Room treatment shenanigans

I have avoided this In the past tbh but I would like to tackle some annoying bass resonance issues. Reflective surfaces and lack of soft furnishings are making me consider some sort of treatment. I want something domestically friendly so I thought I could try hanging some framed foam panels on the wall opposite to my speakers and cover them with some suitable material or alternatively hanging a rug up on the wall which seems like a simple hassle free option.

Has anyone tried either of these options and did they bring about any improvement?

Also I bought a cheapo graphic equaliser recently to mess about with and had quite successful results but felt the soundstage closed down a bit but this could be a good option in the long run. I was surprised just how little I had to trim down some of the bass frequencies to make a substantial difference.

Have you tried a DSPeaker digital correction thingie? Might be worth a go.

Once briefly. Didn’t like the results tbh not that I pursued it for long.

You need to understand what is causing the issues that you object to.

Most room bass resonances are caused by a standing wave between floor and ceiling. Standing waves really like parallel surfaces and the floor and ceiling are usually the best, giving a standing wave at 70Hz. Could also be parallel walls.

Ideally, you should measure your room at many points, then see if there is a common issue. Don’t just measure at the listening position, you want to be able to move your head. When you find the peak(s), try reducing them in DSP, just a few dB at a time. See how that helps.

For room treatment, it generally needs to be quite big to have a meaningful impact on the bass frequencies. Corner traps are usually the best balance between acceptability and performance. However, are there other ways of breaking up the standing wave? Once you know which it is, you may be able to place a table in the right place, for example, so there’s not a single large area of parallel surfaces.

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I think the Anti mode works best once you’ve sorted the room as much as possible, and then it’s very good for squeezing a bit more out of your set up - ie it can’t fix a really bad room by itself.

The problem with the DSPeaker thing is that it gives you flat at the listening position. I think that you simply want to tame the main resonances. Flat at the listening position means not flat at all in the rest of the room, hence uneven energy response.

I don’t reckon foam panels on the opposite sides of the room will achieve much Nick - might affect the higher frequencies but I don’t think that’s your problem. Mid/top has always sounded good to my ears.

You’re right about the bass though. Simply moving the speakers away from the wall would help, but as you’re firing across the room, moving the speakers out is not really practical.

If you want to keep that lay out, i think you’ll need to find some speakers that work better close to a wall.

Agree. You don’t have to have it flat though, you can to a degree customise the response, and although it works best at a single listening position, you can create some kind of response based on multiple measurements.

Not trying to defend or sell the fucking thing though. Nothing beats getting the right speakers in the right spot for your room.

The last thing I want is is a new speaker search but I know what you are saying and yes top and mids are fine.

What Adam says seems to make a lot of sense. I just wish I understood the theory better.

I have a similar set-up, and at times have bass issues. Can I ask what your floor construction is, know you are not a novice so guessing your speaks are well planted…timber floors can be a bugger

Happy to bring mic/laptop etc to see whats going on. Can also demo various methods of room correction.

If its under 150hz causing the issue, no physical treatment is going to do anything.

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Concrete floor. Speakers are currently on sorbathane pods on marble plinths.

As a left field suggestion, try some springs. They will decouple the speakers from the floor more effectively. I assume you’ve tried spikes for best coupling and prefer what you have.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F271573997558

I’m pretty sure its under 150hz Edd

No issue there then.
Digital-wise I have found the parametric eq in Roon pretty decent for dropping the bass.

Springs are good and around a grand cheaper than Townsend platforms :grin: I might try a set and see what happens.

Have you dragged the speakers well away from the back wall and any other boundaries to assess how much that’s contributing?

Another way of avoiding spending shit loads to experiment is those sponge Auralex subdude platforms.

I spent a lot of time experimenting with a DSPeaker unit in my last place - it can be a pain to dial-in the right settings, but get it right and it leaves you with the right sound profile, the insoluble problem for me was a very obvious decline in overall resolution by the time any given signal had passed through the unit, and that I could not live with.

Though I’ve never used one, Lyngdorf’s DPA-1 was a much better realised and far more flexible take on room treatment that could be worth hunting-down.

Actual speaker placement is a dark art, and if you haven’t exhausted this yet, try a few wacky placements - just occasionally you can escape The Node. The bit that does get forgotten by many of us is listening-seat placement - just being too close to a rear wall can fuck bass up royally! My current room is fairly big, but I deffo had to move the sofa forward when moving the Dreiklangs made no difference.

Bass is a PITA to sort any other way, since it’s usually either due to a lack of grip by an amp on the speakers, or more often the fact your room volume is inadequate. It takes a lot of heavy-handed room treatment to soothe it, and even then, the sense of lumpiness lingers. Better to get more furniture in there - big, fabric covered sofas make marvellous bass traps - as does filling the room with fat people, as anyone who hosts bakeoffs will know…

On what may be a more practically-useful note, I have a couple of the original GIK panels sat in the garage unused - you’re welcome to pop over and borrow them to try. :+1:

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Thanks Paul. I might take you up on the GIK panel offer if I’m over your way :+1:

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The miniDSP unit, is better than the DSPeaker anti-mode. My friend has used both, as well as the software program, running on his computer.
I am experimenting with the miniDSP; it is neutral in by-pass, and very good at correction, and is adjustable, not only for correction, but your preference.
Here

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