BB4TB, how do you know if your room treatments are working? I am asking form the point of view of - this is something I have never done, have no experience with and am a little confused as to what to buy, how to use it affectly, that sort of thing. I mean, can you start out small work your way up seeing/hearing results along the way. Can you really hear the difference by hanging some foam on the wall or in the corners? How do you know you have a problem to begin with? How does a guy sitting in a 5.1 room with an SPL meter in hand figure out he has room treatment problems?

Let's face it, I can sneak another component into the rack, but this is re-decorating, by God.

To know what has changed in a room following any changes, we’re back to some testing, either by some analysis software (for a more complete picture) or at least the ol’ RS SPL meter.

For subwoofer placement and low frequency room treatment, using some free tone generating software, one could run a slow sweep from about 20Hz to 80 Hz and get a rough idea of where any ‘booming’ or ‘missing’ frequencies might be. Then pick some individual steady test tones in the problem ranges and get an idea of where some of the trouble spots are by walking through the room watching the SPL meter rise and fall. Try an adjustment of placement or treatment and then repeat the testing to see if the response at the trouble frequencies has become more even as one moves the meter around the room.

If you’re not sure what the benefits of a treatment will be, do you have something already around the house that could be used temporarily to simulate the real thing?

A good while back someone in this forum was having issues with a center speaker on top of a projection television and was unsure if the resulting visual interference was magnetic, electronic or a physical interconnection. For the sake of diagnosis I suggested folding a bath towel and placing under the speaker so that vibration from the speaker would not be easily transferred to the television. That solved the problem, so this particular Outlaw ordered something designed for the purpose and better looking than a folded bath towel.

To experiment with bass traps, try one or more mattresses from a single bed standing upright and gently leaning against a chair such that the mattress is almost diagonally in the corner, with a few inches gap on either side so that some sound can get around the mattress. Drape a soft blanket over the front and back of the mattress and chair.

To experiment with damping higher frequency reflections, try beach towels hanging like folded drapes in certain places along the walls, perhaps using the ‘mirror’ technique to determine trial locations.

Yes, mattresses and towels are not the best compared to products designed for the purpose, but if you note some positive improvement with mattresses, blankets and towels, then obtaining the correct treatments should only be better. I think there was a positive experience related by one or more Outlaws in a forum topic called something like 'DIY Room Treatments.'

And, yes, I’m sorry to say that the kind of treatments that will reduce reflections and standing waves will have to be introduced into the environment, potentially disturbing the current arrangement of furniture or 'redecorating.' If that is going to cause WW3 in your household, then do what you can with some adjustments to placement and let peace prevail.

Hey MeanGene, good to here from you again. You know even doing the bare minimum of treatment for your room can make some pretty cool improvements in your sound. I experimented with just the basic level of room treatment a few years ago in a rental house and got some pretty positive results.

Anyway, There is a lot to cover on this topic and Ethan Winer does a great job at it. Far better than I could ever do. Here is a link to his site with tons of good information on this issue.

http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

E'pin Sen Ob,
What a smookin' site.
Thanks.

Cool tmdlp, glad you liked it. Ethan Winer has a lot of sound advice. I only wish I knew half of what he knows.