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Eddie Horton
09-14-2005, 02:47 PM
Well, we finally received a closing date of Sept. 29th on the new house, so while browsing for furniture last weekend we ran across a good deal on a new sectional and matching chair. After bringing it home to our current residence, we realized that until we get into the bigger place, our end tables and coffee table would have to be packed away. The sectional is 12ft. long on one end and 9ft. on the other end. Our end tables and coffee table is glass, and I always wondered if it had any noticeable effect on the sound. After removing them from the room, the answer is definately yes. I wouldn't call it a night and day difference, but when you take away all that glass and add in several additional square feet of soft fluffy couch, I can crank up the volume several dBs without it sounding too loud. It adds more punchiness to movies. Even my wife, who has tin ears, noticed the difference. Pretty cool.

BradJudy
09-14-2005, 03:26 PM
The coffee table effect is pretty easy to show in measurements (I have done it myself), but I just can't get away from having the coffee table there - I use it all of the time. I need one that retracts into the floor when I want to listen to music. :D

Eddie Horton
09-14-2005, 05:36 PM
I don't know if it will make a difference or not, but we're getting rid of the glass tables and getting wood ones. I hate the way dust and fingerprints show on the glass. It won't matter for long, I hope. We plan to start building the dedicated room as soon as we get settled in.

Lou-the-dog
09-14-2005, 06:10 PM
Interesting stuff. I've always wondered what effect the large window directly behind my right main is doing to my sound quality. I may have to experiment some. The bad part is I doubt my wife will let me glue any treatments to "her" window. :(

Randy

S_rangeBrew
09-15-2005, 09:40 AM
My home theater room is being finished right now. It's totally empty, not even any carpeting. When I clap my hands, the echos are terrible. I really hope the carpet and couch help it out, I'm sure they will. I may have to make or buy some bass traps. Some of the internet designs and data seem a bit suspect though. I'm not a big fan of audio voodoo. ( I don't believe in high priced power or speaker cables, for instance)

Lou, can't you put some nice heavy drapes over the window? You can just pull them out of the way when you need light. That's what I'm planning with the two windows in my new room.

Kurt C.
09-15-2005, 11:29 AM
Carpet and a couch are a good start, but in my case they weren't enough.

I'm in the process of building four 2X4-foot absorbing panels using a vartiation of Ethan Weiner's plans. So far I've finished two and placed them on the walls midway between the front speakers and my listening position at the so-called 'first reflection points'.

They really do make a huge difference when it comes to clarity of voices and instruments (like everyones' favorite, the acoustic guitar). Best $75 bucks I ever spent.

Count me among the skeptics when it comes to Voodoo cables etc., but this 'tweak' has both a firm scientific basis and can be heard even by those with Tin Ears. (How big a skeptic am I? I have back issues from the last 10 years of The Audio Critic and believe almost every word...)

Cheers.

Lou-the-dog
09-15-2005, 03:44 PM
Lou, can't you put some nice heavy drapes over the window? You can just pull them out of the way when you need light. That's what I'm planning with the two windows in my new room.

That is what I was trying to talk my wife into just last week. She is into those valance/swag/tied back window treatments. Not enough curtain there to cover the window even if we had operating curtain rods. When I suggested we buy full curtains with operating rods she just gave me this, "what planet are you from?" look. :confused: Sigh.

Randy

bikeman
09-15-2005, 04:34 PM
"what planet are you from?" look. :confused: Sigh.
Randy
I've been going through the same thing for the past two years. I finally found a solution for me. You're welcome to give it a try if it's appropriate.
The cost of heat this winter is going through the roof both literally and figuratively. The newspapers are printing out stories about this every week and telling folks to do all they can to conserve heat. I've been making sure my wife sees each and every one of these articles.
Last weekend we hung new, heavy drapes on the windows. It takes persistence but I've got that in spades. :D

David

Lou-the-dog
09-16-2005, 07:42 PM
I'll try working that angle David. Thanks for the tip!

Randy

tjennings
09-20-2005, 03:43 PM
If you take a look at my home theater link below, you'll see I have some light curtains hanging on the side walls. My wife wanted to know why I was hanging curtains in a BASEMENT family room where there are NO windows. I didn't even bother trying to explain... :p

Lou-the-dog
09-20-2005, 04:28 PM
Cool pics Tom, you have a very nice home theater. Thanx for sharing them. It appears you have paid considerable attention to the acoustics of your room. Overall how pleased are you with the results of the treatments that you have used. Which of them made the most difference?

Randy

tjennings
09-20-2005, 07:17 PM
Thank you Randy, you are very kind... everyone has to make do with the space / room they have and make the best of it. Fortunately, I have a rather large basement family room I can work with... 24' X 24'.

I started tweaking in order to 1) improve the sound of my system and 2) keep the improvements under the wife's radar - the blips caused by large purchases (like the recent HDTV) sometimes aren't worth the battle... but even she agrees the new 50" HDTV is simply AWESOME! Yahoo!

The suspended ceiling still vibrates when the sub really gets rumbling, but the side drapes and the DIY 'bass traps' in the corners BOTH really helped in clearing up the overall sound... A LOT. My current speakers have rather forward treble, so the side drapes helped take the edge off a bit... but still not where they need to be and that is where I'm hoping the new front 340's come in (hope I like them!). I tried backing the drapes with batting, and it made the room TOO dead, so I went with the single layer drapes. I spent quite a few hours listening and experimenting until I reached a happy medium.

The bass traps REALLY helped... moreso than I ever imagined possible. Before my system was somewhat muddled sounding - and not just the bass, it was smearing the entire soundstage. I first got started on the bass traps when I played pool or exercised in the back half of the room, I noticed the bass was over-emphasized & boomy in some areas, and nearly non-existent in others. Hmmmmm. I did some research about standing waves and read about bass traps, the John Risch

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/tweaks/messages/15737.html

and Ethan Winer articles etc. and found that the simplest way to go was the Risch 'quick & dirty recipe' - the rolls of pink insulation bundles. Since I had the room for this approach, I gave it a whirl.

The bass traps seemed to clear a lot of that muddled sound up... the bass was much more even throughout the room, and TIGHT sounding... and the soundstage cleared up DRAMATICALLY! I was shocked at the improvement for a relatively small price! The tight thump / kick of the sub is amazing compared to what it used to be like. I have 5 rolls of fiberglass insulation bundles throughout the room, plus the white felt covering just to make them blend in a little bit better with the decor (most people don't even notice them)... so it wasn't too bad expense-wise. Perhaps $150 or $175? Something like that, I don't recall exactly, but somewhere around there. And the fun / excitement of researching it and doing the tweaks... money well spent.

If you enjoy tweaking, I highly recommend doing some research on the DIY room treatments and giving it a try... one of the more economical and dramatic sound improvements I've come to realize in the 15 years or so I've been into home theater.