Help fixing bad room acoustics (1 Viewer)

[Ryan T]

Hi,
I was looking through a chapter on room acoustics in one of my radio shack books and they said one way to tell if your room has bad acoustics is to clap and if you hear loud echo’s then you have bad acoustics and if you do then you should hang blankets on the walls. Well I went in my bedroom (where my HT is) and clapped and sure enough there was really bad echo’s. My room is 14' long 11' wide and my ceiling is 8' high, I have almost no furniture in there just a bed, bookshelf and my equipment. I have a huge window that is about 4' wide and 5' tall on my front wall and one small window that’s about 2' wide and 3' high on my side wall. Both windows have metal mini blinds on them to. I'm wondering if getting some black out drapes for my windows will take care of the problem, what do you guys think?
Ryan

 

[Jeffrey Noel]

Well Ryan, I'm not very knowledgable about room acoustics, but I had the exact same problem in my dorm room. But, I used my old king size bed "egg-carton" pad, spray painted it black, and hung it on my wall behind my TV and front speakers. It has actually helped out quite a bit.
Another option is to go to partsexpress.com and look at their products, as they have some for rooms. They can be expensive, that is if you want to cover your entire room, but here are the part numbers for some of their products:
300-900
260-315, 260-316
305-120
305-130
305-100
Hope that'll help some! Doubt it will!
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God bless!
jeffrey noel
My DVD Collection

 

[Dennis Kindig]

You could get lost with all the options you have for getting a room acoustically neutral

.
In the most basic terms, you might try for a "live end/dead end" setup, with the wall that your speakers are on set up with more absorptive materials, a balance of absorptive and reflective materials throughout the room, and a fairly reflective surface on the back wall.
I also use my HT setup for music, so I cover my television screen during critical listening to eliminate its reflective surface. I have mounted my center channel just above my RPTV using a television wall mount and attached a tapestry across the top of my television that flips down over the screen. It has a high SAF (Spousal Approval Factor)

and improves the acoustics quite a bit.
There is a quick check you can do with help from a friend. Using a laser pointer from the primary listening position, have a friend position a mirror along the side walls, floor and ceiling so that the laser bounces from the mirror to the center of your speaker (or close to midway between the drivers). This reveals the "primary reflection points". If these locations consist of hard, reflective materials, you will have problems with mids and highs muddying when you turn up the volume.
The overall goal is to provide some delayed ambient reflections to create a sense of spaciousness, but eliminate strong reflections that compete with the signal source.
Dennis

 

[Ryan T]

What about using the poly batting they sell at wal-mart for making quilts will this work? Also how much of my walls do I need to cover and how many walls? I heard that you only have to cover two walls one side and one front or back wall to stop the echo's from bouncing back and fourth in your room. Any suggestions?
Ryan

 

[Bob Sorel]

Hi Ryan,
I just built eight 48" x 24" DIY sound absorbing panels following the recipe found here:
Link Removed
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STOP DVI/HDCP/5C/DFAST!

 

[Dan_Myers]

One of the things I think I would try first would be adding Floor Lenth Curtains to both windows. The extra fabric you will be adding to these two walls will help with sound as well as darken the room for HT enjoyment. If you still have problems after these two simple treatments, then you can start toying with other options.

 

[Paul_H]

I would suggest getting Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest first. This book covers everything you need to know about acoustics including a chapter on acoustics of listening rooms. Good acoustics are a combination of absorbtion and reflection. The solutions can be tube traps, quadratic-residue diffusors, panel absorbers, construction techniques, etc. This book really does an excellent job covering the physics behind these properties, but also gives formulaes and examples of solutions. Everest does an excellent job covering the material without boring technical talk. For your room I would try adding thick drapes spaced slightly off the wall. Adding a big stuffed chair or hanging things on your walls would also help. Absorbtion is most important to put in areas of early reflections (behind the speakers, left, right, below, above). You can save a lot of money and match their look to the room by making these treatments yourself.
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Paul Hagan
[email protected]