Hardwood floors Sound treatments

Problem:
Please see link below

http://sandiego.lyonhomes.com/homes/model_popup.php/Treviso-Plan_1_-_Firenze.html?c=177&m=667&fpl=1225&level=1

Here is the deal...the room is basically 12 x 17 feet. The problem is the living room is connected to a long hallway and to the kitchen with no walls in between and is all done in hardwood floors..echo..echo..echo :(

The equipment is
Sonus Faber Concertos (On Sand Filled Stands)
Vandersteen Sub
B and K PTIII Series Two Preamp
B and K 2220 Amp
VPI Scout/Sig Arm with Cloud 9 Isolation
Tube Box II with Mullard NOS

Argh!

Put down some area rugs and use rug padding to keep the rugs from slipping. Put up some drapes. Put up some pictures. Buy some chairs and couches. Put the stereo up against the long wall, as opposed to the short wall. It will warm up the apartment and kill any echo. I did the same in my apartment.

When you walk into my apartment there is a 4 X 7 foyer that leads into a 13 X 15 dining room that leads into a 15 X 23 living room. No walls in-between and hardwood floors throughout. The only way to tune the room is by furnishing it, otherwise it would turn into a great big echo filled room.

Nice furnishings will look a lot nicer than sound traps, etc. From a decorator's point of view though, the room is never going to have that sleek Scandinavian look.

What are your wife's tastes like?

Regards, Rich

You might try some of the products found on the following site. They offer traps with artwork or pictures that you personally provide to them: (http://www.asc-hifi.com/picture-panel.htm). The sound panels that mount along the top of the walls could actually enhance the room decor as well. happy listening!

I have a lot of rooms that were acoustically acceptable with very minimal "treatment." Where audiophiles are involved, rooms can easily be overtreated and sound unnatural and sterile. So, generally speaking, go slowly with any approach to treatment and don't doubt your ears when something seemingly minor does the trick (it could be as little as moving a stuffed chair into the right spot).

I would advice starting with what you have and concentrate on placement of the speakers. Proper placement can take a lot of time and juggling of tradeoffs, both in terms of sonic result and lifestyle/room decor. Generally speaking, the further you can place the speakers into the room the better. Also, if you sit fairly close to the speakers (say 6' to 8' away), most of the sound will be coming to you directly from the drivers which reduces the relative contribution of the room itself. This is "nearfield" listening, which is generally preferable where room acoustics is a problem. Similarly, a lot of toe-in to point the speakers toward the listening position also reduces room effects. However, one of the tradeoff with both toe-in and nearfield listening is that the ideal listening spot can be extremely small.

As far as treatment of the room is concerned, some kind of rug on the hardwood floor would probably be helpful. Decorative wall hangings/rugs on the walls can do wonders to kill high frequency echoes. I think you would be surprised by how helpful even a single, small fabric wallhanging helps with acoustics.

In most cases with hardwood floors, and particularly with suspended floors in an apartment, the speaker and stand should NOT be coupled to the floor with cones or sharp feet. These couplers transmit sound to the wooden floor (and to neighbors below) and also acts as a large radiator of sound. I would look at devices that absorb the vibrations from the stand and turn that energy into heat. An example would be small Symposium Svelte Shelves. These are half-inch thick isolation shelves that have hard stainless steel outer layers and a soft foam core; vibration from the speaker is turned into heat by the molecules in the foam core rubbing against each other.

Good luck.

That ASC link might be good to look into,