Room Acoustics Planning

[bonzo]

So this is the property I am moving in to next month.
The furniture is not mine, but my sofa will be in the same position, and that dining table will move towards the bay window.

The Summits will be on either side of the fireplace (see the floor plan). As you can see from the floor plan, the sides don’t have first reflection points due to the window

I will put a nice carpet between the sofa and the speakers, and am planning to put two vertical bass absorbers behind the speakers. A thick rectangular base panel above the sofa.

Am I headed in the right direction? I can put bass tri traps in the corners. Are diffusors required anywhere, or should i all be absorbers

Oh yes, the floor is wood and moves a bit as you walk on it. The ceilings are high

Think Stairway to Heaven. I would like the vocals and acoustics to be mellow, warm and clear, and then the drums to have a clean punch.

Also, do you think a sub is needed in such a room for music?

 

[Nutshell]

Hi Bonzo,

I saw you have your Summits almost next to your kitchen sink. You will have to be careful while cooking. Smoke and tiny particles of fat will easily attach to the panels and degrade them. My advise is to always cover them while cooking.

 

[bonzo]

Thanks. I am single do don't cook much, but yes, will do that.

I think I am on the wrong forum, I should move this to room acoustics

 

[JonFo]

Hi Bonzo, congrats, your plan is very much in the right direction.

Your biggest challenge will be the seating position right up against the opposite wall, as you will be in a bass mode (high-pressure, louder bass), so that bass trap right behind your head over the couch is a must-have. You should ensure it also absorbs as much high frequencies as possible, as you do not want a 6" or 1' rear-wall reflection to mar the imaging of your summits.

As for whether a sub is required, I'd think not. One, the space is relatively small, so those Summits should energize the low end just fine. Second, this looks like an apt. so your neighbors might not dig the extra low-end

 

[bonzo]

Hi Jon,

Thanks. Next month I will also get a demo of the VertexAQ leading edge panels – these are based on an aerospace technology by engineers with that background – have micro perforated holes, and are best installed on the ceiling parallel to the floor, around 8 inches down from the ceiling.

What they do is still the air, so that the sound in all parts of the room is uniform. It claims to take out the bass boom if there is extra bass, and takes off treble if there is extra treble.

It looks more decorative – panels are wood and can be painted on, or you can install lights between them and the ceiling – and dealers who stock both this and bass traps recommend this. Worst case I can combine both. These are more expensive though, two pairs required on my ceiling will cost GBP 4400.

But I will get an in-house demo so will know. http://leadingedge-audio.com/ and http://www.kaiser-acoustics.com/en/...ws/hifi-plus-issue-96-leading-edge-review.pdf if you need some reading material, not sure I explained the technique correctly.

 

[JonFo]

Hi Bonzo, interesting product, and I'd love to hear your impressions when you do get them installed.

Definitely not cheap, but if two can deliver the desired results, then maybe it's worth it.

I read through the literature, and found not a single metric used, not in words or in graphs. That seriously bothers me when people claim 'scientifically' based designs, but do not provide a single shred of scientific evidence to back up the claims. Just a bunch of fluffy words based on subjective impressions. That never moves me, matter of fact, it triggers my BS detector. So caveat emptor.

 

[bonzo]

Jon, How big a difference would a fabric sofa make compared to a leather sofa in that room?

 

[JonFo]

Bonzo, in the location up against the wall, either will absorb bass to some extent, but the leather will be more reflective in the high-frequencies, a fabric couch more absorbent.

I'm facing the same dilemma for my HT, as I'm planning to change the seating soon, and am oscillating on the sonic benefits of fabric vs the maintenance benefits of leather. Leaning towards fabric at this time.

 

[bonzo]

And Jon, I assume every Chandelier or glass table that I add will hurt acoustics, especially if have glass anywhere near my sofa (e.g. side table or table lamp).

 

[bonzo]

So I decided to go in for fabric sofa and W2W carpeting. Btw, Jon, regarding the Leading Edge panels, haven't demo-ed them yet, but had gone to a hifi show yesterday, and Stillpoints has now come out with a set of panels with the same tech. In fact they have improved on it, what they claim is they can give the same functionality in smaller panels, which can be used as small decorative piece of painting. I saw those panels, they were roughly 2 feet by 2 feet, and their rooms sounded great, though I cannot say how much was because of those panels.

They too have agreed to come over and demo the entire stillpoint range at home, just this new home set up is taking longer than I thought, hopefully by end of next month I should have auditioned both.