Room Treatments

Good point, I had forgotten about diffration. Yes that can generate energy in the range where these thin types of absorbers start to work. Although, by the time is has diffracted and propagated back to the wall then to the listener, I can't see it being at a high enough level to do any real damage.

Many modern designs seem to have the sharp diffraction edges of old under control so maybe it's less of an issue than it was anyway.

In my listening room, I have measured higher levels of sound energy from the reflections off the rear wall than from the actual direct signal from the speakers. Things generally sound great though as your ear/brain is clever at integrating all this - would prefer it wasn't at such a high level there though!

 

Sound on Sound is doing a big feature on room treatment this month.

 

Well, remember that the definition of far-field listening is where the reverberant energy is greater than the direct. So you are listening in the far-field, many studios have far-field monitors and its not a problem as long as the energy is presented in the right way. i.e. you can have a large amount of reverberant sound provided the initial-delay-gap is well defined so it won't smear the detail of the recording ambiance. Usually this means having a bigger listening room than the recording venue, or treating first reflection points.

From what you say though, it sounds like you have a lot of first reflection energy from the rear wall which is probably a bit unpleasant.

I still prefer near or mid field listening in any case.

 

Simon,

have you any experience of RPG Modex traps? I like the idea of a relatively small, narrow band treatment that can be integrated into the living room.

 

I haven't used them but I know what they will work like since my Confidence units are very similar in operation.

They should work very well but you will probably want more than one unit per side if you go for the 2ft x 2ft ones. 2 per side minimum I'd say.

Also make sure you buy the ones that are tuned to the right frequency, or alternatively buy a slightly different frequency for each pair to get wider-band treatment. The downside of the RPG ones being highly tuned is that if you move rooms, or re-arrange stuff and the modal excitation changes you might want different traps. So keep it in mind.

 

Thanks Simon,

I've been looking at four of the 40hz units - I have a dominant mode at centred at 41hz caused by the room width. I'm so aware of the room being the limiting factor and have been meaning to do something for years.

 

Yes, the rooms "appears" wrong in so many ways but it sounds so right for some reason.

I have had a few listeners through here in the 12 months it has been set up and they all have the same reaction. My last visitor was a colleague from our company in Australia. He's seen far more control rooms and serious pro set-ups than me and he sneared at the room arrangement (as I did initially). Then I turned it on, he went all quiet and spent about 30mins requesting familiar tracks. He was as confused by the whole set-up as I am. There is definately one location where it all snaps into place and has some elements of mid-field control room monitoring about it.

I think I have finally learnt what the word synergy means. Problem is, this set-up is getting moved to a much larger room in 6-9 months and I fear the magic may be lost.