# What I did with the $600 GiK gift card



## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

First - thanks, again, to GiK and HTS for lining this up. I've learned a great deal about room treatments through the process. Special thanks to Alex from GiK, who helped me select all the stuff and answered my questions, and to the rest of the GiK team who have been working with me and him.

I am sorry that I disappeared from the forums right after winning this. I didn't mean to! Some not nearly as exciting things have been taking up my time, which accounts for that and the delay in spending the gift card. GiK was prompt - it was all me. Then I was spending some time over e-mail with Alex instead of on the forum... Anyhow, I'm back - things are good.

On with it then - here's what I got:
(2) TriTraps for the back of the room
(2) 244's for behind my front mains
(1) 242-sized ArtPanel with a pretty sweet Iron Man poster for the left-side first reflection point
(1) 242 for the ceiling first reflection point

The total came to a little over $800, shipped (so a little over $200 out of pocket - thanks, again, can't say that enough...)

Working with GiK was great. I started with some REW measurements for my baseline setup to keep track of progress. We started simple - I had been too lazy to position things correctly. The sub was in a terrible spot - a 



 made it worlds better. If you have not done this, go do it now - don't be lazy like I was. Really - it only takes 10 minutes - just do it. My couch wasn't right against the wall, but it was pretty close. I moved it forward about a foot, which puts the listening position just under 3ft off the back wall, and that helped a little too.

Then it was on to more REW measurements to quantify that difference. The low end was in noticeably better shape, both audibly and by the graphs. GiK's suggestion from those measurements was to further treat the low-end with the TriTraps in the back of the room, treat a null at 200Hz with 244's behind the front mains, and treat the first reflection points with 242's. The right-side first reflection point lands in the middle of an open doorway, so we'll be treating just the left-side and the ceiling. The left wall will have the ArtPanel with Iron Man - wife is loving that idea. The 244's wouldn't fit with their standard size, so I had to get custom-sized smaller ones - no big deal.

So that's where we are now. All that stuff is ordered, and I'll report back when it comes in. I'll also put up the before/after room pictures and REW measurements once all the panels are installed. If anyone is interested in a sneak-peak, here is the Google Doc that I used to communicate the room layout and REW measurements to GiK.


----------



## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

Great choices! And your system will thank you for them. I agree that the GIK folks are great to work with!


----------



## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

Great! can't wait to see the pictures! I will have to get treatments eventually so I am curious how it looks and after installed how everything sounds!


----------



## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Looking forward to your impressions, as I just got some Tri-Traps in myself... added to the other treatments I have.


----------



## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

It seems you have spent the money wisely, as well as relocating things to get an even better result. 
Well done.


----------



## flamingeye (Apr 2, 2008)

Cool I can’t wait to see your before and after pictures and the results REW will show after doing the install , I bet it will make a hug difference and you will wonder why you didn't do this years ago.


----------



## cubiclecrusher (May 21, 2013)

Awesome! Before-REW measurements and a sub crawl are perfect pre-tasks to accomplish before those panels get there.


----------



## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

Update - treatments are here. Everything is installed except the ceiling panel. First impressions were great. My buddy and I opened up all the boxes and put things in place during halftime of the Patriots game. It made a big difference even in the clarity of the announcer's voice. A few selected movie scenes demonstrated amazingly clear bass and additional clarity through the mid range.

Since then, I've re-run Audyssey. It detected my mains as "large" for the first time, that was strange. I set that back to small - they are not full range by any means. Most noticeably, Audyssey didn't try to turn the sub way down like it used to in order to compensate for some of those low end peaks, like it used to. Things sound quite stellar now. Music listening is a treat - so clear, and the boomy bass issues in movies and TV have been significantly reduced. Once I get this last panel in, I will put up the before/after measurements to make things more scientific.

Build quality of all the treatments is great. Everything sits nice and flat on the walls or floors and the coverings are tight as a drum. The two panels that needed to be custom sized are right on spec. The ArtPanel looks great - the colors and resolution are definitely fine for something in this size range. I was worried it might be washed out or blotchy, but that is not a problem at all. There was some damage to the corners of the ArtPanel during shipping, but GiK is on top of making that right - great customer service. Basic hanging hardware, including pre-installed eye-hooks and some heavy duty hanging wire, were included with each panel, which saved me a trip to the hardware store.

Overall, it is a great collection of products, and the staff is great to work with. I think the ArtPanel is a little on the pricy side for what it is (4x the cost of a plain panel, though it does look really cool), but everything else is a pretty good value, especially considering the immediately audible difference and all the guidance they are willing to provide pre-purchase. I've bought much more expensive audio components that didn't provide anything close to this much difference, and I must have exchanged 50 emails with GiK pre-purchase. Bottom line - Good buy, highly recommend.

Full disclaimer - reviews were not a requirement of the gift card prize. The thoughts I'm expressing here are not biased by GiK or HTS in any way. Thanks, again, to GiK and HTS for the opportunity.


----------



## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

Happy to hear everything improved after you got the treatments. Can you post some pictures? I am curious to see the placement and how it looks in general. I will need to get some treatments so curious.


----------



## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

tripplej said:


> Happy to hear everything improved after you got the treatments. Can you post some pictures? I am curious to see the placement and how it looks in general. I will need to get some treatments so curious.


Yes, I'll get before/after room pictures up with the measurements.


----------



## hyghwayman (Jan 15, 2008)

jimbodude said:


> Yes, I'll get before/after room pictures up with the measurements.


:yay2::thankyou: Can't wait!


----------



## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

Better late than never. I'll start with the SPL graphs.

Note, for SPL comparison graphs - I normalized the SPLs to make comparison easier. Not true for waterfalls.

For these full-range graphs, the color key is:
-Red: Original setup (no Audyssey)
-Yellow: Relocated sub and seating, no treatments
-Dark Green: Treatments added
-Light Green: Treatments and Audyssey

Left full-range SPL:








Right full-range SPL:








For the sub graphs, the color key is:
-Red: Original
-Yellow: Relocated sub and seating, no treatments
-Light Green: Treatments added

No Audyssey or crossover for all sub measurements








For the RT60, the color key is:
-Red: Original
-Yellow: Relocated sub and seating, no treatments
-Light Green: Treatments added

There are 2 of each color - right and left full range.


----------



## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

Full-range waterfalls. Note, SPL is not normalized between measurements. I changed computers in between and I couldn't get the levels to match...

Original:















Seating/sub Moved, no treatments:















Treatments, no Audyssey:















Treatments, with Audyssey:


----------



## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

Sub waterfalls.

Original:








After moving listening position and sub (no treatments):








With treatments:


----------



## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

Before pictures (sorry, they're not great)

Physical challenges:
- First reflection point lines up very close to the window, and falls on the open doorway
- Curved wall limits panel placement
- Large screen limits panel width in the front
- Poor rear-channel speaker placement limits height of rear corner treatments
- Plaster walls

Front wall:








Left wall:








Back wall:


----------



## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

Finally, the after pictures:

Back wall - TriTraps tucked behind the couch:








Left wall - TriTrap in the corner, ArtPanel on the wall, 244 behind front main:








Front wall - 244's behind mains, ArtPanel on left wall:








Ceiling - 242 on ceiling:








Close-up of ArtPanel:








Alright, that's all I've got. Sorry it took so long - way too many things going on...

Comments and further suggestions welcomed. I'm pretty happy - thanks again to HTS and GiK for helping out.


----------

