Room Treatments


I don't really know anything about room treatments. I have done some reading but still confused. I guess my main question is how does one know if they need absorption or diffusion? I have a tv hanging on the wall behind my speakers how does that effect things. Am I better off going with traditional panels and traps, or should I be looking at resonator devices?
128x128kclone
The Complete Guide to High-End Audio by Robert Harley addresses room treatments and more. It's a good starting guide. I used this in the beginning of my audio room adventures.

RIVES also has a great service where they will give you plans to address your specific room and equipment for minimal cost. This is where I went eventually and I wish I had gone there from the start. They really help and provide excellent advice and service. They gave me complete plans and you could pass this off to a millwork contractor as I did or if you are handy you could easily do it yourself.

There are several approaches to room acoustics however, a combination of both absorption and diffusion may be required. I have a relatively small room so RIVES opted for resonators on the side walls. As I understand it, these will make the room "sound" larger than it is. The end of the room with the speakers is fairly reflective with only bass traps and some absorbers directly behind the speakers. The listening end is more absorptive however, some diffusion in used here too.

The "trick" is to get a correct balance. Too much absorption and the room will be dead. Too reflective and the room will be just the opposite.

As for the television between and behind the speakers that may be an issue however, I've read that simply throwing some fabric over the glass of the plasma screen will improve the sound. This would be easy to try and most likely wouldn't cost anything to experiment with.

I hope this helps!
There is also a lot of good info at the "Acoustics" forum on AudioCircle.com, as well as some of the other hi-fi forums.
Agree with Rick, it definitely helps to put a quilt, or something, over the tv monitor.
thanks for the responses guys, very helpful. At least my tv is not between the speakers like a lot of other systems I have seen. I will throw a blanket over it for the next session.
Only bass frequencies are omnidirectional and bass frequencies will not be affected by a blanket. You are much better off treating the wall behind your head with blankets, curtains and thick absorption - this way you reduce what is reflected back from behind you. The only way you will have anything but bass sound bouncing off the TV is if it has been reflected there from another surface in the first place - so treat that other surfaces first.