Finally, I'll be able to have my listening room

Thanks. It may work

 

Before spending money on diffusion, look into it. My understanding after looking at diffusion is that it is most effective when there is distance of 8 ft between diffusion and the listener. I was only going to be 3 feet or so.

Suggest you read the white paper on the Decware site that's referenced in the other thread.

Should have mentioned my room is exactly 12X12X8.

 

Looks great!
Keep tweaking and you'll have endless hours/days/years of fun ahead

 

Cranking the tunes in my room as we speak, thinking of you!!!

 

Thanks. The white paper is an interesting reading.

I've also done a search on diffusion and have found different opinions on the subject. IIRC, the panels I'm going to purchase next month are a combination of diffusion and absorption, so I think I'm good

 

Congratulations! There's nothing like having a dedicated listening room. I would also say put some absorption behind the listening position ...

 

Thanks

That's going to be my next step

 

The 6A Alpha panels arrived yesterday and are mounted on the wall

I've noticed an amazing improvement: no flutter echo, bigger soundstage, separation of instruments... One thing, though. It seems that the music sounds a little "veiled" (for lack of a better word) or else I have to get used to the new sound. Maybe I took care of the high frequencies and mids and I hear the bass frequencies all over the room? I don't know, but I'm a bit afraid of placing more absorption on the ceiling (my next move) and getting a sound too dull.

 

Looks really nice, the Alpha panels. I do believe that having a panel behind is the right thing. However, you might want to experiment with removing some of the other panels. Combined with record shelves and curtains, maybe your room has a little to much damping already? I once borrowed a truckload of damping foam, and the owner advised me to cover as much as I could. However, that took the life out of the music. A few strategically placed foam plates worked much better.

Which finish are your Alpha panels, particularly the cloth?

 

Thanks However, my wife thinks I'm going to make the room smaller with those "things". Thankfully, she still doesn't know I intend to mount more panels on the ceiling!

Regarding the veiled sound, it seems is record dependent and sometimes some frequencies. I need to do more critical listening before reaching to a conclusion. All of my life I have put my system in subpar rooms and now that I'm starting to get its actual potential (still a long way to go, but heading in the right direction) is difficult for me to process everything

The panel is beech wood veneer and the cloth is EJ173 Austen (Neutral) - Standard

 

Try separating the panels a bit couple inches at a time. Same song, same sitting. Maybe that'll make a difference?

 

Thanks

Do you mean the ones that are mounted on the wall? Unfortunately, those are difficult to move. The freestanding panels, on the other hand, are easy to handle

 

Either. Now that you have enough pieces it may be to your advantage to try moving them around and see if the acoustics change.

 

Nice work, pitro.

One additional thought - have you filled those speaker stands? If able to. I was pretty shocked at the effect it had on my D2s, especially bass-tightening.

Might also want play around with the position and angle of the speakers again. I found treatments altered what seems optimal.

 

Thanks. They're already filled And yes, I'm playing around with the position of the speakers. However, despite my room being an irregular shape, they seem to sound better if I follow the Cardas speaker placement calculator

 

Nice one.

 

After a few days of critical listening, I can say the sound has improved a lot. Even my wife, who is not an audiophile, notices it. She still insists I'm going to make the room smaller with so many things, though
Anyway, there's still a bit of flutter echo. If I clap my hands standing in the middle of the speakers, I hear it coming from the front wall (and I guess from the ceiling, too). It's not as loud as before, though. There's none if I clap my hands from my listening position.

 

I have a 8 speaker surround, in a room with a 22 foot ceiling ....the system fills the room. It was constructed by 3 sound engineers over a period of a day and a half...I always dreamed of the scenario....and it came true...this room takes my mind off of any issues of the day.

 

Same here. I always try to find time to be in my room

 

Yeah, I'd add more absorption panels. I disagree with the poster who said you might have too much damping; I think you don't have nearly enough (especially with the wood floors and lots of hard surfaces on the walls). Personally, I don't want to have a room that slathers echo and reverb over everything anymore than I want that from a component in my system, but others like an active room.

 

Hi - Can I ask what cd shelves you are using? The more I read these forums the more I buy (For better or worse)...now need to buy more shelving.

 

I had most of them made by a carpenter and bought the rest at Media Markt: Europe’s Number one consumer electronics retailer and other shops. However, I don't think they are on sale anymore

 

With nothing on the wall behind the speakers, hearing that echo between them seems right. That is a large, hard surface back there. Maybe you could place some diffusion on that wall. How about a plant or two? As a trial, you could have a couple people stand there; I used my grandsons for this purpose once. They thought I was crazy. The things we do for this hobby

 

There is one thing to be careful about here. It is possible to make a room too dead. Sometimes a few hard surfaces are good to keep around. Your sound deadening right besides the speakers to dampen the initial reflection should help a lot. But the deadening at the back of the room, while it looks great, has the potential to suck the life out of the sound. And adding it to the ceiling will probably be way too much.

IMO you should apply deadening as it is needed, rather than simply assume that more deadening is better, because it isn't. It's a balancing act, and anochoric chambers sound truly horrid. But each room is different, so it is always an experiment trying to find the optimal speaker placement and the perfect amount, and placement of sound deadening materials. So don't be afraid to remove some of your room treatments if you notice that the sound becomes lifeless. Also don't be afraid to move your couch to the best sounding listening position. The sweet spot could well be further back than you have it. But let your ears tell you what is best, not the aesthetics.