Editor,
I came across your excellent room exploits ("Part One", "Part Two", and "Part Three") from a link of a link, which was started by some research on the Anthem processor you reviewed (I'm collecting my new D2v today!). I am very intrigued by the treatments you have installed and would love to see some more pictures of your room. Is there a link you can point me to where more pictures are available?
I am particularly interested in your Masonite cylindrical diffusers. Are they a hollow cavity behind the Masonite? Are they capped at the ends?
As for speaker positioning, do you find that ideal positioning needs to change from speaker to speaker? I assume your personal speakers are the Alexandrias? How do they differ to other smaller speakers with regard to positioning? My guess would be not much, as the ideal placement in the room will always be the ideal placement! I also see that your speakers are quite close to the wall behind them. Do you subscribe to ratios, i.e., rule of 3rds or 5ths?
My name is Phil and I'm in Melbourne, Australia, and I'm pretty addicted to this hobby. I have a dedicated music room that has many acoustical issues. I am currently using RealTraps to help its performance. There does not seem to be many acoustic experts down here, but then maybe I have not looked in the right places. I'd appreciate any info you care to share.
Cheers,
Phil Grant
The diffusers are braced in three places behind the Masonite. This keeps them fairly stiff. If you don’t have an acoustic engineer handy, your best bet is to contact Terry Montlick Labs and have them do an e-mail consultation. It will be the best money you ever spent on your audio system and Terry can design your room treatments from common materials available at your local home store, making the service extremely good value.
As for speaker placement, there is a general set of dimensions within the room where most speakers sound best. Within that area, though, there are placement differences from speaker to speaker. Speakers vary with regard to radiation patterns, port placements, not to mention numerous design idiosyncrasies, so that placement for each set takes experimentation and experience. Rather than rely on rules, I've found the best method is to actually take acoustical measurements in my room. This is a far more effective method for fine-tuning placement and results in the best speaker placement each time out. As for more photos, check out the TWBAS 2009 articles here: http://ultraaudio.com/twbas.html.
As far as speakers go, no, I do not own the Wilson Alexandrias. I now have Rockport Technologies Arrakis loudspeakers, which are more neutral, transparent, and resolving than any other speaker I've heard, including the Wilsons. . . . Jeff Fritz
