Wondering what others have dune to tune the sound of their rooms. My room is VERY live. Hardwood floors. Minimal furniture. Not much in the way of curtains. Big glass and wood wall unit to one side of the speakers. I am thinking that a large carpet would tame it down a lot, but as this is in the living room, and the WAF is crucial, there is really only so much I can do. Accoustic panels on the wall would NOT be appreciated!
Anyone tried anything like the old Room Tunes? Anything else to fine tune your listening room?

Clap your hands - do you hear an echo?

Move around - is there a lot of bass in the corners?

I had both on these problems at one time.

One may or may not need to tune their room. Carpeting will certainly help eliminate echo!

I know of a person who puts bedsheets on their walls. If accountic panels won't work, will bedsheets be acceptable? Try it one day and find out!

P.s.: ;)

Well, maybe this isn't helpful, but I did put acoustic panels on the walls. But I mention it because my wife and I picked a custom fabric for them, and we are both happy with how they looked. The panels we got are from echobusters, but I think other companies will also do custom fabrics for you.

I've been through the room tuning thing a few times now and found that starting with an overly live room is a good thing - controlling mid to high frequencies is much easier than bass.

You might have already seen this (http://206.225.95.32/forums/showthread.php?t=39695) thread detailing my last room undertaking but I touched on a bunch of tuning techniques there and a lot of them where aimed at mids to highs. After dealing with the bass issues, I had a pretty live room that I tuned down to get a nice re-verb balance and the carpet and movable absorptive panels at first reflection points played a big role.

Ok, tearing down the ceiling and building the elaborate structure I did might be a little over the top ( :) ) but you may be able to apply a few of the techniques I used. As we discussed last night in chat, come on up for listen and you can see/sample first hand.

And by the way, WAF is a MAJOR problem with this stuff so you'll have to get very creative or truly learn the meaning of 'compromise'.

I hope some day to have a dedicated listening room and will investigate room tuning further. Until that day, I have to make do with a multi-purpose room. So, my treatments are very temporary and a bit unusual. Through listening and mentally placing a mirror around the room to determine reflection points, I've determined the places most needing room treatments. I then strategically drape thick quilts/comforters over the larger areas and stand pillows on end in the smaller areas. I've gotten to the point where I can throw my "room treatments" up or take down injust a couple of minutes so that I may enjoy much improved acoustics/imaging (reflected treble near the speaker tends to smear the sound) while keeping a visually room treatment free room.

For those interested in doing room treatments/tuning right, but don't know where to begin or what to do, might I suggest Rives Audio (http://www.rivesaudio.com/)?

- JP

Bigrik,

Here's a link to acoustic panels disquised as "Art". Just a suggestion, though your wife may not approve. I dunno if disquising them as art would work.

http://www.hp-h.com/p/hapicmpur/artabsorber.htm

the whole site with other ideas

http://www.hp-h.com

Bigrik,

Here's a link to acoustic panels disquised as "Art". Just a suggestion, though your wife may not approve. I dunno if disquising them as art would work.

http://www.hp-h.com/p/hapicmpur/artabsorber.htm

the whole site with other ideas

http://www.hp-h.com

Never mention the buzz words, just say you were looking at some new "Art". On foam. Without frames. Wink-wink. Then go do something useful like mow the lawn.

dew.

I've been through the room tuning thing a few times now and found that starting with an overly live room is a good thing - controlling mid to high frequencies is much easier than bass.


Amen! My room in the basement sucks 10db out at 250 Hz. The only thing I could do to fix it is to take out the panelling which is nailed to furring strips, and put up drywall. If you are starting from a live room, thank your lucky stars!

Mark