Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ.

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Why stop a process that's worked well so far?

Posted by Japesgalore (A) on October 24, 2009 at 04:15:00

In Reply to: "I'm still nowhere nearer knowing for sure whether my panels are sufficiently decent bass traps." posted by David Aiken on October 23, 2009 at 14:07:16:

"Why did you add them to your room?"

Cos I'd read in loads of places that bass trapping can do wonders for the sound. I had foam traps first, which made a difference, so I then started experimenting with the cheap stuff, ie rockwool, as I had read lots on the effectiveness fibreglass type products. Things weren't all that clear to me, but that was the case with the rest of my tweaking before I embarked on those other journeys


"If you added them in order to get your room to measure as close as possible to flat over a particular range, does that range in your room now measure the way you wanted it to or very close to that?"

I have no way to measure how flat my room is. My only reference is how much I'm enjoying the music.


"If you wanted to get your music sounding better, does it now do that and are you satisfied with the result?"

Oh, I've been satisfied with the music for a long time, but there were always little things which would distract from the overall presentation. I'd go about tackling it in various ways. I upgraded cabling, managing resonance and vibration issues and tackled EMI and RFI. At each point, the actual problem I had with the music may or may not have been solved, sometimes more problems were created but, a lot of the time, enhancements were made in ways that I didn't think were possible - they were drastic somtimes, and highlighted the inadequacy of the sound prior to the change. The whole level of the music has been gradually lifted over time to the point that it's completely removed to how it sounded in the first place. Isn't this the case for every audiophile nut tweaker's system?

And this is the point, that if I hadn't gone through tonnes of iterations of my DIY interconnects, equipment support and even ways of filling my speaker stands (10 iterations there), barely on a whim, I would have never derived the kind of pleasure that I'm getting now from the music. Why would I want to stop tweaking like this if it's served me so well thus far.


"Can you make things better, whichever question applies? Certainly, but there are costs in terms of time and effort for DIY treatments, cost, and the space they take up in the room and their visual impact."

And that's why I'm satisfied with my equipment and its support. The equiment has been the only constant throughout, something I'm glad I set my mind on at the very beginning - all I've been doing is realizing its full potential. The support, in terms of vibration and resonance control, has been done on a serious budget but I *swear* there's nowhere else I can go - you can just tell that virtually nothing is being added to the sound. Yes I could spend big bucks on some highly regarded product, but I think the chances of getting even a slight improvment are slim. The same goes for my interconnects - they're just sublime compared to all the others I tried, I should even start selling them:).

So, room acoustics is something that I'm revisiting, and I'm determined to nail it this time (don't pardon the pun). I hear the more bass traps you use, the merrier. I just want to get the best quality materials and implement the most effective construction, hence the incessant questioning. And yes, as chuffed as I am now, I know that there's more to be garnered, and it might just have to require more trial and error.

Could I ask you about your adventures in bass trapping land?

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

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