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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
undertow
1,032 posts
 
Kevinzoe
Amen... Funny how some guys get 30,000 dollar speakers and switch them in and out, then you come to find they have them in a room worth about 2000 bucks! Build a house or a room to get the optimal out of that crazy speaker is far better and probably cheaper! Unfortunately nobody learns this up front, we all have made the mistakes and this always ends up last on the list.

But let me say this, this is just not possible for everyone, however somebody especially with huge multi thousand dollar systems there is not much excuse unless they are renting. However the guy with 5000 total sometimes into a system just has to make it work with what he has sometimes, and this is not always easy or efficient, they may never even know it unless they read this site everyday!
inpieces's avatar
inpieces
199 posts
 
Kevinzoe,

ofcourse measuring is best. We have a pro company here. They do serious jobs and they are very good and have done listening rooms at high end stores around. Though, i rent my flat. So, i bought what i find best suitable for a future, as i will not live here forever.

Easiest way to describe listening in my room, is like listening through headphones. IMO, very balanced and with high readability and impact.

GIK Acoustics IMO, has been very nice fellows. They have the down to earth approach and always helps with questions and ideas.

It do sound very good here now. When i was into more expensive units i had some visits to audio freaks. Some had home made units, speakers and acoustic treatments. Some had undeniably expensive equiptments and half way to bad acoustics. Far too many have just positioned a system under not best conditions. I fully understand this is not for everyone. I just wanted to chime in as i believe those that gave this more simple approach as i took, would be superbly happy when finally listening. We could all go on trying to perceive an image of what is and what is not.
I guess, for most it's a matter of cost and you mention WAF. That alone, might be most difficult.

My quest was for:
Good to great acoustics.
Appearance/ looks.
How can i use these in case of moving?
How does it affect cleaning my room?

As is, all is fine IMO. There are always more extreme approaches. These units i have do not weight too much either. They are on stands, except for TRItraps. So they are easy to move around. They look realy sober in black.

I had bass absorbers in the past, weight was 50kgs each. They were huge. No more!

Friends who has been here, well, all have there own opinions.
As for how it sounds, none had argued. Most complement to focus and readability. While pushing the limits for higher db, it is an amazing agility and impact. It is easy going really high on volume, as no direct overhang or disturbances are detected. I try keep it at normal to low (neighbours/ complaints are not good). It sounds really good at quite low. But,for the sense of drama, pushing it is quite an experience.
maplegrovemusic's avatar
maplegrovemusic
981 posts
 
Hello , I noticed you have magnepans. A suggestion : I recently placed a 2" thick oc 703 2'x4'panel behind my maggies 1.6 's . In a direct line behind them floor to ceiling . It was out of curiosity i tried this. All the stuff i have read online states to put diffusors behind them .I read you got advice to put all 5 of your panels in the rear.I also did that from the advice i read in this post .a great improvement .The sound is alot less bright doing this. Bass like crazy .i previously had floor to ceilng curtains behind the speakers which did help with some absorption and diffusuion. I just did this today and am very pleased with the new sound . I would recommend this highly !
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