jeff's eight
Active Member
When the poll ends I will publish the answer I found.
How Much Does your Room contribute to overall listening Experience?
- Thread starter jeff's eight
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nyhifihead
Well-Known Member
I voted 25% equipment 75% room
No one wants to hear this but the room will have a larger sonic impact than any equipment besides speakers.
Hard walls/floors will royally mess up your HF and MF responses from reflections & resonance
LF modes are created by ratios of the room dimensions and chances are if your room is almost square your going to have some massive standing waves. LF always the hardest to tame and most resort to multiple subwoofers to equalize all these modes.
Like everything else there's diminishing returns to room treatments. But first reflection points & corner bass traps still offer the best utility. Couple that with in room measurements & rew or similar dsp you can seriously flatten out your response
I was floored by the sound when I got my gik corner traps and 242s. Separation of instruments and imaging increased substantially.
No one wants to hear this but the room will have a larger sonic impact than any equipment besides speakers.
Hard walls/floors will royally mess up your HF and MF responses from reflections & resonance
LF modes are created by ratios of the room dimensions and chances are if your room is almost square your going to have some massive standing waves. LF always the hardest to tame and most resort to multiple subwoofers to equalize all these modes.
Like everything else there's diminishing returns to room treatments. But first reflection points & corner bass traps still offer the best utility. Couple that with in room measurements & rew or similar dsp you can seriously flatten out your response
I was floored by the sound when I got my gik corner traps and 242s. Separation of instruments and imaging increased substantially.
I selected 25% equipment / 75% room, however; it really depends on the specific room and equipment. Room treatments can help a lot but, starting with a room with good dimensions is a big step in the direction of getting good sound. Unfortunately, changing room dimensions is a lot more difficult that swapping out an amplifier or pre-amp.
jeff's eight
Active Member
NiFi-Where is the best place to buy sound traps reasonably? GIK?
The ones I have seen will be rather low on the WAF.
What is rew and dsp and 242's ?
The ones I have seen will be rather low on the WAF.
What is rew and dsp and 242's ?
nyhifihead
Well-Known Member
Gik is not cheap, but there advice is free and excellent. DIY is your best bet for room treatments, many guides around.
Rew is Room EQ Wizard, free software that models eq filters based on measurements of your room to flatten response due to modes(room interactions) usually from 20-200hz.
Dsp is digital signal processing, it's an EQ filter that is applied in the digital domain.
242 is just a type of bass trap mare by gik acoustics. It's Corning 707 in some proprietary "enclosure". DIY panels using Corning 707 are just as good. I also have 244s on first reflections.
jeff's eight
Active Member
Thank you for all the tips. I can diy that kind of stuff. Is the Corning 707 available at big boxes?
timmy.timmy
Well-Known Member
As a pure ratio it is 50/50. In a bad environment any great phono equipment will sound messy as any junk equipment will sound as messy in a great environment. Get them both great it is still 50/50 and both messy it is still 50/50. Ratio as in probability !
Nemo bit
Active Member
Moo Any room can be made to work. Some are an excssive amount of work and one must ask is it worth it. I think that it matters if you options to finding a better space are slim to none. If you require music as much as I you will find a way. It helps to have a virtual cornucopia of pieces of gear to chose from.
I do. The variances given in the original question are only that variables. The bottom line is depending on the room different rooms will require different equipment different equipment will require different rooms if there was a standard to every room where it started then the above questions would be relevant but if you're truly dependent on Musical food for your soul you can make the best out of any space if you have the ability to alter either your room or your gear I don't know if that makes sense to most but to those whom it does. They will have the 1%... those listening rooms you hear that stand out. You may remember thinking it was their gear or the acoustics of the room the gear was in or perhaps some other detail.
It's All of the above =100 % there is only one correct answer all of the above.
I do. The variances given in the original question are only that variables. The bottom line is depending on the room different rooms will require different equipment different equipment will require different rooms if there was a standard to every room where it started then the above questions would be relevant but if you're truly dependent on Musical food for your soul you can make the best out of any space if you have the ability to alter either your room or your gear I don't know if that makes sense to most but to those whom it does. They will have the 1%... those listening rooms you hear that stand out. You may remember thinking it was their gear or the acoustics of the room the gear was in or perhaps some other detail.
It's All of the above =100 % there is only one correct answer all of the above.
Technics101
New Member
I'm late to this party, but I would've went 50/50. When we bought the house we're in now, I made a designated music room in the basement. All my music instruments and my vintage stereo setup are down there. I put carpet on the walls, the ceiling is acoustic tile and the floor is of course carpet as well. I don't get any room reverb and this is especially nice when trying to use precise reverb effects with my guitar. I love listening to music in this room. It just sounds so warm and feels right.
I would say 75% room -- the room is in the basement, and the soundproofing in its construction keeps me from hearing the HVAC and power-vented water heater in the other room. Talk about "noise floor"! The acoustic treatments control reverb time, slap echo, and first reflections. The equipment is great, too!
N1ckR
Active Member
Based on my measurements of a few rooms and many sets of speakers (with a calibrated mic to +-1DB), a very average, unprepared household room, with only basic effort for placement and sweet spots can easily contribute to far more significant inaccuracies in sound reproduction that the cheapest hi fi separates available, at least 75%.
From tweaking placement, toe in, adjusting crossovers (both active and passive) I am often able to able to flatten out peaks and troughs by atleast 10DB, then we rapidly hit laws of diminishing returns (in terms of cost) for improving the room/environment and at a point where spend more on your hifi equipment will be beneficial also.
I've helped setup for a few small live gigs too, really learnt to appreciate parametric eqs and notch filters !
From tweaking placement, toe in, adjusting crossovers (both active and passive) I am often able to able to flatten out peaks and troughs by atleast 10DB, then we rapidly hit laws of diminishing returns (in terms of cost) for improving the room/environment and at a point where spend more on your hifi equipment will be beneficial also.
I've helped setup for a few small live gigs too, really learnt to appreciate parametric eqs and notch filters !
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Grenadeslio
Lunatic Member
Can't answer based on the fact I like listening to music more in a room that doesn't sound as well as another. My lady and I spend more time together in the living rm so I just enjoy the time spent there more. So I guess I would have to say 100% room.
While good room acoustics is a good thing I think there is a bunch of unjustified weight put on it. It's not going to make crappy equipment sound good and it's not going to make good equipment sound bad.
If you have a pretty normal common space you should be able to build a system within that room that will sound good to you. The better the equipment gets the better you'll be doing. Mood can be a bigger factor in a common room IMHO.
Now this has nothing to do with out of the norm spaces. If you have a space that's empty, big glass window, cement floor and tin on the celling, you should do something about that.
I didn't vote, because it's a individual circumstance and a total interaction of the system and the space.
If you have a pretty normal common space you should be able to build a system within that room that will sound good to you. The better the equipment gets the better you'll be doing. Mood can be a bigger factor in a common room IMHO.
Now this has nothing to do with out of the norm spaces. If you have a space that's empty, big glass window, cement floor and tin on the celling, you should do something about that.
I didn't vote, because it's a individual circumstance and a total interaction of the system and the space.
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from Conclusions
Listening rooms
Listening rooms
- The room is rarely at fault. If it is comfortable for conversation and living in it, then it is also suited for sound reproduction. The problem is usually the inadequate polar response of the loudspeakers and their placement in the room."
- http://www.linkwitzlab.com/rooms.htm
I never expected this but........... for me, the listening room seems to dominate in dictating the quality of sound. It's a fairly large room , 25' x 25' with a 15' peaked ceiling. Anything I'd listened to in one of my smaller rooms sounds so much better in the 'big' room. I don't really know why, I just know it does.
bluesky
Addicted Member
Room - Zero.
I've heard hundreds component systems in all types of 'rooms' & spaces over the years. No one that I can remember ever cared about the room (acoustics). We never had a problem with it... Just saying.
We just played the music on the stereo and 'got on with it'. Want it to sound better... turn it up more. It will sound better. lol
But if your that into it... have fun, design an acoustic type room. I do understand the 'theory & thinking behind it', does make sense in an 'audiophile' type of way. Sounds like fun, good idea, but I've never felt a 'need' for it & don't have time for it myself.
I've always just play the music.
Rock & Roll.
I've heard hundreds component systems in all types of 'rooms' & spaces over the years. No one that I can remember ever cared about the room (acoustics). We never had a problem with it... Just saying.
We just played the music on the stereo and 'got on with it'. Want it to sound better... turn it up more. It will sound better. lol
But if your that into it... have fun, design an acoustic type room. I do understand the 'theory & thinking behind it', does make sense in an 'audiophile' type of way. Sounds like fun, good idea, but I've never felt a 'need' for it & don't have time for it myself.
I've always just play the music.
Rock & Roll.
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