According to this acoustic expert anyway. I believe it’s a significant contributor and is the reason I never have bothered to audition speakers except in my home
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It makes a ton of sense. I’ve been shopping around for a new set of speakers but the more I learn about the environment around the speakers, the more my focus is shifting to “I wonder what I can achieve with what I have” rather than buying something new.
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He sure comes across as both knowledgeable and likable. He did mention the biggest issue for someone like me, placing a lot of acoustic treatment in my family room is a practical non-starter. Also, I’m unwilling to lock myself and my music in a cave for just me.
Agreed, I enjoyed listening to him and what he said matches with the research and experiementing I’ve done over the years…but I’m no means an acoustic expert.
Treatment for mid-high frequency reflection points need not be heavy or permanent. I only bring my 3 panels out for ‘serious’ sessions otherwise no one ever sees them - a couple between the speakers to ‘eliminate’ my reflective 65" display and one horizontal behind my seated position significantly alters/improves the soundstage
You know, I hadn’t been thinking about mobile panels like that. I’m probably going to steal that. I’m sure I’ve seen a picture or two in the system photos thread, but for some reason didn’t internalize it as an option. Might even have been your photos! Thanks.
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I bought a 3 pack of these a few years ago, 2’x4’x2" highly recommended
This seems very logical.
I did the calculations for my main speakers and listening position, and I should have needed 0.5wpc to generate 80db. I then measured the power actually needed to generate that sound level and it was 0.33wpc. So in my listening room about a third of the sound I hear comes from room reflections. It certainly opened my eyes to the importance of room conditioning, although in my case that is not going to happen 
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That’s the direction I’m headed. I’m putting up 4 - 1’x4’ panels (2 each behind the left and right speakers). The “decor” won’t allow for more. By the rule-of-thumb in the video, I would need 10 times that. Not going to happen!
10x for bass but not for higher frequencies and like he says, every bit in the right direction helps
For my space, I also have a photo I printed on fabric and it cover 2" of rock wool in a frame I made. It lives on the right wall closest to my right speaker, I’m setup asymmetrical on the long wall. This along with my 3 panels and all the furnishings are enough to nearly deaden the room too much. Of course, one doesn’t know how much is too much until you pass it
I’ve ‘solved’ the bass issue by very carefully tuned dual subs on the front and back wall about midspan. The bass is VERY good everywhere but right up against the walls or in the corners, as expected. It’s vastly more even throughout with two vs. one. I don’t have physical space to trap, though I do have 2-4"x2’x4’ GIK traps with membrane under and behind my couch (out of sight completely) and they do help suck up a dB or 3 in the muddy low end.
No room is perfect unless built to be such - don’t get disheartened if an acoustic person tells you it’s not worth doing anything unless you can treat it fully. BS! Some proper treatment is so worth it, in my experience. It’s like spice, measure to start and then tune to taste by ear.
Oh, I also have convolution filters for my room, two versions one with x-over reduction and one without. I change them up from time to time and enjoy either and without any but usually end up with the x-over reduction one as it provides the most enjoyable broad and deep stage that I prefer.
I even have a couple panels on the ceiling in my shop, quick homemade with rock wool and window screen.
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At my old place, I had these up in front of the TV - roughly 2x4’ of diffusion in the center and (2) 2x4’s of absorbtion. When I wanted to watch a movie, I would take them down. But pretty soon I just stopped watching the TV : )
Don’t need them in the new place - that is, not for that purpose.
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Did that arrangement make a noticeable improvement?
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Oh, yeah. Particularly since there was a shortage of space in that room. Having a massively reflective surface directly behind and between the speakers really messes with the imaging and so forth - especially with speakers like Harbeths, which are like instruments playing in the room.
Contrary to most speakers these days, they are intentionally resonant rather than intentionally inert. So they REALLY love space around them.
It mattered how much of each type of treatment you put up, and whether there was diffusion or absorbtion in the middle/side positions. (The units in the corners are bass traps with bass wedges behind them, BTW).
I would hasten to add that this is one of those things that depends heavily on a number of things - how bad and/or small your room is, speaker size relative to the room, how far you are able to put the speakers from the walls, how loud you like to listen, how interactive your type of speaker is with the room (dipoles, anyone?). And as always, if there are other things in the system that need improvement, no amount of room treatment will fix that ; )
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Now they are about 4-5’ out from the rear wall, and I have height! Yay! So I’m more concentrating on positioning and then treating the first reflections. Early days. Using the wall behind for projection and have fired up the Surround again : )
Sound Anchor stands on order ; )
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I think this 37 minute video is spot on. My only comment would be that when you start treating the room you should start with bass traps, the reason being that this will not alter the balance of treble to bass - it’ll clean up the bass. If you start by soaking up reflections with thin panels you’ll soon find that you’ve absorbed too much treble and the system will be very bass heavy - you need a lot of trapping to then absorb bass and almost certainly need some EQ as well. He says this of course but it can’y be over emphasised. You’ll also find that you start to need to pump more power into the room. I use four RPG Superedge bass traps in my 30’ by 20’ by 8’ room (plus a lot of other bass trapping, absorption and EQ).
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