Thoughts on a "room treatment" idea from my brain...

[AudioDoctor]

My desk in my home office is along the long side wall of a basement room, it has to be that way. Behind me is a bunch of book cases along the other wall. There is plenty of open spaces in the bookshelves for the sound from my speakers to go right through and reflect off the wall, as the bookshelves have no back and are open. Here comes the crazy idea part. Would hanging an area rug behind the bookshelves help defract any unwanted reflections?

[sphinxsix]

Absorb. Yes. Alternatively you can try a rug on the wall behind the speakers. Or both - in particular if the room is narrow.

[JoeWhip]

Yes. 

[NOMBEDES]

Here is my thought.  Put books in the bookcase.  20 or 30 years of National Geographic should do the trick.  Works for me. 

[AnotherSpin]

16 minutes ago, NOMBEDES said:

Here is my thought.  Put books in the bookcase.  20 or 30 years of National Geographic should do the trick.  Works for me. 

 

Or, remove everything from your bookshelves. Then, everything from your head. Done.

[sphinxsix]

20 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

Or, remove everything from your bookshelves. Then, everything from your head. Done.

 

It's been tested in the US for the last 4 years, seems to not work.

 

36 minutes ago, NOMBEDES said:

Here is my thought.  Put books in the bookcase.  20 or 30 years of National Geographic should do the trick.  Works for me. 

 

Works for me as well (just random books) but in a much bigger room. He me be better with more absorbing treatment like additional rug, IMHO.

 

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, NOMBEDES said:

Here is my thought.  Put books in the bookcase.  20 or 30 years of National Geographic should do the trick.  Works for me. 

 

The bookshelves are full of books of various sizes. It is an interesting idea though if a solid wall of books would have the same effect as a solid wall.

[sphinxsix]

21 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

It is an interesting idea though if a solid wall of books would have the same effect as a solid wall.

Books backs vs solid wall - these are acoustically 2 different things. Oh, I forgot to ask (assumed this is a small one) - how big is the room?

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...what effect are you going for?
 

There have been some claims that a full bookshelf (books, albums, CDs) acts like a quad diffusor of sorts.

 

The speed of sound and the associated math does not support that assertion, however.

 

[NOMBEDES]

Ok, ok .... we have a lot of rug fans here.  Me too, in addition to my 720 lbs of National Geographics I have rugs.  I strongly recommend Persian rugs.  Handmade, heavy wool is, most likely, the best for sound absorbing qualities.  Especially rugs from the Bijar district.  But any well made Tabriz would do in a pinch.

 

Please do not use man made fiber.  It is a well known fact here on Audiophile Style that man made fibers are NOT audiophile approved!

[AudioDoctor]

8 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

Absorb. Yes. Alternatively you can try a rug on the wall behind the speakers. Or both - in particular if the room is narrow.

 

I had this thought after posting as well, that may actually be a better starting point.

[AudioDoctor]

27 minutes ago, MarkusBarkus said:

...what effect are you going for?

 

A less "sharp" sounding room. Two walls are cement, with of course insulation and stuff inbetween that and the drywall.

[AudioDoctor]

36 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

how big is the room

 

16 x 12, roughly.

[MarkusBarkus]

...the acoustics folks reading may disagree, but if there are many open spaces among the books, something like a carpet would likely be less reflective than books or drywall.

 

That would be for higher/mid-frequency waves. The low frequencies don't care about your books or your concrete block. They just keep on truckin.

 

If you have significant open spaces on the shelves, the depth of the books themselves vs. the back wall might give you a helpful time differential for upper frequencies being reflected at different times.

 

If you are seated facing the long wall, with speakers on the desk, you have maybe seven feet behind you? Minus the depth of the books and space between shelf and wall.

 

I found differing opinions, but it seems like 6-8 feet is minimum distance to benefit from the time differential of different reflections distances. And depth of differential.

 

I have two quad diffusors behind my chair, some would say too close, but it sounds good to me.
 

Good luck! At least it's a cheap experiment...unless you're buying rugs from @NOMBEDES. 😉

[sphinxsix]

1 hour ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

16 x 12, roughly.

 

Start with a rug on one wall, if you want to make the difference you will hear bigger - put them on two walls.

 

Ps. If after that you will still want to make it bigger - ask, some extra info will be helpful..

[AnotherSpin]

3 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

 

It's been tested in the US for the last 4 years, seems to not work.

 

 

 

Your comment about US has nothing to do with what I said. 

[sphinxsix]

10 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Your comment about US has nothing to do with what I said. 

Just like your comment had nothing to do with the OP's question.

 

 

@AudioDoctor BTW I've never experimented with that since my 'desktop' Adams are actually not placed on my desktop but I'm sure the direct sound reflection from a desk colors the sound quite significantly. If you have lots of determination, you can try to cover the desk in front of the speakers with some absorbing material or even tilt the transducers backwards a little to decrease the influence of this reflection (this may move the soundstage upwards somewhat). 

God, I just love to do audio installations, even remotely 😀 

[AnotherSpin]

10 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

Just like your comment had nothing to do with the OP's question.

 

 

So it would be reasonable to free yourself from ridiculous attempts to comment on my messages, right? 

[NOMBEDES]

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Your comment about US has nothing to do with what I said. 

 

@AnotherSpinand yet it appears that no one knows exactly what you were attempting to say.

[GregWormald]

Anything that absorbs the unwanted frequencies or causes the space to be "uneven" in reflecting will work

–hangings, rugs, books, statues, soft furnishings, furniture, etc.

 

Most speakers are designed for average rooms, so the more you can make the space average in terms of absorbing/reflecting sounds the better.

[AudioDoctor]

Its easier to just move along...

[AudioDoctor]

33 minutes ago, GregWormald said:

Anything that absorbs the unwanted frequencies or causes the space to be "uneven" in reflecting will work

–hangings, rugs, books, statues, soft furnishings, furniture, etc.

 

Most speakers are designed for average rooms, so the more you can make the space average in terms of absorbing/reflecting sounds the better.

 

I actually disagree that speakers are designed to work in an "average" room. I think they are designed to work as close to perfect as engineering and budgets will let the designer get. At least this is my hope.

[AnotherSpin]

1 hour ago, NOMBEDES said:

 

@AnotherSpinand yet it appears that no one knows exactly what you were attempting to say.

 

Really? Is it so difficult to imagine yourself completely freed of prejudices?

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Really? Is it so difficult to imagine yourself completely freed of prejudices?

 

I'll admit, I am confused too, not sure what it had to do with anything and why it cant be said clearly.

[AnotherSpin]

17 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

I'll admit, I am confused too, not sure what it had to do with anything and why it cant be said clearly.

 

Confusion is not a bad feeling at all, it gives rise to epiphany.