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Room treatment-I was afraid of this

There I was with a dedicated room-not ideal being nearly square and a less than 8' ceiling-and barely adequate music, not awful but the system had sounded better. I tried moving things about some with differing results but nothing satisfying. Part of the problem was moving from a 30x35 foot room with an 18' ceiling. I was used to the speakers being well out into the room, far apart and sitting pretty far away. I used the odd integer matrix method promoted by Vandersteen but hadn't considered either placing them closer to the wall or moving near field. Nick at GIK recommended both, as well as some furniture rearranging that made a very pleasant difference. That was all the encouragement I needed to order bass traps, 1st and 2nd reflection panels and front and rear wall treatments. Installed them by about 4pm Monday and listened until 2 am, back at it last night from 3pm-1am. It's just as so many have said, this is a serious component upgrade. It is matched in scale only when I went from Vandersteen 2CE's to Chapman T-77SE's. Not a single aspect of the listening experience that isn't enhanced. So now the problem; I suppose a lot of the glowing stuff folks make of cables, power cords, fuses, and on and on also make significant differences. How long can it be before I'm off and running on that stuff?
wideload
toolbox149
135 posts
 
toddverrone,
I just read through your post about your wall of glass. I can't tell if you have a total wall of glass (side to side and/or floor to ceiling), or if you have a lot of separate windows, (maybe spaced close together, but each having a separate frame).  If your wall of glass is made up of separate windows have you ever tried that 3M insulating, window shrink wrap?  It's very easy to install and with a little practice and care, you can get them to the point they are almost totally invisible.
They may dampen the room since you're introducing a softer surface where you had a large, hard surface.  You might try a couple of the windows and then test the sound before completing the job.
If you have a second pair of hands, get help to attach the window film to the double-sided, clear tape as straight as you can.  After that, it's pretty easy to get the film totally smooth using a hair dryer.  Just use a light touch with the dryer, and don't linger on one spot too long to get a wrinkle out.  The two-sided tape comes off easily and any tape residue that might remain comes off with a light application of adhesive remover.
Anyway, $15-30 and a little effort should be enough to test out your plexiglass cover theory.

dentdog's avatar
dentdog
300 posts
 
Toolbox,
To answer your question about GIK, yes I have both the Scatter plates and Flexrange components built into traps made by GIK. If you check my Virtual system page you can see their work. 
Since my best listening position was a bit close to the wall behind me I had GIK make the Jukebox Art Monster Bass trap right behind my head.
The two monster traps on the rear wall have both scatter plates and flex range built in. The trap on the front wall is actually hooked over the TV at the suggestion of Jim Smith of Get Better Sound.
I also bought a few [3] boxes of OC 703 and have actually draped a nice throw over 6 panels to make a bass trap sitting on the floor a foot deep.
Took 2 years, bit by bit but last night my wife and I cranked it up and I have finally hit the sweet spot. Having an intrinsically hard room it's taken quite a bit of treatment but not dead by any means.
Best of luck.
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
838 posts
 
@toolbox149 Thanks for the idea.. My problem is that I have a big triple pane slider (1 pane slides) and a big sliding window. So, ideally, the treatment would still allow me to open them. Particularly the door. :-)
dentdog's avatar
dentdog
300 posts
 
toddverrone,

About a year ago, while surveying the options for damping the wind reflections I happened on a covering, a perforated plastic/cellophane sheet attached to the windows via the corners with a small elastic band. They looked to be a good alternative. They were European made and with enough searching perhaps you could locate them.
As they were somewhat expensive I passed on them and hung curtains, which I saw were not an option for you. Unfortunately windows are very reflective for sound and make it borderline impossible to get the reverb factor in a room under control. 

toolbox149
135 posts
 
Dentdog,
Thanks for the answer.  I went to the virtual system page to see your system, but when I searched for "dentdog" it found nothing.  What is your system listen under?
I'm interested why you placed the GIK bass panels behind you, as opposed to addressing the corners first.  I have a similar seating arrangement.

Thanks
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