Promoted Room Treatment – This Year's Snake Oil?

Very interested to hear some of these. I also will say that while I never use room correction for obvious reasons the only one time I heard room correction I liked was in a room with a Lyngdorf setup. So I am looking forward to expereince the difference. My main gripe with systems is that they alter the way my speakers sound, taking away dynamics.

The only issue with testing in showrooms is that you have no reference point. One must listen in their own room that they know well.
When you are ready get in touch.
RoomPerfect will allow your speakers to perform and sound as intended without altering their sonic signature.
 
Personally I think room treatment and EQ can be overdone killing dynamics and balance

EQ for low frequencies and treatment for high frequencies imo, you don’t want an overly live room or too dead. Most fabric heavy rooms like cinema rooms probably need or benefit from very little Treatment

I did spend some money with GIK to address flutter echo dispersion is your friend as well as absorbtion if careful worked very well

You can’t deal with flutter echo with EQ, Dirac Room Perfect won’t be doing that and if they did via software I’m not sure I’d want to listen to it
 
Room correction can only do so much in regards to direct and side reflections. In a large room with a good distance from the speaker's to all the walls I would imagine room correction would work fairly well. If you can't have acoustic room treatment in your room.

But in a average size UK room which is usually small with the speaker's close to all the walls some absorbing and diffusion will work wonders. If you are able to implement room treatment into your room. Most people can't if it's a living room so some room correction is the alternative next best option.

I've got a couple of GIK acoustics hybrid Evolution PolyFusors plus some other companies hybrid absorber/diffuser panels and diffusers. Not installed all the acoustic panels yet, installed one of the GIK acoustics PolyFusors yesterday.

The staff at GIK acoustics are helpful offering advice on room layout, panel panel placements etc. They don't just sell you the panels and expect you to figure it out for yourself. I already researched and pre planned where I would be placing all my panels. But it's nice for companies to guide you through, it shows they care.

Looks massive in my small living room at the moment haha but in a few days time it probably won't look that big anymore. I do like the curved design rather than the usual flat acoustic panels.
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Room correction can only do so much in regards to direct and side reflections. In a large room with a good distance from the speaker's to all the walls I would imagine room correction would work fairly well. If you can't have acoustic room treatment in your room.
My kitchen is 9.5m x 7.5m, so not small. Because there are hard surfaces everywhere, the sound is awful in there, and it will never be possible for room correction alone to fix the issue. Now obviously a home cinema won't be completely bare, a cartpet and seats will make a start on improving the sound, so room EQ can then make it sound decent. But we're not only after decent here, and if you want it really good, then some acoustic treatments (in the right place) will help.

Of course, like you say, not everyone can accommodate panels in their room, so if it's not a dedicated room you may have to compromise.
 
Interesting debate. In my experience, room treatment is excellent.

Even Trinnov, debatably the market-leader in terms of top tier performance, absolutely recommend room treatment prior to room equalisation.
 
Interesting debate. In my experience, room treatment is excellent.

Even Trinnov, debatably the market-leader in terms of top tier performance, absolutely recommend room treatment prior to room equalisation.
Because they know what they are talking about :) Room treatment should priority no1. before spending any serious money.
 
I know a number of so called Audiophile buddies who keep spending stupid amounts of money on cables, fuses and other stuff that is supposed to improve quality, all fail to understand the basic laws of physics, and when they come over and listen, they simply are in awe and don't understand how a seriously lower cost system can sound much better. Its proper treatment, planning, placement and tuning, once all this is done well, only then I start looking into expensive upgrades... otherwise it's mostly cash down the drain.
 
I know a number of so called Audiophile buddies who keep spending stupid amounts of money on cables, fuses and other stuff that is supposed to improve quality, all fail to understand the basic laws of physics, and when they come over and listen, they simply are in awe and don't understand how a seriously lower cost system can sound much better. Its proper treatment, planning, placement and tuning, once all this is done well, only then I start looking into expensive upgrades... otherwise it's mostly cash down the drain.
This^. It has been proven time and time again that the room itself makes such a big difference to the perceived sound. There are people who’d rather spends £££ on better cables than on room treatment!
 
This^. It has been proven time and time again that the room itself makes such a big difference to the perceived sound. There are people who’d rather spends £££ on better cables than on room treatment!
well, it's far easier to swing a credit card than properly plan a room... if that's their way, let them come over and be surprised :)
I had a real good laugh just before christmas when one of these buddies called and said "I just bought a cable and now that bass is soooo much better" :) :) :) placeboo is a very powerful thing.
 
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I'm curious about Room Perfect, but I've never believed Rob's assertions as to it's almost biblical power in transforming rooms with zero treatment and hard surfaces into something that sounds better than a designed audio room with treatment. That just tells me the original design was wrong, not that there is a system out there that mitigates the need for acoustic treatment.
 
Here's a slightly different question. Would Room Perfect work better in a treated or untreated room? Which one would give the best outcome?

Assume 15% absorption or less and 15% diffusion or less, so it's not a dead inert space.
 
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I often wondered that too @Harkon321 as at one point I did consider the smaller 1120 amp for stereo music with RP. Since my room is well treated and sounds good even with only limited sub eq. However, my circumstances have changed and I had to scrape those plans.

It was a lot more hard work putting in the treatment though and while as @bandyka says I could have 'swung the credit card' it was all DIY, so the cost was just materials. I always remember the first time I sat down to watch some TV after I'd put the speakers back up after I'd put the last section of treatment in...it sounded so different; speech was clearer even just watching the news or whatever.

I remember there was a TV series that everyone complained about the 'mumbling speech' yet I never had a problem with it, even with my less than perfect hearing. Maybe helped having the LCR at the right height behind an AT screen and that they're all the same speakers, but I reckon the set up and treatment made a big difference too: I'd upgraded from the MK150 series LCR to 300 series, but the difference wasnt that huge (just that Rich had a great deal on some ex-demo ones). Plus I'd already heard them in the untreated room, so I knew the difference once the room was finished.

Still, would be nice to have the spare dosh to try RP in an already good room, but I'll survive. :)
 
Good points, I'd love to hear RP in my room, but the moment I watched my first movie clip in the finished room, before I'd run EQ (I use Dirac), I was blown away by the sound. Room treatment is a must (where you can).

Having said that, you can also get room treatment wrong. I don't know if anyone remembers the days of Uncle Eric on here (must be 15+ years ago)....his demo room was one of the worst I've ever heard. My ears were ringing as soon as he closed the door...all life was sucked out of the room from the acoustic treatments.
 
I know a number of so called Audiophile buddies who keep spending stupid amounts of money on cables, fuses and other stuff that is supposed to improve quality, all fail to understand the basic laws of physics, and when they come over and listen, they simply are in awe and don't understand how a seriously lower cost system can sound much better. Its proper treatment, planning, placement and tuning, once all this is done well, only then I start looking into expensive upgrades... otherwise it's mostly cash down the drain.
But you treat room differently for music vs HT. If yours is done for HT it will not sound too good with music.
 
But you treat room differently for music vs HT. If yours is done for HT it will not sound too good with music.
Why is this? I found music sounds much better now with my room treated
 
Here's a slightly different question. Would Room Perfect work better in a treated or untreated room? Which one would give the best outcome?

Assume 15% absorption or less and 15% diffusion or less, so it's not a dead inert space.
30% treatment is a fair amount. The final result will be better in the treated room, but the biggest gain would be in the non treated room, which would have sounded awful before any eq.
 
I don't know if anyone remembers the days of Uncle Eric on here (must be 15+ years ago)....his demo room was one of the worst I've ever heard. My ears were ringing as soon as he closed the door...all life was sucked out of the room from the acoustic treatments.
Yeah I went to Eric's Batcave, although I can't remember what it sounded like now. There are plenty on here that think cinema rooms should be fully absorbing, with all sounds provided by a multi-speaker setup.
 
But you treat room differently for music vs HT. If yours is done for HT it will not sound too good with music.
While there can be a difference in treatment, a room well treated for music is likely to also sound good for HT. There's a good YT channel on creating a home studio for music recording, and a lot of it also applies to HT.
 
Why is this? I found music sounds much better now with my room treated
Music requires more reflections to sound at its best, for HT you take more of them out etc.. What most of us do at home is something but not necessarily what is needed :). If you would give big enough budget to a pro he would design for you two different custom tailored acoustic treatment configurations, one for music and one for HT or a compromise if you would choose so. In most cases it would be different to what most of us "randomly" DIY in their rooms :)

Too much treatment is quite often worse for music than normally furnished untreated room (not empty dedicated HT room).
 
Here's a slightly different question. Would Room Perfect work better in a treated or untreated room? Which one would give the best outcome?

Assume 15% absorption or less and 15% diffusion or less, so it's not a dead inert space.
Well one example here... @mb3195 tested the Room Perfect and he said it wasn´t any better than Mult EQ XT32 with editor app limiting the correction to ~300-500hz or Dirac Live in he´s treated room which you probably have visited. The Lyngdorf processor costed what 3x times as much as the Marantz AV8805. 🤔
 
Well one example here... @mb3195 tested the Room Perfect and he said it wasn´t any better than Mult EQ XT32 with editor app limiting the correction to ~300-500hz or Dirac Live in he´s treated room which you probably have visited. The Lyngdorf processor costed what 3x times as much as the Marantz AV8805. 🤔
Couple of slight discrepancies here mate. 1) I preferred EQ full range and 2) RP wasn’t as good as audyssey in my room, in fact, it sounded awful.
 
Music requires more reflections to sound at its best, for HT you take more of them out etc.. What most of us do at home is something but not necessarily what is needed :). If you would give big enough budget to a pro he would design for you two different custom tailored acoustic treatment configurations, one for music and one for HT or a compromise if you would choose so. In most cases it would be different to what most of us "randomly" DIY in their rooms :)

Too much treatment is quite often worse for music than normally furnished untreated room (not empty dedicated HT room).
I've found music sounds much better since I've put the GIK panels up. However they do have scatter plates so not sure if they restore some of that natural reverbation.
 
Couple of slight discrepancies here mate. 1) I preferred EQ full range and 2) RP wasn’t as good as audyssey in my room, in fact, it sounded awful.
Well it is a 'shed' as I recall someone from the RP fanboi group saying. ;)
 
And he’s now dumped RP and has a trinnov instead 😂

I have Trinnov, Anthem, Lyngdorf and Steinway Lyngdorf in the same building in the US and probably Storm or something Dirac based down the road. This is of a mix of 2, 4, 7 and 9 channel systems, including line source.

They all do a very good job, I have the data from my RP that shows as such in my room - that room has no treatment just soft furnishings. My decision for what I personally own was not because I was displeased with the Lyngdorf sound, altho that said imo the Trinnov moves objects around better, but I've been consistent on that point for years.

I've had far more bad demos of Trinnov's than Lyngdorf's - In fact, Lyngdorf was more consistent, as was Audyssey and ARC. It was only until I got a good demo I decided on the Trinnov.

I have treated and untreated rooms, different systems in and out and direct communication with some of the heads of these high end companies and get to learn and listen every day.
 
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