Magazine articles on room treatment?

davidro

Lunatic Member
I haven't read much audio magazine articles. But I don't recall ever seeing an article on room treatment. I wouldn't mind for example reading what Art D of Stereophile might wanna say about a particular brand's acoustic panels interacting with his DeVore speakers. S Meijas could talk about how his Wharfedale Diamond speakers sound better with some commercial diffusers.

Has anyone seen any article like this?
 
Many times when I'm reading a review of a particular piece of gear, usually speakers, the reviewer will mention having some basic room treatments or being in a space with a lack of treatments (and wishing there were some). I've never seen any of them go into any great detail about acoustic treatments.
 
It is a regrettable state of affairs, isn't it? Considering how much impact room treatment has on any listening environments one would have thought the audiophile community would have significant interest in the topic. I'm sure at least in the States there is a good number of commercial room treatment specialists/products yet the magazines pretty much ignore this aspect. I cannot solely blame them though. If there were sufficient interest among the audiophiles they would have picked on it. It's pretty obvious this is not the case.
 
The fact that the acoustics in most domestic living spaces can seriously compromise the performance of a set of four or five figure loudspeakers is a very inconvenient truth in the universe of retail audio. The notion that acoustic treatment devices must be installed in a living/listening space to unlock the performance potential is a tough sell for a number of reasons. Every retail audio salesman I've ever spoken to has been very reluctant to talk acoustics and only did so after performing a visual check of the area to make sure no one was close enough to overhear the conversation. I mean, I can understand why. A guy on middle class wages spending $5000 on a pair of speakers and having a wife who isn't very keen on having them brought into her living room anyway doesn't want to hear he needs to spend another $500 or DIY some acoustic panels (that will have to be subjected to the wife approval process) to get the best performance out of his investment.
 
That makes sense. But audiophiles MUST know that room and room treatment really are the GAME CHANGERS. I now place them on the same rank with, if not above, the transducers.
Therefore, the lack, if not absence, of journalism on the subject is a sorry state indeed :(
 
I would recommend your research include articles about professional studio design and construction. While not every technique is appropriate for residential construction and budget, the design concepts can help with your analysis and approach. Recording Engineer/Producer had many good articles back in the mid 80s. Starting with good room proportions means fewer problems to fix... if you're starting from scratch, of course.

Chip
 
That makes sense. But audiophiles MUST know that room and room treatment really are the GAME CHANGERS. I now place them on the same rank with, if not above, the transducers.
Therefore, the lack, if not absence, of journalism on the subject is a sorry state indeed :(

I'm tellin' ya', David.....there are a lot of people in the hobby who have some very nice equipment who just don't want to be bothered with it for any number of reasons.....there's the wife approval thing, the disruption of decor thing, the effort thing, the snake oil thing, the "I'd rather put the money toward cables/electronics upgrade" thing, etc. Now, I would be very surprised if each of the major audio rags didn't have a piece on acoustics somewhere in their archives.....but it's probably been a long time and will probably be a long time before another comes along.
 
I understand the WAF & disruption of decor thing but what's up with the snake oil? I mean there are reasonable disputes as to the sonic differences resulted by cables and, gasp, even amps. But when you think about it, there's nothing snake oil about sound wave bumping around your room killing good sound.

It is interesting though. Most audiophiles seem to acknowledge the importance of the room itself (still, they often choose to ignore this), but they're skeptical about the room treatment. I don't understand this at all.
 
Yeah, I'm in total agreement with you, David. I think for most they just can't conceive what a difference it really makes without hearing a before and after...such as you and I and many others have done. Did you really believe it would make such a profound difference before you did it...even though guys like Revmen, myself and others were preaching it like crazy? I think every single person I've guided through the process has said "if I had known it was going to make this big of a difference I would've done this a long time ago".

And the snake oil thing is just flat out absurd. When I see people say it I think surely they must be kidding, but they will stand firm that couches, heavy drapes and carpet are all you need when the gear is good enough. It's a fool's paradise they live in.
 
I would think much of the reason room treatments are never really delved into is because it's such a subjective subject that even the most out there reviewers couldn't possibly come up with basis that would fall in line to the majority of readers. Room treatments needs vary so much from space to space that reviewing types of treatments would have no bearing on anything except for the one situation in the review. Where as speaker A is better than speaker B will generally ring true to the majority of readers/people.
 
I would think much of the reason room treatments are never really delved into is because it's such a subjective subject that even the most out there reviewers couldn't possibly come up with basis that would fall in line to the majority of readers. Room treatments needs vary so much from space to space that reviewing types of treatments would have no bearing on anything except for the one situation in the review. Where as speaker A is better than speaker B will generally ring true to the majority of readers/people.

Subjective? Keep in mind that room acoustics are easily measured (I've done it myself) and the results can be translated and used to determine an appropriate treatment scenario to correct any inherent acoustic issues that are having an adverse effect on fidelity. But the typical problems are so overwhelmingly consistent from room to room that a basic treatment scenario can be implemented with great results without having to pull the mic out of the case. I've guided several through the process myself and I've not heard one single example where the person who installed a basic treatment scenario with proper devices wasn't pleased with the results. Let me be clear about that, not one. The only time I've heard of anyone being less than pleased with the results of using acoustic treatments is if they over treat the room....which rarely happens as it requires more time, effort and money than necessary to reach that point. I've been totally convinced through experience that any box shaped room built with typical construction materials is going to have the typical acoustic issues that will have a detrimental effect on music reproduction fidelity......which in turn means certain fundamental correction methods can reliably be applied to correct those acoustic issues.

This is solid, proven science that's as legitimate as any other scientific concept. And that speaker A to speaker B comparison of which you speak is a) only partially valid unless conducted in a room with better than decent acoustics and b) rarely ever conducted in a room with poor acoustics or in a room where no attention to the room's acoustics have been considered and appropriately observed if the reviewer feels there is an issue. So if a reader uses a magazine review of a particular model of speaker when considering a purchase, their room's acoustic profile becomes quite relevant when determining if the speakers performance characteristics observed in the review will translate into the same or similar performance characteristics in their own room. It's a familiar scenario.... the "I don't get it, the review said this and that about these speakers and my electronics are pretty similar to what was used in the review but I'm definitely not hearing the same thing. That reviewer must be gettin' paid to talk these things up". Frequently the differences in a loudspeaker's performance heard by a user compared to descriptions in a review boil down to different room acoustics between the listening environments of the user and reviewer. So the only reliable way to "even the playing field" is to address and correct acoustic issues in the room.

I simply have too much first hand experience with this stuff to be able to agree with you, ra7c7er. There are a few reference stickies in "Listening Spaces" that I authored that many have told me helped them out immensely in the quest to improve system performance/fidelity through the use of acoustic treatments. How could it possibly be any more difficult for a professional magazine contributor to author one of these tutorials if I can do it in an internet forum?

- Michael
 
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Did you really believe it would make such a profound difference before you did it...even though guys like Revmen, myself and others were preaching it like crazy?

When I first started this shit, I read somewhere what matters most is the speakers (or transducers) and the room. Since then, I've always wanted to implement some room treatment (yes, yes to the transducers) but I had no clue where to begin and it seemed all too complicated for me. It was not a matter of believing if room treatment would make such huge difference. It just didn't cross my mind it would matter that much although I was aware of some people preaching it. And here's why I complain about the lack of journalism on the subject - it must be more widely spread and educated.

Having said all that, as I stated above, even intuitively one can easily imagine why room treatment should matter. I cut my nail with a nail cutter at a quiet time I hear the clicking sound of each cut reverberating in the room. I know the noise made by my slipper touching the hard floor isn't just the noise solely from the slipper and the floor. I hear the reverberation again. This is why I'm puzzled some people would think of room treatment as snake oil. It's just physics.


but they will stand firm that couches, heavy drapes and carpet are all you need when the gear is good enough. It's a fool's paradise they live in.

I think this is where I came advantaged. I hate decor of drapes, carpet and couches. I prefer an empty sort of look in home decor. I'd rather not have acoustic panels even, which is why I focused on finding the type/colour of fabric that I wrapped the insulation with. But having a few around doesn't aesthetically offend me too much.

In fact, I suspect the widespread belief that 'if you have lots of stuff around, they will naturally diffuse and absorb sound for your audio setup' is somewhat flawed in the sense having lots of stuff around may in fact undermine the precise channel balance, imaging and staging. Moreover, 'natural furniture approach' may also ignore that the low to mid frequencies aren't exactly being dealt with in such surrounding.
 
No sir. As I said many times, this was a game changing improvement. EVERYTHING improved not in a subtle way but substantially. WAY MORE than I had expected :smoke:
 
Subjective? Keep in mind that room acoustics are easily measured (I've done it myself) and the results can be translated and used to determine an appropriate treatment scenario to correct any inherent acoustic issues that are having an adverse effect on fidelity. But the typical problems are so overwhelmingly consistent from room to room that a basic treatment scenario can be implemented with great results without having to pull the mic out of the case. I've guided several through the process myself and I've not heard one single example where the person who installed a basic treatment scenario with proper devices wasn't pleased with the results. Let me be clear about that, not one. The only time I've heard of anyone being less than pleased with the results of using acoustic treatments is if they over treat the room....which rarely happens as it requires more time, effort and money than necessary to reach that point. I've been totally convinced through experience that any box shaped room built with typical construction materials is going to have the typical acoustic issues that will have a detrimental effect on music reproduction fidelity......which in turn means certain fundamental correction methods can reliably be applied to correct those acoustic issues.

This is solid, proven science that's as legitimate as any other scientific concept. And that speaker A to speaker B comparison of which you speak is a) only partially valid unless conducted in a room with better than decent acoustics and b) rarely ever conducted in a room with poor acoustics or in a room where no attention to the room's acoustics have been considered and appropriately observed if the reviewer feels there is an issue. So if a reader uses a magazine review of a particular model of speaker when considering a purchase, their room's acoustic profile becomes quite relevant when determining if the speakers performance characteristics observed in the review will translate into the same or similar performance characteristics in their own room. It's a familiar scenario.... the "I don't get it, the review said this and that about these speakers and my electronics are pretty similar to what was used in the review but I'm definitely not hearing the same thing. That reviewer must be gettin' paid to talk these things up". Frequently the differences in a loudspeaker's performance heard by a user compared to descriptions in a review boil down to different room acoustics between the listening environments of the user and reviewer. So the only reliable way to "even the playing field" is to address and correct acoustic issues in the room.

I simply have too much first hand experience with this stuff to be able to agree with you, ra7c7er. There are a few reference stickies in "Listening Spaces" that I authored that many have told me helped them out immensely in the quest to improve system performance/fidelity through the use of acoustic treatments. How could it possibly be any more difficult for a professional magazine contributor to author one of these tutorials if I can do it in an internet forum?

- Michael

I meant subjective in the sense that they couldn't review a room that would match any sort of majority to their readers. Every room is different. Where as Speaker A being better than Speaker B will ring true for most readers.

I didn't say anything about room treatments not working anywhere in what I said. I'm not really sure how you read that into what I wrote.
 
I didn't respond to your comment because it might look as though we're gang-bashing you or something :D but Michael's point would be that, despite the difference between the rooms, there's a common trait upon which uniform remedy can work greatly.

In fact, now I don't get how readers are supposed to take how some speakers sound without knowing the reviewer's listening room in detail. The audiophile way of letting the readers know of 'associated equipment' is clever, but I am somewhat convinced that the room matters more than the electronics. And we're often not informed of what kind of room and room treatment the reviewer is 'equipped' with.
 
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I think one aspect of this that often gets overlooked is how much of a difference it can make for a decent system no matter the cost. How many budget systems could benefit from even a modicum of DIY room treatments?

I also wonder how many shortcomings perceived in someone's set up isn't more about the lack of room treatment than any weakness in the gear. How many speakers never made it because the "enthusiast" wasn't treating his room? Can you imagine if the attention to detail that comes with suspended high grade power cords, speaker cables and isolation tools used not just for the TT but each individual component to prevent vibrations and smearing was applied to their room?

And it doesn't have to cost a lot either. With all the info available right here on AK, how much are you really concerned about the sound of your system if you aren't treating your room?
 
A good start to understanding what your room is doing to the sound is to begin by listening to the system in the near-field, and then adjusting the aim of the speakers and moving back into the space.

Another interesting test is to turn on the system, then start a recording on your phone (if so equipped). Take into another room and/or use headphones to listen to the resulting recording. Some things you naturally tune out will become apparent on the recording... even this low-fi one.

Chip
 
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