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Room treatment success story

A couple of months ago I asked the forum for advice about what may make the best upgrade for my system (e.g., better amp, sub woofer, etc.) One of the responses was to focus on room treatment/room acoustics. While I had seen mention of the importance of room treatment, this was not originally on my list of possible upgrades. However, it got me thinking and doing more research.

A few days ago I took delivery of 5 GIK Acoustic 244 bass trap panels. WOW, WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I knew my room had a little too much slap echo (e.g., clap of hands echoed a little too long than it should), but I was not prepared for the dramatic change that the bass trap panels made. They not only took care of the slap echo problem, but the bass in the Magnepans have completely come to life.

A few of the very noticable differences:

-- Bass lines are much more prominent and it is much easier to distinguish individual notes (rather than low notes that sound more the same).

-- Vocals are clearer and more focused. For example, Mark Knopfler's vocals on the Get Lucky CD are now much more easily understandable and clearer.

-- Listening to Keb Mo's Slow Down CD, I realized that there were certain guitar notes that without the traps would seem to disappear or have such a lower volume as to almost not there, but now I am hearing notes that I simply could not hear before.

-- Some of my rock CDs that I thought were simply very poorly recorded (and perhaps are) are now much more listenable and actually sound pretty decent.

Before getting the bass trap panels, I had borrowed a REL sub from a friend for a couple of weeks. It sounded great. However, the roughly $400 spend on these bass trap panels made a MUCH more significant difference in the bass in my room than this $1,500 REL subwoofer. (Again, the REL sounded great, but I now realize that I was not able to hear what it or the Magnepans were truly capable of.)

GIK Acoustics was great to deal and was very patient in answering my questions. I am in no way affiliated with them, just a satisfied customer.

So thanks to Lenny_zwik for pushing me in the direction of improving my room acoustics!

By the way, I would still like to get a better amp and a sub woofer, but I plan on my next purchase to be a rug for hard wood floors and a few more bass trap panels (I have a large room).
edge22
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shadorne
7,333 posts
 
I have heard a marked improvement through the addition of four GIK corner tri-traps. There was a notable improvement in the mid range. Most people are unaware of masking - where lower frequencies hide higher frequencies to our ears/brain system. (Masking is what allows us to listen to MP3 compressed music and have it to sound quite good - our ears actually miss lots of information due to limitations in the tiny hairs/nerves)

By cleaning up the bass you hear a lot more mid range. This is one of the reasons panels give so much detail (the lack of bass in these designs allows you to hear more mids).

A speaker design with a damped bass (very tight) and a well treated room will allow you to hear much more from your music whilst still enjoy music that is rich in LF material.
ltodd
14 posts
 
I've had success with GIK panels also, maxxed out at (5) 244 panels and (2) 242 for sidewall reflections. More than that started to deaden the sound. A wool carpet was another substantial improvement.
schipo
1,267 posts
 
There is no evidence that first reflections are bad as a matter of principle, hence there is no NEED to treat them.
Side wall reflections have generally positive effects, and there is evidence for that.
Reflections from front and rear are less preferred and treatment may be beneficial.
There are the obvious exceptions and therefore each case must be considered individually.
newbee
4,093 posts
 
FWIW, Schipo, I think your first sentence is misleading.

There is also no EVIDENCE that they are good. They are what they are and whether they are deemed good or bad is dependent on a lot of things, including personal opinion and/or appreciation of the sound field they allow to exist, or help create.

For example only, I enjoy specific pin point imaging, a sound that will be detrimentally effected by excessive first reflection point sound with many popular box speakers.

I agree with your last sentence totally.
clio09
2,978 posts
 
Treating the reflection point at which the sound from the right channel speaker hits the left side wall (and vice versa) may actually be more beneficial than treating the first reflection point. FWIW, from what I've read and experienced, diffusion is more beneficial in larger rooms where the panels are at least 8' away from your ears.

The Decware site has some interesting room treatment tips worth checking out, including use of diffusion (I own 4 of their diffusion panels). There is also an interesting method they describe that allows you to find all the reflection points, but you'll need a laser pointer and lots of mirrors to conduct the test.

In my room I treat first reflection point that also captures the opposite reflections as well using Real Traps panels. I use Acoustimac 6" bass traps in the corners of the front walls and I also treat the upper corners with triangles and the upper seams where the wall meets the ceiling with rectangles (I use Eighth Nerve products for the corners and seams).
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