My aim was to solve mainly a few problems:
- A window door on the right wall
- An open access to stairways on the left wall
- A lack of symmetry
I designed a solution following a concept of sliding wooden panels, able to cover side walls during listening sessions and to be moved on their axes if needed. Each “wooden door” was then covered with a custom made acoustic panel. This has an internal membrane able to act as a bass trap but only for low frequencies and it sports metal frames on which diffuser panels with magnetic hooks can be applied as desired.
I experimented also keeping the sliding panels separated, it means like naked walls with panels here and there. I’m sure a continuum wall made from panels works far better. As for side walls I’m totally satisfied. The magnetic diffusers can be applied in different positions, in different quantities and it’s very fun trying and experiment for different solutions. Free to easily change this set up on the way.
Point 1 and 2 have been solved with a great result. I was afraid this would have generated a dead room due to the amount of absorption on the side walls. Guess what? The room now is more airy than before when I had lots of objects and chaotic stuff all around. It really breathes more than ever. You can realize that just hearing the human voice, when I speak without music, inside the room now is sounding totally natural without artifacts, lack of reverb and other issues.
As for lots of diffusion on the front wall I was more confident about results, having had LPs stacked in my previous set up for years. I had the opportunity to test, during refurbishment days, the front wall totally naked, just the wall so to speak. Due to the size of the room and especially a low ceiling it doesn’t work at all. Front wall definitely needs treatment IME. I personally designed the furniture, with the aim of creating a perfect symmetry (of course) and putting 2 bass traps exactly behind the speakers, equipped with the same technology as the side walls panels, so also in that case I’m able to apply on them magnetic diffusers and to change on the way their quantity and position. I finally found a combination that I like.
As for LPs and CDs I studied their distribution, with 2 raws of CDs in vertical that contributes to boost the center image towards the hight meanwhile the Gotham diffusor is reinforcing the singer’s voice in the center. I found that LPs may also act as absorbers, not only diffusing the sound.
Generally speaking the cosmetically result helped (lights especially) a lot to fool my brain, recreating a better phantom image, more realistic and pleasant, letting the speaker completely disappear.
Last week the MSB importer who installed in my system their DAC, after a few hours playing music to fine tune the new unit, said that he was impressed by the sound that the room is able to produce. He concurred that it’s almost impossible to have a perfect room (and he has seen hundreds of good and bad ones) but in my case the tonality is correct, well balanced. He’s a seller, so take it with a grain of salt!
I really don’t know if I got all the right choices or something would have been done different, as always I can probably improve this or that. My actual pleasure and engagement is surely improved and it’s the most important thing after all the effort and money I have spent.
My thought? APPROVED! I’m more concerned about music from now on.
Thanks for your comment.
