New QRD stepped Diffsorbers

[DWPress]

I had some time waiting for materials for another project so decided to work in the wood shop for a day. I had a bunch of 3x12x36" cork insulation panels (like these) from a barn salvage so I set up the table saw with a dado blade and went to work. Subjectively they've opened up the soundstage a little bit and tightened the bass but fear not I've a MMM REW plot to accompany this new exploration.

They are based on Arqen's plans and I used them in a 5 panel array in a profiled modulation set up. The length of the assembly is 83", height of 28" and maximum depth of 7.5". They are faced with 3/16" book board leaving the sidewalls of the wells exposed for absorption and it is mounted on the top rear wall.



My speakers are also flying up high on the front wall. Big 172 liter 3 way active XO monsters in a 16x20x11 foot room:



And here are some plots from REW (variable smoothing) before and after with new EQ and room curve applied:

I'm feeling pretty good about how things turned out!

 

[DWPress]

I'm hoping to have time today to do some more informative impulse response measurements instead of just the MMM shown above.

 

[weasels]

That is very cool, looks like a nice improvement in performance, and looks great to boot.

 

[DWPress]

So I delayed further measurements because I added a cloud as well. Took the absorbing panels off the sidewall as I want to build some diffusors there and repurposed them on the ceiling after making some nice aspen frames for the resized panels, they are the same material as the bigger panels behind the speakers. They're hung low right now because I plan to add some insulation to the top side. This is my workspace not my house - nothing has to be too precious or beautiful!

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Now the measurements. These are from a Vector Average of 7 psychoacoustic smoothing positions between 10-12 feet from the speakers and 7 feet from the rear wall and "diffsorber" assembly. I used a MiniDSP Umik1 with calibration and pointing at the speakers. All measurements were taken with a DSP convolution WAV filter applied based on the vector average and implemented via SIR3 VST within Element for systemwide EQ.

Distortion

RT60

Spectogram

Decay

I had hoped to take things into rePhase to tweak some more but my M1 Mini seems to be balking with Wine right now so no joy until I fire up the Windows box someday. Like I mentioned above, materials are at hand to build 6 folded well diffusors (3 panel array for each sidewall) in the near future so will likely hold off for now.

Any comments or suggestions for improvement would be greatly appreciated.

 

[617]

What kind of printmaking do you do?

 

[DWPress]

What kind of printmaking do you do?

Intaglio copper engravings & mezzotint, wood engravings, lino cuts. Usually appearing in one of my letterpress printed limited edition books. The stereo system is in the bindery/office area, sound pipes into the pressroom via some in-wall Sonace Symphony passives.

The pressroom, old pic doesn't show in-wall speakers and I've gotten rid of the Heidelberg Windmill and replaced it with a board sheer. The intaglio presses are in a different nearby building with the Linotype machine.

Currently printing a new illustrated edition of The Wind in the Willows. Fun. Deep Wood Press

 

[617]

Intaglio copper engravings & mezzotint, wood engravings, lino cuts. Usually appearing in one of my letterpress printed limited edition books. The stereo system is in the bindery/office area, sound pipes into the pressroom via some in-wall Sonace Symphony passives.

View attachment 124468
The pressroom, old pic doesn't show in-wall speakers and I've gotten rid of the Heidelberg Windmill and replaced it with a board sheer. The intaglio presses are in a different nearby building with the Linotype machine.

Currently printing a new illustrated edition of The Wind in the Willows. Fun. Deep Wood Press

That's some beautiful work.