# Overall Goals for Room Treatment



## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

I have been searching through the forums and I may have missed it so if this is a repetitive question could you just point me to the right posting.

When tackling a rooms acoustics is there a general goal to get to?
I would assume acoustical insulation works in the same manner as thermal insulation as far gains will diminish at a certain point. 

Any advice would be helpful, thanks in advance.


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

Someone more knowledgeable in me can reply with respect to the in room acoustics however for sound isolation standard insulation works best. It's only a small part of the solution however
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

There are a couple of different goals with treatment.

1. Provide smooth, consistent frequency response over a variety of seating locations.

2. Provide a proper decay time curve based on the size of the room, it's intended use, etc.

One can certainly overdo treatment. One can also overdo some parts of treatment and leave others under (or un) done. The most common problem is putting lots of thin absorption in a room which overdamps the upper mids and highs while leaving the bottom end untouched which only skews the decay time curve worse.

Bryan


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

Thank you Bryan, that is exactly what I was looking for. I assume the way to this goal is to become very good friends with REW?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

And knowing your target curve. If you'd like to provide your room dimensions and intended usage, I'd be happy to give you a target range to shoot for.

Bryan


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

I would really appreciate any advice you have. My goal is to have my surround and 2 channel in the same room. The good news is I have no limits on where I can move things around. I have access to 36 2'x2' acoustic ceiling tiles and almost unlimited access to 10mm thick rolls of PET acoustical insulation 3 foot wide. My room is a L shaped room with the current listen area a 19'x12' part of that. I will break out the tape measure and Auto-CAD tonight when I get home to get an accurate drawing of room dimensions because it does have a 45 degree half wall on the inside corner of the "L".


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

No problem at all.

You can do both HT and 2 channel in the same room - you just need to set priorities since the way they're treated is different.

Bryan


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

This is my room layout. After looking at it from this angle think I might need to rip out the half wall (which will leave a support post at the end) and swap the tv and couch. Not opposed to covering up windows or doors this room kinda has no rules


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Man, you've got a lot of doors in that room! What is the door that willl be behind and left from the TV?

I'd agree with the 1/2 wall.

I'd honestly be half tempted to face you toward the bottom wall of your drawing to get some symmetry and some freedom of placement without worrying about doors and windows.

Bryan


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

The door behind the tv is my bedroom door, to the left of that is the upstairs door than the closet. The Double doors go outside, sorry should have labeled those. Normally in the winter all windows and the exterior doors are covered with 3 layers of the 10mm PET (I hate the cold). I am not opposed to covering up anything and will move furniture where ever except I do use the fireplace. BTW did lots of trials on speaker and sitting placement last night and my 2 channel woke up like I have never heard it before. That was thanks to the education part on the GIK website.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Well, if the door behind the speakers is to a bedroom that's used all the time, I think that's a pretty serious restriction on placement and treatment personally.

Glad you had good luck getting things tweaked. I don't see having any problems getting it dialed in the other way though either.


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

Thanks, I will swap the room around this weekend and try to get rid of that half-wall. As far as 2-ch vs. surround, I think I will set up the room as a surround room with the couch and then place my 2-ch speakers permanent and place a temporary chair when I want to listen to 2-ch. I don't think the stereo speakers will interfere with my surround setup.


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

So after a few last night the hammer looked like fun so I took out the half-wall and spun my set up around. Should have done this long ago!


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Good deal. Glad it's working for you. I completely missed what appears to be a post in the middle of the room. Guess that was hidden in the 1/2 wall?

Bryan


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

Yes I knew it was there it is a support for upstairs so I thought I would leave it . I think my first move should be to cover the wall behind the tv?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Hard to say. The first things I'd deal with are broadband bass control and trying to rebalance the effective left to right symmetry of the room.

Bryan


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Regarding that left-right balance: would a free standing, movable panel such as your 242 used along the left wall in front of the door(s) be a good option? Of course, there's the fact that he must approve of such an action...


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

If we can get 1-2 where the reflections fall, certainly. If he's lucky and the points fall on the doors, they could be direct mounted.

The front corner should also be addressed to minimize additional room gain from that side.

Bryan


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

Basically money is my only restriction, I live alone so nobody is there to stop me!

Before I ask 2 million questions do you have a site I can go study up some more on this I read about the mirror trick on the GIK site? I was getting ready to use the RAW software but don't think my microphone is up to par for it.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

REW can be used with something as simple as a Radio Shack SPL meter. There is a correction file for that mic.

You don't need it perfect, you're looking for trends.

As for the mirror, you just need a 2nd person. Sit in a seat and have them slide a mirror along the wall. When you see a speaker, mark that spot. Repeat for other 2 front speakers.

Repeat this for each seat.

Bryan


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

Ok started testing some acoustic material I came across. I have most of the room like this as well as seven make shift bass absorbers that measure 16x16 and are 50" tall. How bad does cardboard interfere with a bass absorber (I ask because the material came in cardboard and I have yet built permanent, framed and cloth wrapped, enclosures for these.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

The cardboard will let the deeper bass through but will block a lot from a couple hundred Hz up and just reflect it.

Bryan


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## Stroh (Sep 14, 2010)

Thanks Bryan, that would probably explain the "poppiness" of the room right now because in my head according to the graphs of the insulation (mine is the SM 600L) it should sound different. This is all ear trials right now just experimenting till I get my REW setup up and going.


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