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DIY acoustic treatments (now with lame YouTube video)

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
For the past few weeks I've been researching and planning a set of acoustic treatments for my new place. There were a lot of resources I looked at, so I wanted to share the process with AT.

Contents:

0. Video summary of process <-- in this post

1. Why did I do this? <-- in this post

2. Initial Planning <-- click me

3. Materials <-- click me

4. Construction Technique
Part A - How to construct a 2" Panel (section 1 of 3) <-- click me
Part B - How to construct a 2" Panel (section 2 of 3) <-- click me
Part C - How to construct a 2" Panel (section 3 of 3) <-- click me
Part D - Differences when making a 4" or 6" thick panel (bass trap) <-- click me
Part E - Clarification - Order of stapling <-- click me
Part F - Clarification - How to fold corners <-- click me
Part G - Clarification - How to attach foil scrim <-- click me

5. Finished Room <-- click me

6. Before/After Impressions <-- click me




0. Video summary of process
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iAw6q_bT6g
Yeah, I know it's crappy 😛
If you came here from the link in the YouTube video, detailed instructions about materials and construction technique are sections 3 and 4.


1. Why did I do this?

Cliffs:
- New place has major acoustic problems
- I've wanted to try acoustic treatments anyway
- Although Audyssey is amazing, it was not able to correct my room problems
- I have a new job and can actually afford to buy some

Long version:

 (Skip this and go straight to the Part 2 unless you're very bored)

Why did I do this?

Well that's a good question. A lot of people don't do any treatments in their room. I'm writing this after finishing just one panel, so at this point this section is just going to be about why I decided to do this, not did it work. If you want the "did it work" part, go to section 6 after I've managed to complete everything. I started writing this now because I wanted to take a break from cutting all the fabric

So a lot of people don't do any room treatments, which has included myself up until well... next week I guess. I've wanted to try out some room treatments for the past 3-4 years, but have not done so because
A) I haven't had a room that would allow me to mount them
B) I haven't felt like I really NEEDED them
C) I haven't been able to afford any

I think in a lot of cases, people don't make or buy room treatments because they either don't know they exist, don't want to bother, or don't want to make their room look ridiculous. I'm lucky enough to have a room designated as the "Movie room" here in my new townhouse, so I have the go ahead to do whatever I want to it. This is still a rental property, so everything will have to be removable, and will have to be light enough to be supported by relatively light mounting hardware.

I've only been interested in Home Theater equipment since about 2003 or so. Since then I've been through several iterations of my own Home Theater and have been in 5 different apartments / houses since then. Through this time I feel like I've learned a lot and started to care a lot more about the quality of my system. So far, I've enjoyed my system greatly as it has evolved and have felt like it has been performing well in each of those environments.

About a month and a half ago, I moved to this new place and claimed the living room as the Home Theater. The dining room became a computer room, and the second bedroom became the "living room". I set up my equipment in the new Home Theater room, and just as I was finishing up, I sneezed. Oh, the horror. The sound echoed and bounced off the walls for what seemed like an eternity. I spent several minutes after that snapping around the room determining just how bad things were. In fact, I feel like I wrote about this before... oh yes, here it is. (I have a feeling this is going to become a massive post, but at least there are picture and a table of contents).

Link to external reference 1

 So I decided that I needed to do something about this echo problem, and room treatments seemed like the answer.

I've played around with Audyssey MultEQ XT on my Onkyo 876 to see if its magic filters could help out, but as I suspected, the echoing is still quite bad.

I'm tempted to paste in this other experiment I did with Audyssey since I'm on the topic... so here it is.


Ok, so I've given waaaaay too much background information.

The original question was "Why did I do this"? right?

Cliffs:
- New place has major acoustic problems
- I've wanted to try acoustic treatments anyway
- Although Audyssey is amazing, it was not able to correct my room problems
- I have a new job and can actually afford to buy some

2. Initial Planning <-- click me

3. Materials <-- click me

4. Construction Technique
Part A - How to construct a 2" Panel (section 1 of 3) <-- click me
Part B - How to construct a 2" Panel (section 2 of 3) <-- click me
Part C - How to construct a 2" Panel (section 3 of 3) <-- click me
Part D - Differences when making a 4" or 6" thick panel (bass trap) <-- click me
Part E - Clarification - Order of stapling <-- click me
Part F - Clarification - How to fold corners <-- click me
Part G - Clarification - How to attach foil scrim <-- click me

5. Finished Room <-- click me

6. Before/After Impressions <-- click me

Oh, and since I don't remember if I mentioned this above, I'd like to put in a disclaimer.

I would like to say that I'm not a construction or safety expert or anything. Make a project like this at your own risk.

Don't blame me if:
You shoot yourself in the finger with a staple gun
You cut your thumb off with a table saw
You disembowel yourself with an electric screwdriver
You slit your wrist with a pair of scissors
Your house burns down with a bunch of flammable materials
You crash your car on the way to Home Depot
Your identity is stolen when ordering fabric online
You inhale fiberglass fibers and destroy your lungs
Your shoddy mounting job results in a panel falling down and maiming your child
You choose black fabric color for a white room without consulting your SO and the argument results in domestic abuse or divorce
 
Last edited:
:thumbsup: this will be a great case study! Especially since you have treatments, multieqxt, and freedom to move subwoofers around. This may shed some light as to how the three factors work (acoustic panels, eq, placement) together.
 
Sweet, I've been interested in doing a project like this for a while now. Looking forward to your impressions.
 
Originally posted by: Tiamat
:thumbsup: this will be a great case study! Especially since you have treatments, multieqxt, and freedom to move subwoofers around. This may shed some light as to how the three factors work (acoustic panels, eq, placement) together.
Click to expand...

Hey, who said I'm going to move my subs again? 😉

Luckily they're SVS cylinders, so they "only" weigh ~70 pounds instead of 150 pounds for a typical box sub of this level 😛

Originally posted by: Nohr
Sweet, I've been interested in doing a project like this for a while now. Looking forward to your impressions.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping it's not a let down. I'm assuming it's going to be a big difference, mainly because my room is so bad.





Oh, and today I finished up my fabric cutting.

Here's my spacer with the 14" addition for 4" bass traps and 18" addition for 6" bass traps.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...howsDAjello/Spacer.JPG
(I know, very exciting 😛)

Here are the finished stacks of fabric.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...llo/FinishedFabric.JPG
(only 23 backers and 11 2" wraps since I used one of each in the demo panel already)

This is the leftover fabric.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...sDAjello/Leftovers.JPG
I have enough to probably make two backers, or a backer and front wrap of any sized panel.

Again, for size reference, this is only about 5% of the total fabric I had. This is the room where I did all the cutting too, so having a plan was very helpful. I had it layered on top of itself about 20 times on my computer chair and was reeling it out as I needed it and layering it back on when I needed to start another portion of the plan.
 
Just got back from Home Depot for my wood and corner bead run.

I was quite disappointed when each piece of corner bead was coming up as $5.98 rather than the $3.19 I expected.
I went back to the corner bead section and took a picture of the price to show to the cashier. Everything went smoothly then. If it was only a couple pieces I might not have cared, but that was the difference between $180 on corner bead and $95 as expected.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...sDAjello/BeadPrice.JPG
Hurray for digital cameras 😛

Since I have a dodge stratus, fitting 10' lengths of corner bead would have been tough. I just stood in the back of Home Depot and cut all of it there.
Each 10' section got cut into two 4' sections and a 2' section. I'll have to but up some of the 4' sections to balance out the ratio later, but I just needed to get stratus-sized pieces first.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...wsDAjello/WoodBead.JPG
I also got some spray adhesive for the foil scrim and another package of 100 screws, which should be enough to finish.

My trunk isn't designed to hold all that much.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Trunk.JPG

Oh, and if anyone is looking for a bunch of warped, cracked, or broken pieces of 1"x2" wood, go to the Madison West location since I sorted it all for you and left it conveniently accessible.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...wsDAjello/JunkWood.JPG
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Just got back from Home Depot for my wood and corner bead run.

I was quite disappointed when each piece of corner bead was coming up as $5.98 rather than the $3.19 I expected.
I went back to the corner bead section and took a picture of the price to show to the cashier. Everything went smoothly then. If it was only a couple pieces I might not have cared, but that was the difference between $180 on corner bead and $95 as expected.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...sDAjello/BeadPrice.JPG
Hurray for digital cameras 😛

Since I have a dodge stratus, fitting 10' lengths of corner bead would have been tough. I just stood in the back of Home Depot and cut all of it there.
Each 10' section got cut into two 4' sections and a 2' section. I'll have to but up some of the 4' sections to balance out the ratio later, but I just needed to get stratus-sized pieces first.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...wsDAjello/WoodBead.JPG
I also got some spray adhesive for the foil scrim and another package of 100 screws, which should be enough to finish.

My trunk isn't designed to hold all that much.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Trunk.JPG

Oh, and if anyone is looking for a bunch of warped, cracked, or broken pieces of 1"x2" wood, go to the Madison West location since I sorted it all for you and left it conveniently accessible.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...wsDAjello/JunkWood.JPG
Click to expand...

props for showing the dig pic to the checker. 😀
 
Originally posted by: mshan
Another nice DIY project!

(how's the Flexy Rack DIY project holding up?)
Click to expand...

Flexy Rack is in good shape.

I debated for a while whether or not to paint the rack while I was in the process of moving. I decided I was too tired / had too much to do at the time.

It's still on my list of things to do, but I don't know what the time frame is on it yet.
 
If the room is too live you could always just experiment by hanging some thick blankets on the side and back wall. That way you can tell where your reflections are coming from. It will be too much at first (the room will be VERY dead) but you can play around with it.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
If the room is too live you could always just experiment by hanging some thick blankets on the side and back wall. That way you can tell where your reflections are coming from. It will be too much at first (the room will be VERY dead) but you can play around with it.
Click to expand...

I did do a little testing with the fabric that's on the walls now. It wasn't blankets, but when the fabric was held up a couple inches away from the wall, it really cut down on the decay time of sounds in the room. Once the fabric was up and mounted right on the wall, it lost a significant amount of effectiveness, but still did something for the problem.

We also have some fairly substantial room darkening curtains in the back of the room now.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...jello/BackCurtains.jpg

I didn't notice an obvious difference in the echo issue once those were up, so I'm pretty sure that most of it is caused by the left and right walls, which is where I'm going to place the majority of the 2" panels centered around ear height with some 4" panels straddling the wall/ceiling corners above.
 
Side wall reflections do the most to "muddy" the sound from the fronts so good idea to start there, put them equidistant from the listening position to the speaker. The echo is probably coming from front/back wall reverberation - especially if I'm seeing a window on the back wall?

Oh - I see last pic, nevermind front/back wall. Also I always use a very sharp handclap or a loud finger snap to test.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
Side wall reflections do the most to "muddy" the sound from the fronts so good idea to start there, put them equidistant from the listening position to the speaker. The echo is probably coming from front/back wall reverberation - especially if I'm seeing a window on the back wall?

Oh - I see last pic, nevermind front/back wall. Also I always use a very sharp handclap or a loud finger snap to test.
Click to expand...

Right, the back wall is mostly covered by that heavy curtain now. The front wall is maybe ~40% covered by my screen made of blackout cloth, foam insulation, and velvet.

I'll probably end up with 60%-70% coverage of bare front wall (20-30% treatment panels) for the front.

The back wall is probably 70% covered already by the curtain.


When the side walls were 100% bare wall, the snap test was horrible. With the light cloth covering ~50% of the left wall (since it has openings) and ~30% of the right wall, the snap test got significantly better.

If I do the snap test above the level of the fabric, it's really bad. Within the range of the fabric, it's reduced, but still bad. Based on that test, I'm pretty confident that it's the left and right wall causing the echo problem.


Update:

Maybe I should have invested in an electric staple gun 😛
I have the backers attached to half of the frames now.

I put four of the fabric covered backers up in a 2x2 configuration covering up the rear 20% of the left wall.

Using the snap test, even just the fabric covered backers (no 703) reduce the echo problem immensely. I tried to take a short video with my camera, but there's too much static from the crappy microphone to hear the decay times of the sounds.


Another Update:

I took 10 of the backer frames and wedged them to get almost total coverage of the left wall.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...DAjello/BackerTest.JPG

The echo problem is almost totally gone. The opposite wall still just has that piece of tan cloth on it.

(My planned configuration for the wall in this pictured is five 2" thick panels centered vertically taking up the whole width of the wall (4' on top, 4' on the bottom).

Then I'll have two 4" thick panels covering most of the wall/ceiling border horizontally.

If nothing else, I know that this project will take care of the echo problem now, so worst case scenario I'll still be in much better shape than I was before.


Yet another update:

Putting those backer panels up on the walls sure helped make the staple gun sound more bearable. I should have thought of that earlier 😛

I was kind of feeling under the weather this past weekend and had a headache for a couple days. The staple gun sound has changed from an incredibly irritating echo-fest to something that sounds quite tame.

The backer frames all have fabric on them... well... except for that one extra frame that I made just in case something bad happens to another one. I probably should have sorted through them all to make sure it was the worst frame that I wasn't using. They all looked pretty decent though, so I'm not too concerned about it.

Now it's time to make the corner bead edge protectors.


Update 4:

Since the backer panels are done, I've moved on to cutting the corner bead to the right size, straightening out any bend ends, and wrapping the sharp edges with duct tape.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...wsDAjello/BeadTape.JPG

Those are 32 two foot lengths, enough to do the short sides on 16 out of the 23 remaining panels.

Oh, and I've now officially been covered under my new health plan for 43 minutes! If I cut off my finger with tin snips, I'll be able to take care of it no problem 😛

Update 5:

I finished up trimming the corner bead and covering the ends with duct tape so they will not rip through the fabric covering.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Duct1.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Duct2.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Duct3.JPG

48 four foot long pieces
48 two foot long pieces

Update 6:

Not exactly an operation Henry Ford would be proud of, but I have the first four 2" panels done.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...howsDAjello/First4.jpg
 
Alright, I don't want that last post to be as long as the OP eventually, so here's a fresh reply.

I've finished the first 12 panels. They're all 2" thick 703 (plus the thickness of the backer frame).
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...owsDAjello/First12.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...jello/First12angle.JPG

I didn't run into any problems with them, although after making 12 of them, I've become more efficient at making them.

In particular, I think I have the corner folding part down 😛

Here's my step-by-step method (any suggestions on improvement?)

1. Staple the fabric on the backing panel except for the corners. I believe I described this above, but again, my process is to start in the middle of one of the 48" sides and then staple that whole side making sure that it's tight along the length of that edge. Then I switch over to the other side and start in the middle and pull it tight along that edge and make sure that I'm making it reasonably tight between this side and the first stapled side. Then I move to one of the ends and staple the middle of it along with 2-3 staples moving toward the edge, but leaving about 6" open so the I can do the corners later. Then do the final 24" side in the same way, but making sure to get everything tight this time since it's the last chance to do so. At the end of this, the fabric is all finished except for the four corners that look something like this...
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Fold1.JPG

2. I fold over the excess fabric and figure out roughly how much of that will be extra once I square up the corner for folding.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Fold2.JPG

3. With a pair of scissors, I cut off most of that excess fabric so the corner will be easier to fold and have a neater finished appearance.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Fold3.JPG

4. Now, taking the fabric that's coming off the 48" length, I do a quick fold in it to get the fabric behaving nicely along that edge. I staple it in place. This staple will be covered up once the fabric from the 24" side gets folder over it.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Fold4.JPG

5. There is the large section of fabric left now to actually make the corner. Make a fold in it so that when pulled tight, it will be the right length to end up at the edge of the 24" side.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Fold5.JPG

6. Staple that in the corner and then along the excess fabric edge.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Fold6.JPG

7. Take something thin but dull to get excess fabric from the fold nice and tucked away flatly. (I'm using a butter knife)
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Fold7.JPG

8. Put in any missing staples that you skipped earlier (to give yourself room to work) along the 24" edge.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...OhowsDAjello/Fold8.JPG




Oh, and since I don't remember if I mentioned this above, I'd like to put in a disclaimer.

I would like to say that I'm not a construction or safety expert or anything. Make a project like this at your own risk.

Don't blame me if:
You shoot yourself in the finger with a staple gun
You cut your thumb off with a table saw
You disembowel yourself with an electric screwdriver
You slit your wrist with a pair of scissors
Your house burns down with a bunch of flammable materials
You crash your car on the way to Home Depot
Your identity is stolen when ordering fabric online
You inhale fiberglass fibers and destroy your lungs
Your shoddy mounting job results in a panel falling down and maiming your child
You choose black fabric color for a white room without consulting your SO and the argument results in domestic abuse or divorce

Update:

I will continue to record my progress in this thread that nobody is reading 😉

To attach the Foil Scrim for the bass traps, I first needed to cut it to size and then use spray adhesive to glue the scrim to the 703.

Foil Scrim from Sensible Sound is $12 per 12 foot roll and is 42" wide.
http://sensiblesoundsolutions....nfo.php?products_id=46

Since the panels I'm making are 48" x 24", what I did was cut twelve 42" x 24" pieces and then twelve (actually 14) 24" x 6" patch pieces to get full 48" x 24" coverage.

To glue these on, I bit the bullet and ventured out to our townhouse's modest yard to do the spraying. I saw a couple people out there, but they didn't really seem to care too much about what I was doing.

I was wearing my protection gear
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...DAjello/Protection.JPG
(but jeans rather than those gray pajama type pants).

I guess it's a good thing I got my hair cut so I don't look like a terrorist anymore (at least according to my mom).
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=38&threadid=2320638

I guess I could have made something up about the swine flu syndicate if anybody had asked about the mask...
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...jello/SwineFluCard.jpg

Anyway...

I used one of the Owens Corning boxes as the spray stand. The spray adhesive recommended keeping the can as vertical as possible for even coverage, so I did my best.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...howsDAjello/Spray1.JPG
I put 15 pounds of weights in the bottom of it to keep it from falling over.

I got an area ready for where I would put the finished sheets to dry.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...howsDAjello/Spray2.JPG

For my 12 bass traps (six 4" thick and six 6" thick), I'd need one scrim covered sheet for each, so that's two boxes worth.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...howsDAjello/Spray3.JPG
On the box to the right I have my pre-cut foil scrim face-down ready to go.

My Owens Corning 703 has a face that's flatter and a face that has some small raised bumps. I picked the flatter side to attach to. Each sheet got propped up on the stand for spraying.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...howsDAjello/Spray4.JPG

I was able to do a pretty good layer of adhesive for all 12 sheets with one 16.75 OZ can of 3M Super 77 spray adhesive.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...howsDAjello/Spray5.JPG
I had estimated my area of coverage in square feet in the store and this one can said it would cover it with some room to spare. If I had to guess, I'd say I used maybe 75% of this can on the job based on what it felt like to shake it throughout the process.

Now my 12 sheets are drying one of top of another outside so I don't stink up my place or fill it with flammable fumes.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...howsDAjello/Spray6.JPG
I have a couple signs up so hopefully nobody will mess with it. My computer is right next to those windows though, so I can keep an eye on them even as I'm typing this. Luckily I have no life and sitting on my computer for a while is what I'd be doing anyway 😛

I'm hoping they don't stick together at all at the edges. There should be minimum contact area between them since the foil scrim cutting job I did was pretty good.

So the layering goes

Foil Scrim
Spray Adhesive
Owens Corning 703

(repeat)

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...howsDAjello/Spray7.JPG

I don't really know how long I'm supposed to let this stuff air out so that the smell won't be a big deal once I get them inside. Hopefully I'll guess correctly 😛

Update 2:

All 6" panels are done as well.

I was considering making some short corner bead lengths to keep the 6" edges of the panels square, but I did the first one without it and decided it was unnecessary work. They look nice and consistent without the additional step.

(I'll update the OP with the difference in steps between the bass traps and the original 2" panel directions)
 
wow, nice work so far! You are making quite a bit of progress! As for me, I managed to buy a LoveSac loveseat and a panasonic plasma LOL. Credit card is gonna cry a little come end of the month 😛
 
Originally posted by: Tiamat
wow, nice work so far! You are making quite a bit of progress! As for me, I managed to buy a LoveSac loveseat and a panasonic plasma LOL. Credit card is gonna cry a little come end of the month 😛
Click to expand...

I didn't inspire you to start your own treatment project instead? 😛

As I was waiting for my spray adhesive to dry yesterday, I also thought about doing a little extra work after I'm done with the actual panels.

One project that I think is going to be a good idea is to make some sort of projector shelf at the back of the room that allows me to mount the projector centered on the back wall. Before, I was using a really rickety, rusty, and ugly metal shelving unit. I've used this for a few years and it works reasonably well as long as nobody bumps it. I've been wanting to replace it for a while but haven't had a good excuse.

Now that I have my subwoofers centered on the front and back walls, I do have an excuse 😛

I'm thinking I'll just try to get a couple black modular PVC racks from home depot and see if something will work to have two reasonably sized columns that could fit around a 16" diameter cylinder and then come together on top to support a bass shaker amp and the projector.



Project 2 is to do some sort of lighting effect in the room. Naturally my budget and construction ability isn't going to look nearly as good as the professional looking home theaters at AVSforum, but as I looked at a lot of them, there seemed to be two big factors in how things looked once completed. One was whether or not it looked like a regular room with a bunch of stuff in it when completed. If there were acoustic panels installed in a way that changed the shape of the room even slightly, it seemed more like a proper room than a rectangular box being used as a movie room. The other was whether there were any lighting effects in the room. These ranged from basic track lighting up to really elaborate star ceiling panels.

Those are both pretty superficial distinctions, but I looked through a bunch of threads on AVSforum for inspiration and those seemed to be some common themes. Naturally there were several examples that broke the mold of those indicators, but enough of them looked like more interesting rooms after those factors that I wanted to give it a shot.

I'll already have some slight room shape changing from the corner panels which will go from floor to ceiling (or close to it) in 3 of the 4 corners of the room along with the left and right wall / ceiling border.

I think if I were to paint the walls something other than white, that would go a long way as well... but I'm not willing to do that in this rented townhouse.

That leaves lighting as a possibility for an inexpensive addition. I think I'll just try it out with some cheap Christmas tree lights and see if I can rig something up that doesn't look too tacky 😛
 
I did a rough fit of where things will go today. Getting two 4' tall traps to fit into a carpeted room with 8' ceilings was tricky, but I got them in.

This is pretty distorted... I probably should have used that tripod that's conveniently pictured in the photo 😛
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...owsDAjello/RoomFit.jpg

The 4" traps that are eventually going on the ceiling/wall corners are sitting on their sides now on the ground and are keeping the five 2" panels on the side walls at the right height instead. The back of the room needs work now that I have the projector shelf and subwoofer in the middle of the room. Hopefully my actual plan for the back of the room will be a reality if I get get a narrow shelving unit for the projector that will fit around / above the subwoofer. I can't ceiling mount here.

EDIT:
Non-photo-stitch type images:
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...ello/FitFrontRight.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...jello/FitFrontLeft.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...jello/FitBackRight.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...Ajello/FitBackLeft.JPG
 
I did some preliminary testing with the panels in their temporary positions. (4" traps are not on the corners, back wall treatments are in odd spots, no spacers behind the 2" treatments, etc.

I'll try to post some of the graphs later on, but to summarize the measurements:

- Comb filtering greatly reduced
- With Audyssey and treatments, 110Hz dip is still there, but not as severe
- Waterfall charts show major improvement in decay times


 
be careful .. you don't want too much sound absorption. Generally you want more absorption in the front than in the rear. In the rear I would go with some diffusion panels to keep the surround field from collapsing completely
 
i also can't help but notice that the fabric is very reflective. I know you mentioned that it 'passed' the test but I'd still be a bit leery .. not only from an acoustic standpoint but also from the errant light of the projector causing distractions. It's one thing I cannot stand about my Rockets .. and I so I placed felt on the tops and the sides facing inward toward the screen ..
 
Originally posted by: Need4Speed
i also can't help but notice that the fabric is very reflective. I know you mentioned that it 'passed' the test but I'd still be a bit leery .. not only from an acoustic standpoint but also from the errant light of the projector causing distractions. It's one thing I cannot stand about my Rockets .. and I so I placed felt on the tops and the sides facing inward toward the screen ..
Click to expand...

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...ello/FitFrontRight.JPG

You mean like that one?

That's the foil scrim behind the bass traps that reduce their mid / high frequency absorption. The 2" traps on the side walls don't have that layer and don't produce that kind of visual result when a camera flash is used.

All the traps destined for the back of the room have the scrim layer, so I'm hoping that it will be primarily bass absorption back there. I haven't tried using the surrounds yet.

 
I must have missed that part. Sorry 🙂 .. was a lot to read through as I was in a hurry ... good luck getting it finished up. It'll make a nice difference. Maybe not as much in the bass trapping, but definitely in getting the room tamed. I have a hard time going from a treated room back to an untreated room .. just sounds so much better.
 
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