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Open Floor Plan Listening Room

Hi All,

  I have an open floor plan listening room. Any ideas on how to close off the room in order to improve lower frequency bass response?  I’m looking for room dividers that can be made to close off the space when I want to listen to music, but have aesthetic qualities and can be opened/closed easily.  The open plan consists of my living room and kitchen together at 45’ L x 17’ W x 10’ H.

  The open section separating the kitchen/living is 15’ W x 9’ H.

  I don’t have other room options in my home.

  Any help appreciated.  Speakers are Apogee Duetta Signature.  I have moved them around to make a difference but still need to close off the room behind sitting area to get the lower frequency bass I desire.

  TIA!
sandpat
marktomaras
535 posts
 
That’s a tough one.  I love open plan homes, and I can’t think of a good way to occasionally close off a room - at least in a practical or attractive way.

Since you have planars, which are usually a little light in the bass anyway, perhaps adding a subwoofer would solve the problem and also be less complicated and more aesthetically pleasing.
sandpat OP
20 posts
 
Yup right on.  It’s a struggle :)

I was hoping to not go the way of subwoofers as I’ve heard these speakers sound great in other rooms and wanted to stay with ribbons.  I probably am asking for too much haha.

thanks!
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
Leave it as is.  You are avoiding room nodes

And BTW, anything you put there will vibrate with bass notes.

For bass, you will use a multiple sub setup - many like REL.

But, you could build QRD diffuser panels to sit on the sides between you and the speakers -- if it would help.

What is the problem you are trying to get rid of besides lack of bass?
auxinput
1,538 posts
 

+1 randy-11

Closing a room or making a room smaller will increase the amount of bass problems you have in the room because you will be causing more bass nodes that will cancel/boost certain frequencies.

An open floor plan will actually help bass response because the open parts that lead to other areas of the house are essentially doing the same thing as "bass traps" (allowing the bass waveforms to escape instead of bouncing back towards the speakers and cancelling certain frequencies).

What amplifier are you using.  Since these are panel speakers, they really need a very high-current high-power solid state amplifier to really drive them.  If the amp is good and you still lack bass, add a powered subwoofer.

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