My diy room treatment

[powerav]

I’m no acoustic engineer but I thought I’d give this a go and I reckon I’ve aced it.

I started with just diy absorption panels as these were pretty simple made from a timber frame, acoustic fibre panels used as sound insulation on commercial building sites and wrapped in fabric from spotlight.

As I slowly did this bit by bit I didn’t really notice a difference apart from the fact that it kept the sound in the room as I could listen at moderate levels with out the wife complaining .

After researching about sound diffusion and seeing how expensive diffusion panels were I thought I’d give these a go, well after making the one on the back wall which is only 600 by 600 I can see why they are expensive, a very time consuming project.

after completing and installing I did not a difference and I didn’t expect to considering the small size although it does look pretty cool as a piece of art and does get some attention.

After I  saw a post on a Magnepan forum from a member who made the panels that I have on the front wall behind main speakers. Well after I made and installed these and started to play some tracks I realised what a difference room treatment can make and initially it wasn’t positive, it seemed to make the room “live” again and it seemed I lost some the bass so I proceeded to turn the volume up on subwoofers but this was not the answer as now it was too boomy.

I then thought about how sometimes when you make a big improvement on your audio system like a new pair of speakers you can feel a bit disappointed as you are used to the sound that you previously had for a long time but as time goes on and you start playing albums that you are very familiar but may have not heard for a long time you get that goosebump feeling of hearing new sounds and moments.

As I said I’m no expert but I’m thinking with only absorption panels as I had before it was too bass heavy and the high frequencies were maybe suffering but now with the front diffusion panels things have evened out and now I really only hear low bass when it’s called for in a song which is the way it should be.

https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/making-easy-diy-depot-sound-diffuser-panels-step-by-step.269366/

 

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by powerav
Added link

[Indie Hi-Fi]

Looks good, nice job. Love the wife complain-o-meter as the main reference!

[almikel]

nice work! and nice room!

 

I've found room treatment to be the best "bang for buck" improvement to the "in room" sound by far.

 

On 19/01/2022 at 6:16 PM, powerav said:

I’m thinking with only absorption panels as I had before it was too bass heavy and the high frequencies were maybe suffering but now with the front diffusion panels things have evened out and now I really only hear low bass when it’s called for in a song which is the way it should be.

You would still likely benefit from some absorption targeting lower frequencies (say 150-500Hz) - the treatment I can see in your photos is unlikely to absorb much under 500Hz.

 

Most rooms I've measured benefit from absorption big/deep enough to still be working down to 150-500Hz.

 

I would recommend getting a measurement mic/rig prior to applying more treatment, as unfortunately the human ear is not great for calibrating/tuning room bass.

A UMIK-1 from miniDSP is a great starting point for a measurement mic

https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/umik-1#:~:text=The UMIK-1 is an,results you can rely on.

 

Add a mic stand with a boom + REW software (free) running on a laptop and you have a measurement rig.

Trust me on getting a mic stand with a boom - you'll need the boom for placing the mic right where your head is when measuring at the listening position, and for poking the mike into places where subs might go during the "sub crawl" process.

 

If your room is "typical" your room reverb times will likely be quite high below where your absorption stops working (say <500Hz).

This is audible especially at room mode peaks at the listening position where the sound seems to ring, boom or take some time to decay.

It's not really practical to use absorption treatment for room issues under around 150Hz (as the absorption needs to be too big/deep)...

...but IME in my lightly constructed room (where all the low bass leaks out), some decent sized corner traps manage the room bass OK down to 150Hz or so, and below that a few bands of EQ cut works a treat to keep reverb times consistent across the band in my room.

 

cheers

Mike

[Gav67]

Well done.  The panels look great.  As you have found, acoustic room treatments can provide tremendous improvements in sound quality.  I have been luck to have had diy treatments in my room for over 10 years and I enjoy how the room feels every time I listen to music.  Best investment you can make.  

 

Cheers