Article: A New Listening Room Part One

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, ecwl said:

Cool. @The Computer Audiophile, care to share the UMIK-1 REW measurement of the new room pre-acoustic treatments? Or is that reserved for part 2?

Yes, full measurements of the room in part two. 

 

I also plan to post measurements of my room below every review. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, loop7 said:

Is there a door at the bottom of the stairs to isolate sound from the downstairs or is that not even an issue?

Yes, a solid door at bottom of stairs. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

The room acoustics aren’t in place yet. I received the proposal and I’m moving forward with it. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

16 minutes ago, ednaz said:

I know it might not be a lot of fun, but it WOULD be interesting and educational to see how things measure with different components of the acoustical system installed. I don't mean putting things in and taking them out... but maybe ask Vicoustic to recommend an installation pattern from what they believe will be most impactful to least impactful, and then measure at a couple of different stages. 

 

For our family room in our new house, I had to negotiate the degree to which I included acoustic treatments with my Decorator in Chief.  I had some discussions with architect friends who often design sound studios and performance spaces, to decide what to push hardest, and get some alternative suggestions where the best solution looked - um - industrial. (That's the nicest word used by the Decorator in Chief about some of the recommendations.) That led to my enthusiasm for some decorative drapes made from specific fabrics that were both acoustically and visually agreeable. And, led to me getting a few of my photographs (my part time profession) printed on acoustic panels of the right specs and sizes. Acoustic absorption was the easiest part of the negotiations.

 

We also came to some agreement on diffusion that were pretty creative. We moved furniture around to create a couple of table top and cabinet top "sculpture gardens". We've got carved wood and cast sculptures, some pretty large, from world travels. Now we've got nice displays, not in ideal locations, but close enough. Also moved a couple large carved masks onto walls in the room for some diffusion help, where originally we were going to hang photos.

 

We measured with ears, and the bass traps and back wall absorption (the acoustic panel photos) made huge improvements. We found one recommended bass trap had near zero value, because of a carpeted stairway right next to where it was supposed to go. The diffusion ideas were harder to notice with music, but when we did them, they DID improve my "hand clap" test results.

 

My basement studio and printing workshop are next - a very long, somewhat narrow room, 9 foot ceiling, carpeted floor. I've got some thick Tibetan and Middle Eastern rugs I'm hanging for absorption, another thick one over the carpet up close to the speakers (carpet on concrete wasn't quite enough) and that leftover bass trap now has a home. All made much easier because the speakers I use down there are pretty insensitive to placement - open baffle (effectively dipole) woofers, cardioid mid and tweeters.

 

Thanks for all the info. I'm with your Decorator in Chief :~)

 

I'm not a big fan of making a listening room look like a place one would never want to spend time. I'm working with Vicoustic on colors etc... to make things look good for a reasonable price.

 

Back to your original point about measuring differences between different options. I would love to do that and will plan to do that if it isn't too time consuming. But, it's such valuable information I think I have to do it and write about it. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, miguelito said:

What are you doing with the top? Those beams and ceiling corner look scary.

I'm going to leave the top / ceiling alone for now and see how it turns about. Vicoustic didn't recommend anything for this area.

[The Computer Audiophile]

This kind of like HiFi in general. Some people are all-in on the objective / measurements method while other play it by ear. Within each group there are subgroups with different methods. 

 

For example, Vicoustic does this all day everyday. It’s in their financial interest to recommend more products to me. Yet, they didn’t recommend ceiling panels or anything on the back wall. 

 

In my position it’s hard to find a right way to sonic bliss. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

22 minutes ago, rando said:

 

@The Computer Audiophile  I applaud your efforts taking this project on with your own vision.  However, the proffering of solutions at an early stage would've been advanced by accurate depictions of the space on your part.   The purpose of your threads on new speakers and flooring was pooling ideas from the community.  Ideas brought forth were meant to not only be applicable to a high end listening room, but yours in particular. 

 

Quite conservatively, carpet was the least obvious issue faced when taking in the full scope of this project.  Being as this is Computer Audiophile, the lengthy depiction of turning your attic into a listening room rightly comprised the majority of this article.  There were numerous twists and turns that could have put a halt on this project.  Less visible physical obstacles which quickly lost the element of high tension once successfully completed.  Yet no less daunting than the long slow process and infinite calculations required to locate objects in a room.  I have faith you will meet all further challenges with equal aplomb.  My only hope is that you will be open to the experiences of others kindly relating personal mistakes and triumphs.  

Not following at all. 

 

The reason I ask questions is because I’m open to input. Nobody in their right mind would accept and implement all input. Other than the competing philosophies, design by committee never works. 

 

I asked a specific question about a specific product and received great answers about that product. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

48 minutes ago, Forehaven said:

Great project Chris.  I'm curious, isn't Vicoustic much more expensive than say GIK acoustics?  Seems just the fact that it's a company from outside the US that would make Vicoustics cost prohibitive no?  What was your rationale?

Hi Chris - I have extensive experience  with Vicoustic products through friends of mine and I know the US Distributor very well. It's very nice to pick up the phone and talk to either friends of the distributor if needed, and have direct access to Vicoustic as needed. I'm sure GIK makes great stuff as well, but I don't have any experience with the products and don't know anyone there. 

 

If they have an online project request similar to Vicoustic I should complete that as well to get two opinions.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Thanks for the continued input guys. 

 

This project is getting more and more frustrating for me. I assumed this would be more of a science than an art, but given the wide range of feedback about what's right, what's wrong, and what I "should" do, it seems like much of this is an art. If this was as easy as swapping in a component to test it, I'd be enjoying the process. Unfortunately installing an acoustic package is much more difficult. 

 

I've now brought in another consultant to look at the two proposals I received from Vicoustic and GIK. As you can probably guess, his opinion differs from both of these. I'm itching to get this done because I'm not happy with the current sound of the room.

 

Thanks again for the feedback everyone.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Most of the acoustics have arrived from Vicoustic!

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

it's all absorption foam - no tube traps or diffusers?

To quote my post, "Most of the acoustics have arrived from Vicoustic!"

 

Diffusors on back order. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, jtwrace said:

What about bass traps?  Seems like a little amount of treatments to me

Don’t think they’ll be needed based on sound right now. 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, jtwrace said:

Measure, measure, measure!

Of course. 

 

I plan to to post all the results etc...

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, jtwrace said:

Measure what you have now.  Then install the treatments and measure it again without moving the mic.  

That’s the plan. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

All the absorption panels are up! Have to wait until July for the diffusors :~(

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 hours ago, firedog said:

And how does it sound different? That many panels should make a big difference.

Huge difference! I love it!!!

[The Computer Audiophile]

31 minutes ago, Confused said:

How exactly are they attached to the walls / ceiling?

 

They look good I have to say.

I plan to write an article with photos and explanations and measurements etc.. It will have all this information. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I just finished Part Two of this series. I should have the article published Friday.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Part 2 is up!