Hi, guys. Iam using this opportunity to describe my system and to solicit advice on possible improvements to my listening room. I am remodeling my home right now, and the wife said I can do whatever I want ot the HT room. The "HT room" is simply an garage that was converted to a living room many years ago. It is basically rectangular and about 25 X 30. Mexican tile floor damped with large rugs. Basic painted sheetrock walls and ceiling.

The system is as follows:

Mits 65" WS rear projection w/ HD
Outlaw 950 pre/pro
Outlaw 770 amp
Mirage OM 5 fronts
Mirage HTD center
Mirage HTD surrounds (4)
Mirage BP400 sub
Denon DV5900 combo player (DVD, SACD, DVD-A)
Outlaw ICBM
Mits S-VHS-ET VHS
Sony DVD recorder
DISH Network HD receiver
DVDO IScan Ultra video processor
Pioneer 704 LD player
Audio Control Bijou THX Equalizer
Pronto Pro 7000 remote

I am not looking to do any component upgrades right now, but rather am interested in learning what I can do to improve my room acoustics. I am truly in the dark about this, and if there are any suggestions from anyone about things I could do (they can even be "drastic" or "dramatic," depending on if you speak "husband-speak" or "wife-speak"). If youdo have a suggestion, I would appreciate references to specific vendors. If that is not considered kosher on the board, I willbe happy to email you if you leave an email address.

Thanks for any input. BTW - remodeling is hell. Six months of dust, curtains and fast food is anticipated!

Mike

Mike, I envy you for having such a good size room to do this.
Here’s a company that carries acoustic panels.
http://www.silentsource.com/fwpanels-fabritec.html
If you do a search in the Saloon, you will find a few threads on room acoustics.

Good luck and please let the gunslingers know how it went.

For a little different type of panel, try out these guys. Their product is meant more for the pro audio market but it's definitely the same idea.

www.realtraps.com

The other thought is to check out this website:

www.revolutionhometheater.com

They've recently posted some articles by Bob Hodas who designs listening rooms for people. I think there are also links from there to websites of other companies that design home theater rooms. Since it sounds like you can start from basically the ground up, the design route may be the better approach. The panels will definitely help but they're more of a fix than a total solution.

Hope this helps...

Thanks for the tips! This is going to be a drawn out process for me (the HT room will probably be one of the last rooms they get to). I admittedly have a lot to learn. I am not even sure how to start deciding how to apply the panels, tubes, etc. But I will check the net for "general" advice as well. Thanks again!

Mike

you could hang some thick curtains around the room. i just read a review of a guy that went to the ces 2004 and he was talking about everyones wall treatment and how he hated the way it changed the characteristics of the music. it was on avsforum you can find it there somewhere. my point is not to go overboard with the treatments, you could save all that $$ and do something else that would make a lot more impact.

Thick curtains...man...I really have to remember that one.

Curtains would be a quick compromise that while reducing some high end frequencies in the room, they would probably not do much for overall system continuity. I will admit that acoustics does take a bit of luck ontop of the science involved thus somebody finding good results from just adding curtains probably just got lucky.



While it is true that people do go overboard with treatments, proper treatment of your listening space will make a bigger difference in your system than almost anything else. The only downfall is that after treatment you might actually hear what your system really does sound like. Scary thought for some...




[This message has been edited by Jason J (edited January 14, 2004).]

"While it is true that people do go overboard with treatments, proper treatment of your listening space will make a bigger difference in your system than almost anything else."

Anything else refers to what? I can't think of a better place to put room treatment than dead last on my list of priorities for better sound, oh wait maybe the color of paint is last... If your equipment is junk it will sound that way no matter how much you spruce the room up. That's like covering a turd with some chocolate, oh it might look like a candy bar, but once you get past the sweet outside it still tastes like poop.

Nice analogy. Since I have never tasted poop I can't contribute to that thread but I will attest to the fact that sometimes achieving great room acoustics is the result of just plain witch-craft. Not far from where I live is the Troy Music Hall. You would bet your bottom dollar that the acoustics whould be terrible based on its appearance and yet is has nation wide acclaim for its accoustics. Yet there is a another hall in Schenectady which has spent a fortune in its design for acoustics and it sounds medicore. Go figure! So I don't know what to tell you mgdurand. You can research and plan all you want but you won't realize the fruits of your efforts until you spin that first disc. Not very comforting comments when you are spending thousands of dollars.

Room acoustics can be dealt with pretty inexpensively -- something as simple as adding an area rug to a room with hardwood floors, for example. It can make a very big difference in the process, which is the point that I think Jason J was making in his last post, and it doesn't necessarily require spending big bucks on custom-made bass traps and decorative absorbing panels. I think curegeorg is underestimating the value of considering the space's acoustics. Spiker (an architect by day) was just commenting on how mistakes in room acoustics completely ruined the demonstration of some high-dollar Mark Levinson gear.

In performance spaces such as theaters, acoustical design can be very, very quirky -- I've done HVAC design in several such spaces (TV and radio recording studios, two chapels, and some work on a college theater), and there are a ton of factors to consider. Not merely the shape of the space but also construction materials, adjacent spaces, ambient noise from outside, noise from building systems (dimmers, air conditioning), ... In a home theater, it is typically a good deal less complicated (if only because a lot of the variables are already locked into something).

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited January 16, 2004).]

Thanks for dissuading me from the notion that I was just missing something. I am a planner by nature, and I have been reading as much as possible on this topic, but I could not figure out how you can plan for room treatment ahead of time (how many panels? what type of panels? tubes? where to place them?). I may have arrived at the point of letting the construction move along and then making a small move at a time (rug here - curtains there - then move on to the more escoteric). Thanks to all for the views.

Mike