DIY Room Treatments

[Stuart Polansky]

Just getting started with this. DIY corner bass traps, 6" deep, 45* beveled corners, with a cavity behind the traps. 1D style diffusers, according to the designer of the article these are patterned after, they are effective from ~400Hz-8kHz. The one on the right needs to be about across the hallway to catch the first reflection. Future plans call for sliders on this one. Ceiling still needs treatment. Building two 2' x 6' absorption panels to hang in front of each speaker.

Rear of the room will also need bass traps and at least one diffuser. New diffusers will be built with better wood than the designer suggested (1" x 2" and 1" x 3" furring strips) since that wood is horrible in quality and unstable in terms of warpage. The OSB back boards aren't terrible, but the edges look like poo. Future iterations will improve cosmetics.

With only the treatments pictured above the sound is (to my ears) substantially improved. Bass is much less boomy, better defined and more abundant. The room "sounds" bigger and "smoother".

The surprise was an increase in apparent inner detail. I didn't expect that at all. It is on the order of a gain expected form spending thousands more on a DAC.

Kept hearing that "the room" is the elephant in the room. Verified.

Stuart

[Roscoe Primrose]

It’s amazing how many audiofools will spend huge sums of money on equipment and ignore room treatments and proper setup.

Roscoe

[SoundMods]

It’s amazing how many audiofools will spend huge sums of money on equipment and ignore room treatments and proper setup.

Roscoe

I have a couple of friends like that. When I try to advise them about some easy to do room treatments they acknowledge politely yet don't do anything other than buy the next Audio "state-of-art" $expensive "have to have it."

[tubegeek]

For those who have significant others, room treatment may be a significant bother. Yours looks very much not like poo though! It's got to be done if the word "upgrade" is in the conversation.

Do you feel the need for any more power driving the more-absorptive room?

[Stuart Polansky]

For those who have significant others, room treatment may be a significant bother. Yours looks very much not like poo though! It's got to be done if the word "upgrade" is in the conversation.

Do you feel the need for any more power driving the more-absorptive room?

Not at all! The sound reflected back in the room without the bass traps was more annoying (boomy). The reflected treble and mids made it harsh at times. since the reflected bass was out of phase, it reduced the level of bass in the room, but at 125Hz and two other frequencies there were huge peaks in the room's response. I haven't measured the room again yet, but I suspect those peaks are attenuated. Sure sounds like it.

The other side is that if I want to listen louder now, I can, but yes, that would need more power. The speakers pictured are a friend's new build. they are not very efficient at 86dB/W/M. The 25 watts or so from my amp play as loud as I care to. and that is pretty loud!

To your point about significant others, this is in my (during the week) work apartment. At home, I'll need lots of help convincing my wife to allow this stuff! LOL!

[Stuart Polansky]

Here is a link to the DIY 1D diffuser page I used.

https://www.diyaudio.com/community/thre ... ep.269366/

[SoundMods]

To your point about significant others, this is in my (during the week) work apartment. At home, I'll need lots of help convincing my wife to allow this stuff! LOL!

Or -- you can incorporate your audio toys into the decor.

Attachments

[tomp]

It’s amazing how many audiofools will spend huge sums of money on equipment and ignore room treatments and proper setup.

Roscoe

Amen to that. The difference in my room was very dramatic. My room treatments were written up in the August 2021 issue of audioXpress.