• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Do room treatments have to be ugly?

Thunder22

Active Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2021
Messages
144
Likes
180
Location
Twin cities
shelf.jpg
shelf.jpg I saw a similar shelf at a brewery in Copenhagen a couple of years ago. I liked it enough that I took a picture and re-created it in my living room. What I didn't know at the time was how much it would help the overall sound in my listening space. In full disclosure my girlfriend assembled all the frames as I was table saw ripper and consultant. It was made from repurposed oak base trim that we removed from various parts of the house (1930's). I did have to mount it though. The individual frames are mounted 16" on center.

Please share your room treatments and ideas for room treatments.
 

dougi

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
May 31, 2020
Messages
845
Likes
763
Location
ACT, Australia
I recently encouraged the wife to get a new, large (1.8m x 1.5m) bookcase to put on the wall behind the listening position in the lounge. It is a large (8m x 12m minimum but open to another area) with tiles and gyprock so I get bad flutter echo and a high reverb time. Once filled with books it helped a bit. Reverb a bit lower by 20-50ms or so. Still get bad flutter between floor and ceiling in parts with no rugs. The best improvement was actually changing the speakers previously. Going from Proac Response D2s to Wharfedale Heritage Lintons, admittedly in a slightly different position, reduced RT60 from 800ms to about 700ms and improved Clarity by a few dB across the board. Next step is to vainly try and convince the wife for heavy drapes on the front wall.
 

MinMan

Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2020
Messages
48
Likes
39
There's no end of what can be done in an attractive manner if you are so willing.
 

Attachments

  • panels.pdf
    369.7 KB · Views: 233
  • Acoustically Transparent Paint.pdf
    497.4 KB · Views: 209
  • Millwork_Cleat_Submittal.pdf
    136.3 KB · Views: 256
  • Millwork_MWCISC_Submittal_1.pdf
    796.4 KB · Views: 197
  • Millwork_MWCK_Submittal.pdf
    184.1 KB · Views: 264
Joined
Mar 29, 2021
Messages
24
Likes
39
Location
Germany
Once apon a time, bookshelves with different "depth" books was a recommend diffuser.
Which sadly does not work too well as a diffuser. But it looks good and usually beats an empty wall, so if you got lots of books, why not?

Books tend to absorb much more then they diffuse. (hardcover might be a bit better :D ) Furthermore the low depth makes it only effective in a narrow frequency band..

On the other hand... Many living rooms lack absorption anyways, especially with a modern design.
 

Milan237

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
21
Likes
7
View attachment 121044View attachment 121044 I saw a similar shelf at a brewery in Copenhagen a couple of years ago. I liked it enough that I took a picture and re-created it in my living room. What I didn't know at the time was how much it would help the overall sound in my listening space. In full disclosure my girlfriend assembled all the frames as I was table saw ripper and consultant. It was made from repurposed oak base trim that we removed from various parts of the house (1930's). I did have to mount it though. The individual frames are mounted 16" on center.

Please share your room treatments and ideas for room treatments.
It's a great idea, I really like it))
 

Trouble Maker

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
676
Likes
709
Location
Columbus, Ohio, US
oak base trim that we removed from various parts of the house


Replacing original/old wood trim in a house hurts a part of my soul. Especially after seeing the new matching flooring that was put down in a 'new' corner of our house to match the original wood floors. It is the same kind of wood, dimension, but it is not the same.

I do like that at least you kept and repurposed it so that part of the house can live on.
 

Hipper

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jun 16, 2019
Messages
753
Likes
625
Location
Herts., England
View attachment 121044View attachment 121044 I saw a similar shelf at a brewery in Copenhagen a couple of years ago. I liked it enough that I took a picture and re-created it in my living room. What I didn't know at the time was how much it would help the overall sound in my listening space. In full disclosure my girlfriend assembled all the frames as I was table saw ripper and consultant. It was made from repurposed oak base trim that we removed from various parts of the house (1930's). I did have to mount it though. The individual frames are mounted 16" on center.

Please share your room treatments and ideas for room treatments.

Unless those plants are plastic it looks a right pain to water them!

If your shelving sounds better to you and you are happy with the appearance, that's fine. Anything on a blank wall will break up sound to some degree.

I would though like to point out that the phrase 'room treatment', at least to me, means a measured approach to dealing with sound issues - placing components in a certain location to achieve a particular objective. Whilst it doesn't have to be ugly it's difficult to avoid this, particularly for dealing with the bass region where you usually need big products.
 

Snarfie

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 30, 2018
Messages
1,169
Likes
926
Location
Netherlands
Did made myself 4 pannels used also some foam (also at the ceiling) for treatmeant first reflection for my monitors.
Did improve let say 10% Mathaudio Room Eq did on top of that 60% way more.
p0yINEm.jpg
 

krabapple

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 15, 2016
Messages
3,169
Likes
3,715
I think some of you need to read up on effective treatments for what actually ails the acoustics of your room. Just putting up panels, bookshelves, or an inch or two of foam is pretty random and may not be doing much that's helpful. Floyd Toole has some info on it in his book.
 
Last edited:
OP
Thunder22

Thunder22

Active Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2021
Messages
144
Likes
180
Location
Twin cities

Replacing original/old wood trim in a house hurts a part of my soul. Especially after seeing the new matching flooring that was put down in a 'new' corner of our house to match the original wood floors. It is the same kind of wood, dimension, but it is not the same.

I do like that at least you kept and repurposed it so that part of the house can live on.

I agree. I have repurposed everything that has been replaced; to some extent. For instance: The old maple kitchen floor is now the kitchen ceiling (replaced to put in heated tile). Master bedroom Douglas Fir flooring is now a wonderful wall in the same room, and so on and so forth.
 

SimpleTheater

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
Messages
927
Likes
1,789
Location
Woodstock, NY
I think some of you need to read up on effective treatments for what actually ails the acoustics of your room. Just putting up panels, bookshelves, or an inch or two of foam is pretty random and may not be doing much that's helpful. Floyd Toole has some info on it in his book.
But it can’t hurt, especially if the starting point is a blank painted wall. Starting with measurements, however, is a prerequisite, to know how much or little you’re doing.
 
Top Bottom