Room Acoustics Help

B

Brad_Porter

Guest
I know I have heard my set-up sound a lot better. I know why too; room acoustics in my house isn’t overly clever. It’s a pretty much a cube, wooden floor boards with a Jute (the straw like natural rug) rug and a back wall (well it’s a false wall!) as flat and blank as you like. I kind of know what I have got to do but just need some guidance.

I guess the frst move is get a nice thick rug for the room that covers nearly the whole of the wooden floor; but what else can I do to stop the sound sounding a bit hard and harsh. I guess the sound is just hitting the blank walls and through the holes in the Jute rug and this is making it sound hard. I hope you know what kind of sound I am trying to describe!! Ask if I am not making myself clear.

Also, I could describe my vocals (center chanell) as sounding a bit weedy at times; is this an issue when you get rooms like mine?

Remember that this is the living room so solutions have to be aesthetically pleasing to avoid expensive divorce papers.

Can you guys help? If you can, thanks - if it really works then a bottle of wine will be sent to you!


My Setup (if at all relevant) :

M&K S-85's for front three
M&K K-4 Sorrounds
M&K V-125 Subwoofer
Denon 3802 (controlling back two speakers and sub)
Arcam P-25 (controlling front three speakers)
Pioneer 737
 
Only a suggestion, so don't take it as gospel, but that big flat false wall at the back is probably causing most of the problems - especially weedy vocals - because of the amount of reflected sound coming from it.
Best bet is either a bookcase (not normally a realistic proposition) or one of those huge wall hangings you find in various off the wall furniture shops. In that case it usually helps if the other occupant of the house likes big game animals.

P.S. Mine is a picture of a tiger :D because it both booms and echoes - damn wooden floors.
 
Thanks for the reply. A also belive that these false walls are causing issues. However........

1. Do you still think its worth changing the straw rug to the thicker rug to cover the floorboards?
2. How thick is the wall hanging and does it make a real difference?

Cheers.
 
Originally posted by Brad_Porter [/i]
1. Do you still think its worth changing the straw rug to the thicker rug to cover the floorboards?

Definately. I changed my cheap, thin polyester rug for a nice 2 inch wool one with proper backing and the room was instantly a better place to listen to music in. The bottom end tightened up nicely and the boom was lessened.

2. How thick is the wall hanging and does it make a real difference?

IMO you should get another wool rug and hang it on the wall behind you. This will absorb sound very well and comes in nicer designs than those animal print cotton hangings.

3. Get a couple of tall palms or similar in pots to go behind you in the corners (without obstructing the rear speakers). These will break up standing waves very effectively too. As you suggest, a 6 ft bookcase or dvd rack will help loads too.

Cheers
 
Thankyou all for the replies.

I am definitely going to pop to IKEA this week and get myself and huge thick rug to 'deaden' to room a little more then it already is.

I am going to have to also seriously look at my back wall. However, the missus is just going to have none of it having a rug mounted on the wall. Whereas I would have a whole buffalo mounted if it improved the sound!

Got to really find a way to put a rug or material up or something that wont look like a real hideous nightmare. I gather pictures and similar objects just add to the problem?

Any extra thoughts?
 
Originally posted by Brad_Porter
I gather pictures and similar objects just add to the problem?

Maybe not. A couple of pictures will change the wall's surface and could break up the sound waves a little bit.....hmmmm, if you are getting the missus involved (it's how to keep her out that's the trick:rolleyes: ), you could look at a nice 6 ft tall by 6 ft wide oil painting without any glass in the frame. The canvas surface will absorb sound better than the bricks and the thick gold-coloured frames they come with will help too. Don't know if your budget gets you into the Guggenheim or down the market stalls, but a big oil can look great:)
 
Hmmm.

I really feel like I REALLY need to deaden the sound. I gather the best way is the rug route on the wall (as you said before) and this is highly preferable to 6ft x 6ft picture of the Mona Lisa?

The problem with poor acoustics (this is me just theorising here!) is the louder you turn the system up, the more the bad room acoustics will be rattling around the room. This is why my system seems to sounder harder (but thinner vocals) when it gets to reasonably loud level; we are not talking about reference levels here, around -20db on the Denon 3802.

If there really is no other solution, Ill just have to hang the rug up when I listen to home cinema and detached when finished. At least the room can be returned to glory after HT use.

I curse Home Theatre, its driving me insane and my wife out the door. :D.
 

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