panels are very simple to mount.

I will be doing listening test throughout the week and will let you all know what I think.

Sal

[Ern Dog]

Very impressive looking pannels. Can't wait to hear about your listening test.

[Lasareath]

Well, I watched one Movie last night and I think the dialogue was clearer and the bass was tigther and cleaner. But I'm not sure with only 6 panels (Four 24x48x4 & Two 48x48x4) so far it would be very cool if there's an improvement.

I did not want to buy too many at first, I really wanted to buy some and put them up and see what happens and then buy more if I need them.

This week I will test with Movies and Music and I will post my results.

BTW, I placed the other 48x48x4 over the other angled window. It's actually just sitting up there, it's resting on the window sill and is wedged between the cd rack that is screwed to the wall and the corner of the room. So the middle window of the bow has no treatments.

Sal

[dlifesjrny]

Yeah Hi!

Remember when I was over there and I commented that the treble was just bouncing the f&*k all over the place? - I am assuming you now have a better, clearer sense of stereo positioning.

I would also guess there's less of a "jumble" between the treble & midrange...and hopefully this is making the bass come through even punchier.

Enjoy!

[hearingimpared]

Upgrade you crossovers Sal and that brightness will melt away!

[Face]

I hit the fabric store and Home Depot to make my own this week, I can't wait.

[Lasareath]

Upgrade you crossovers Sal and that brightness will melt away!

Joe,

Maybe, The big problem is I can't have mellow sounding 1.2tl because they are used in my HT setup. Star Wars would really suck if the sound was all mellow.

I think I like the crisp bright sound of the original crossovers. When I get a SACD player I will buy a few SACD's and I'll see if it's too bright.

Right now I am very happy with the way they sound. My number 1 think to do now is put them in a room with a 20 foot wall.

Sal

[Lasareath]

I hit the fabric store and Home Depot to make my own this week, I can't wait.

What are you using for the sound dampening material?

Owens Corning?, Mineral wool?

Each 24" by 48" by 4" panel from ATS costs $63.55 shipped.

How much do you think you can make yours for?

For $63.55 I couldn't say no to ordering them, they were just so low priced it wasn't worth it for me to build a frame, buy material, load up 4" of owens cornings sheets and staple the material. Way too much work for only 64 bucks!

Plus make sure you use gloves or you'll be itching all day.

Sal

[Lasareath]

Yeah Hi!

Remember when I was over there and I commented that the treble was just bouncing the f&*k all over the place? - I am assuming you now have a better, clearer sense of stereo positioning.

I would also guess there's less of a "jumble" between the treble & midrange...and hopefully this is making the bass come through even punchier.

Enjoy!

Yeah Hi!

[I-SIG]

Sal,

I just saw that ATS put your pictures on their page. Congrats and nice stuff.

When the tax return gets here (or maybe a little before ;)) I'm gonna buy 8-Coffee series (dining room/far away back wall), 6-Ivory 24x48x2 (mostly for the the ceiling), 2-Ivory 24x24x4 (open back for a bass trap), 3-Sand Squares 24x24x2.

All these will be for first reflection points. I have a lot of sheetrock and tile, so I'm starting with nearly all first reflection points.

Wes