Listening room

The latest issue of the absolute sound (April 2019) has an interesting article about what goes into building a new listening room.

Thanks, Bob

Good to hear from you, it has been a while. :slight_smile:

Good timing - i will have a read. I just got off the phone with an Acoustic treatment company - for a free consultation about my listening room. They suggested I purchase $12,000 worth of acoustic panels! Not quite the news I was hoping for. :slight_smile:

Sometimes I think they think we’re all made of money. I’d love to get a detailed look at what they sell to see exactly how they are constructed.

I’ve built my own absorbers using high density fiberglass or Roxul panels in wood frames covered in burlap. If your careful with the burlap they don’t look bad and can be built for less than $50 for a 2X4 ft 4 inch thick panel.

DIY acoustic scatterer’s are more involved I’ve seen some that use slots over an absorber panel that look pretty easy to make. Skyline or tuned cavity models look a more difficult. Of course I’m not married so I have more “flexibility” when it comes to things like this

Have a look at Tube Traps: at http://www.tubetraps.com/
They are one of the few devices that control bass resonances well. They show some typical room plans on the site.

The room is the most over looked part of most systems. Most audiophiles overspend on gear for the room. Rooms are typically too small, poorly shaped, domestically constrained speaker/listening setups, not acoustically isolated/treated. Shared rooms are usually the worst. Spare bedrooms are the second worse. If you can’t get a decent room, you need to consider headphones.

When we built 15 years ago, moving from my job, family, and kids I demanded my own basement room (8ft x 13ft x 21ft) which follow Fibonacci ratios and Cardas Golden Cuboid guidelines to minimize bass echo. Interior walls adjoin storage spaces, yet are also constructed of insulated staggered stud walls. Door is exterior insulated fiberglass with weather seals. Electrically isolated too (separate circuits and grounding). Overall a low cost, 95% solution. This is about the minimum room I’d want, but was constrained by ceiling height.

For treatments I use ten (10) GIK 244 2ft x 4ft panels. They’re made of 4 inch thick high density fiberglass (Owens Corning 703) with a spacer behind, covered in fabric (many options including custom available). Currently sold as bass traps but cover a wide frequency range.

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