What is the opinion on having or not diffusers on the front wall?
My main speakers have rear firing mids and highs.
Rear wall, way behind the LP has diffusers.
I have a flat screen TV behind my speakers and the sound improved when I installed some GIK diffusers in front of it.
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I did. Between that and pulling speakers further out it really opened up. That screen is acoustically transparent just so it does not effect anything.
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Is that subwoofer on the left still doing its subwoofer crawl? 
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Itâs crawled its last crawl. But all subs positions were determined from doing the crawl.
Itâs quite amazing seeing the db difference around the room.
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You have listened to my system. I am just fine tuningâŠ
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Beautiful room, Brian!
I have a large screen also which I donât think its acoustically transparent but, if it were, there is drywall and then 8" of poured concrete.
What I have on either of the screen are absorbers (12" wide, the widest I could fit is 15")
Which diffusers are you using? I have debated about covering the complete wall with some diffuser type material.
I have a âget upâ from which I hang qrd in front of the screen. But it looks like what it is..
Edit to include images. You can see the panel next to the screen
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Thanks. They are Vicoustics DC3. That wall has a room behind it and 4â of rockwool behind sheet rock and Sonopan.
I think QRDs that have a good depth are probably more effective.
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If your speakers have rear-firing mids/highs, diffusers on the front wall can actually help a bit, but it depends on the room size and how reflective that wall is. If itâs a small room or untreated, you might be better off with absorption there to control reflections first. Diffusion could work, but only if the rest of the room is already balanced.
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large (14w 27L 11H) treated room. Front wall has bass traps in the corners, free standing bass traps and small wall mounted traps BUT a large projection screen
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Ah got it, yeah, with that kind of space and treatment, youâre in a good spot to experiment with diffusion. Since you already have bass traps and some absorption up front, adding diffusers between or above the screen could actually help with spatial cues and depth, especially with those rear-firing drive
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i am so confused⊠
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People tend to over damp. BEFORE you start going nuts, do the CLAP test around the room and where you sit. The clap should be dynamic and sharp with no after ring. This is a proper room. If it RINGS or is a dull husk of a clap, THEN consider moving stuff out (dull sound) or in (ringing). Way too many people add that audiophile âlook" to the detriment of a more proper sounding room. Most rooms I go to are over damped, but look cool.
Probably half the improvements will be TO THE SIDE WALLS WITH DYNAMIC SPEAKERS TO REDUCE THE WALL BOUNCE CLOSE TO YOU. Not so much anywhere else. That side reflected energy is far the strongest if you have a room that rings. Panel speakers ignore the side walls pretty much unless you sit way far back. And yes, another trick is to sit ânear field" to force the direct energy to get to you faster than any reflections and this vastly improves the imaging focus.
Get a rolling chair, and SLOWLY roll it back away from the speakers playing music. STOP right when the image is centered and strong. Thatâs your roomâs sweet spot for mimimum reflections and the best sound. Yep, cheat all the complex calculations and LISTEN, after all thatâs what this is all about.
I use CLX and near ZERO stuff on the front wall behind the speakers as that reflected sound is long enough off the front to not be a problem, and this adds an open and crisp soundstage. Moving the speaker away from the front wall also vastly improves the focus, as secondary sounds are longer to get to your ear. And yes, that is a âreflective" HARD Plasma TV screenâŠno issues. Donât overthink this if your room is nice and proper already.
So initially pretty easy, clap test and then use the sliding chair test to find the rooms natural âfocus".
Best,
Galen
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too late, happened long before hifi
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You are one willy rabbit!
Galen
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I started with clap test and went nuts..so too late for me. But in the end it was expensive but I paid $99 for vicoustics to plan my room. i had some, bought some more and in some cases told them I had their product but in fact I had competitors but basically it was a Ukrainian knock off of theirs. I have both, they seem identical. Money saved and support that country seemed like a good win. They do make sure you bought things from a vendor which I did. Just not everything.
For $99 it seemed like a good plan to have a prod do it. They asked for very detailed measurements on EVERYING from the pictures I sent, including the soffit measurements. I told them its dual purpose room but make it best for 2 ch. Theater will yield the benefits as well.
@rower30 the CLX are dipole if I recall. So leaving the front wall bare I think makes sense for your setup.
Of course Al will just say get BACCH with Orc and forget about everything else. He may have a point.
For a bit more money and proof of 100% purchases from a dealer they will give you exact measurements down to the inch. But in case you were interested here is what they gave me.
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andâŠâŠ dont forget the impacts of furniture
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I worked with GIK Acoustics for my room. I had four 244 panels to start with, but GIK was pushing me towards bass absorption since I have a small room. No where near the amount of panels you were recommended to use. Based on GIK analysis I added some 6â thick diffusion panels and two soffit absorbers in the front corners. Canât say if I had much ringing when the room was âbareâ, that was 20 years ago. I have since added a lot of stuff (record and CD storage mostly) in the room so that helped scatter the high end. Sounds good to me now. Best upgrade from here would be a new house with a bigger room, but thatâs not happening âŠ
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In my experience with different providers, GIK prefers tons of bass traps, Acoustic Fields and Vicoustic are more into diffusion. Also, must keep in mind that those are suggestions but there are some variables which canât be modeled.
I compared the proposals by GIK, Vicoustic and 7Audio and went more with 7Audio and then added more bass traps (from GIK) to address a specific concern.
I confess, I even tried DSP and didnât like the results. Especially my concerns of additional A to D and D to A processes.
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