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RE: treat the ceiling/wall behind me, or build a portable "partition"?

Posted by David Aiken (A) on December 4, 2010 at 00:10:26

In Reply to: treat the ceiling/wall behind me, or build a portable "partition"? posted by BS64 on December 3, 2010 at 20:32:51:

It's not clear whether the sloping part of the roof slopes forward towards you from the vertical part or backwards away from you. I assume forward towards you. Since sound is reflected at an angle equal to the angle of incidence, that would mean direct sound from the speakers is going to be reflected down towards the back of the room behind you.

You said "I'm sure there are reflections being bounced back into the room and towards the listening position from the angled ceiling". That's true, but it's also true for every surface in the room, not only the sloping one. What is important isn't that it is reflecting sound towards you but what sound is being reflected. Since it won't be direct sound from the speakers, it will be sound that has already been reflected at least once from some other surface so we're talking about sound that's already part of the reflected sound field. That means it's less likely to cause problems than might be the case were it direct sound from the speakers causing a first reflection from an unlikely angle to reach the listening position.

You say the presentation is quite good as it is now. That means you don't have a problem that needs treating. That's not to say that you may not be able to get sound you prefer more by adding some acoustic treatment to the room but it does raise the question of which locations in the room would give you best results and the answer to that question depends a lot on what sort of result you want to achieve. Pretty well every room benefits from bass trapping at the junctions of room surfaces such as corners, especially at the points where 3 surfaces meet. After that, we get down to things like treating first reflections and discussions about which walls to treat and whether or not to add diffusion or to use diffusion instead of absorption. The answers to those questions tend to depend on matters of taste such as whether or not you want to increase or decrease imaging and soundstage effects. It isn't a case of there being one way to treat a room, there are several ways and they will give different sorts of results. Some people like it one way and some like it another way. Speaker type and the distance of the speakers from the front and side walls can also play a part in the results.

My feeling is that absorption is more beneficial than diffusion in a small room but others have the opposite view. There are those who think the front wall should be treated and others who prefer the rear wall treated. There are arguments for and against treatment of side walls. The angled part of your rear wall is a bit of a wild card making it difficult to predict whether it would be better to treat it or not. The simplest solution is to make a number of absorbing panels and try them out on the front wall, then on the back wall, and also on both in order to find out which approach you prefer. Also experiment on whether you prefer the side wall first reflection points treated or not. You can experiment with using things like blankets or quilts as quick and dirty test treatments in order to start getting a feel for the different sorts of presentation that will result from the differing treatment options.

The approach that is best is the one that you prefer. Some people like a presentation like that which you get seated towards the centre of a concert hall, a sound that isn't strong on imaging, while others like strong pin-point imaging and a very clearly defined soundstage. There's no right or wrong about that kind of choice, it's a matter of personal taste. Getting a result you like more than the result you get without treatment is what room treatment should deliver. If you like things less after treating the room in a particular way, then you've done something wrong and I think that's true whether or not other people agree with your assessment or not. It's your room and system and you're the person who will spend most time listening to it. If a given treatment strategy doesn't make you happy, then my view is that you're doing it wrong.


David Aiken

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