Room help: measuring and treating a vaulted ceiling room

[Frgirard]

i thought it was 1/4 ?

In bass Frequencies the 1/4 wavelength lenght does not work and it's happy.
with 50 cm thick/5000 rayles give an alpha of 0,5 at 50 Hz
You have Acousticmodelling website to simulate your treatment.
8" for the bass it's the minimum.
The pressure panel are use to treat a narrow frequency when you want keep a room live.

 

[deprogrammed]

I don't even know where to start with this vaulted ceiling room, aside from a persian carpet for in front of the sofa. I can't seem to get a focused stereo image, though the bass seems even where the subwoofer is. The room is 13.5 deep and fairly symetrical aside from the dormer window. It used to be great sounding slatted wood which was replaced with drywall for energy efficiency. I'm tempted to put in some wood tambour panel for diffusion on the ceiling. Any suggestions on where to begin without breaking the bank?

What kind kind of center stand is that? That angles it up?

 

[sarumbear]

In my opinion, filling the inside of the wooden trusses is a bad idea from an architectural point of view because it'll make the ceiling perceptually lower and the living space smaller, darker and somewhat oppresive.

There are no lights in the ceiling. How can partitions I suggest effect the light level in the room? Besides, my suggest is partitions vertical to the floor. How can that make ceiling perceived to be lower? Think again!

 

[sarumbear]

In bass Frequencies the 1/4 wavelength lenght does not work and it's happy.
with 50 cm thick/5000 rayles give an alpha of 0,5 at 50 Hz
You have Acousticmodelling website to simulate your treatment.
8" for the bass it's the minimum.
The pressure panel are use to treat a narrow frequency when you want keep a room live.

You are really confused.

 

[tuga]

There are no lights in the ceiling. How can partitions I suggest effect the light level in the room? Besides, my suggest is partitions vertical to the floor. How can that make ceiling perceived to be lower? Think again!

I was referring to natural light. I have been an architect for 25 years by the way...

 

[pozz]

I have outlined above what is the best course of action.

To be honest, you're doing a lot of guessing, no matter how informed. You can't say "best" without being there and hearing the issue, or without data.

OP needs to do some measurements, do some rational system tests and decide based on that, taking a minimal course of action in the end.

 

[GimeDsp]

How tall are you?

 

[pozz]

I found the link where the absorption co-coefficients of most popular insulation material is calculated based on their densities. In case you're interested.

https://www.bobgolds.com/AbsorptionCoefficients.htm

The source I use is (2010) Architectural Acoustics: Principles & Practice. 2nd ed. Edited by William Cavanaugh, Gregory Tocci & Joseph Wilkes. Published by John Wiley & Sons.

There's pages of coefficients under different circumstances (windows of different thickness, assumptions about backing materials). Wall and vent construction especially is complex and needs a lot of forethought. The most interesting are case studies and discussions of why certain approaches were taken, or why they failed. The latter is mostly due to oversights by builders or some kind of contextual aspect being overlooked.

This book and few others have set my perspective, which is mostly that you should study your space and have a sense of how sound is propagating, its sources, the signal path, the solutions will tend to present themselves.

 

[ripmixburn]

What you need is more stuff. You need tables, bric-a-brac, chairs, books, rugs, tapestries, carpets, wall hangings, pictures, sculptures, bookshelves (don't people read books any more?), objets d'art, armoires, big fluffy pets, cushions, books, small children, musical instruments, boxes of clothes you haven't unpacked since moving five years ago, credenzas, curtains, mirrors, more books.

Don't ask me how I know this ... ;-)

Hahaha, well what I'm sitting on is the daybed, beside the cat scratching post and toys and some other bric and brac. I am wondering if the daybed helps somewhat as it's in the corner. It's polyfoam wrapped in tweed.

 

[ripmixburn]

I have marked over your image and attached below.

Your main issue is the reverberation caused by ceiling, the rear wall and to a smaller extend by the floor. I can’t see the right wall (while sitting on the sofa) but the left slanting wall is perfect. You don’t need to do anything to that.

1- Trapezoidal hard partitions (marked yellow) that will split the ceiling will have the most effect to the sound.

2- Diffusion (not reflection) on the rear wall (marked red) will help to tighten the sound further.

3- Finally and much more simply, a thick carpet on the floor (marked green) will help.

As a side note, it seems you have tilted the centre speaker up a bit too much. You will be better of if you left it straight. You don’t want to excite the ceiling area.

Thank you! I’m new to treatment beyond the panels… would hard partitiion likely be a more permanent construction?

For diffusion, I am wondering if some kind of tambour wall panelling would help, though I'm not sure this is big enough.

I definitely have my eye out for a carpet.

I will also straighten the center channel. Thanks again!

 

[ripmixburn]

How tall are you?
View attachment 156649

I am tall and it looks flat from the front, but you’re right it's a bit high. Now it's definitely low, will test for differences later.

 

[sarumbear]

I was referring to natural light. I have been an architect for 25 years by the way...

I cannot see how partitions which are not in the way of the light from the window(s) will affect the light in a way that it will be detrimental for a home theatre room? I have a Masters degree on Acoustics by the way…

 

[sarumbear]

Thank you! I’m new to treatment beyond the panels… would hard partitiion likely be a more permanent construction?

For diffusion, I am wondering if some kind of tambour wall panelling would help, though I'm not sure this is big enough.

I definitely have my eye out for a carpet.

I will also straighten the center channel. Thanks again!

The partitions should be stiff and custom made. There’s no reason why they can be made removable. It is a building job than a decoration though.

Those panelling will certainly help but how much is difficult to guess without data. If they are cheap you can cover part of the wall initially. If it’s not enough you can add proper diffusers.

Prefer a thick carpet.

Good luck.

 

[sarumbear]

I am tall and it looks flat from the front, but you’re right it's a bit high. Now it's definitely low, will test for differences later.

Your ceiling area is large hence reverberant. It is advisable not to beam sound to that direction and excite it.

 

[sarumbear]

I found the link where the absorption co-coefficients of most popular insulation material is calculated based on their densities. In case you're interested.

https://www.bobgolds.com/AbsorptionCoefficients.htm

From the link above “The numbers should not, however, be treated as an indicator of the percentage of sound absorbed by the material.”

 

[abdo123]

From the link above “The numbers should not, however, be treated as an indicator of the percentage of sound absorbed by the material.”

Can you please read the whole thing instead of quoting a specific part out of context to trigger a response out of me?

This statement does not invalidate the data provided.

 

[sarumbear]

To be honest, you're doing a lot of guessing, no matter how informed. You can't say "best" without being there and hearing the issue, or without data.

OP needs to do some measurements, do some rational system tests and decide based on that, taking a minimal course of action in the end.

Please read the sentence I said “best course of action”. Of course measurements are required to finalise the treatment but my suggested action should not change. Measurements will only alter the amount and type of material. The course will still be the same. Lower the reverberation and diffuse the reflection from the large rear wall.

When you see a cavernous room with reflected walls you know that reverberation will be higher than optimum for a home theatre. By looking at the photograph an acoustician will know what is the course of action.

 

[sarumbear]

In my opinion, filling the inside of the wooden trusses is a bad idea from an architectural point of view because it'll make the ceiling perceptually lower and the living space smaller, darker and somewhat oppresive.

Since the room is open to the lower floor there shouldn't be any serious issues with the bass.

Personally I would treat the sloped ceiling with light mid- and high-frequency absorption at least in the early reflection zones, add a thick long-haired carpet to tame the reflectiveness.

Diffusion on the staircase wall behind the sofa is a good ideia.

How high do you want a home theatre ceiling to be?

Preferring a bright room to watch TV is a novel architectural idea…

 

[tuga]

I cannot see how partitions which are not in the way of the light from the window(s) will affect the light in a way that it will be detrimental for a home theatre room? I have a Masters degree on Acoustics by the way…

Light is like sound: there's direct and there's reflected. What happens when you add sound absorption to a surface, doesn't it reduce the the SPL reaching the listener?

 

[tuga]

How high do you want a home theatre ceiling to be?

Preferring a bright room to watch TV is a novel architectural idea…

Actually no, it's been in use since TV was invented.