Treating our room. Part II
 

Last year, there was a first step in getting our room acoustically optimised.
You can read about that here:

https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=38497

After Ben's first visit, we ordered the panels and small blocks he carefully chose.
Something went not quite well, the order that arrived in The Hague proved to be the wrong one.
Then there was a very serious delay in the factory.
But finally the panels arrived at our house a couple of months ago.
I placed the small blocks in the corners (and I managed to do this in an incorrect way! :D), and the red panels in the fauteuils, and made an appointment with Ben.
What we also did between Ben's visits: placing a thick Nepalese handknotted carpet on our wooden floor.

And so last month Ben came!

I told him we already noticed some improvement: less echo, a considerably quieter room.
In fact, I was expecting some further improvement with his second visit, but no miracles.
We would still remain stuck with our glass wall on the left side, wouldn't we?

We started by measuring the first reflection points.
I sat down in the sweet spot and he told me what to do.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5614.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5615.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5616.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5619.jpg

Same thing on the other side.
Because of the window, we knew the panels could not be placed in the 100% ideal location, but it would be very close.
Then Ben started measuring where the magnets were to be glued:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5620.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5622.jpg


Up goes the first one:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5623.jpg


With each step, the moment I thought: "Now it is perfect!", Ben went a step further in meticulously adjusting.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5625.jpg


Positioned right next to our old Pioneer 60".

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5626.jpg


Now the next 2:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5627.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5628.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5629.jpg

The 3rd panel:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5630.jpg


And then placing the small block as it should:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5631.jpg

The left side, the same procedure.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5633.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5634.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5635.jpg


The system with the panels simply attached with the glued magnets allows you to adjust in a later stage (we are considering a 4K 65" TV!).


http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5636.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5637.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5639.jpg


99.9% horizontal is not enough!

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5640.jpg


Second one on top of it:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5642.jpg


Then the third and some final small alterations to the position:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5643.jpg

Nice looking for panels

Time to listen!

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5644.jpg


We started with a couple of albums from the label Ben has bought, see trptk.com
Check it out, it is fantastic!
I'll try their 5.0 downloads soon, but here we listened to the "simple" CDs.

For example this one:

https://trptk.com/wp-content/uploads...sible-Link.jpg


I can tell you, it was not simple, at all!
My criterion for a good concert is: I have, at least, shed some tears.
Well, hearing Maya Friedman and Daniël Kool playing Fratres, an Arvo Pärt piece I know so well, moved me to tears. Many.
Ben noticed and was visibly happy.

What a massive difference these 6 stupid pieces of plastic made!!
Well, they're actually not stupid, they're even attractive.
They're installed now for 5 weeks.
Mostly our guests don't even notice them.
And some people have asked us if they're art objects...

So there we were, the best sound ever in our room.
I thought by then, congrats Ben, a job well done!
Ha, I didn't realise we were not even halfway the work...

Ben started again moving the right speaker, mm by mm.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5645.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5646.jpg


He used the same track from Rebecca Pidgeon again, "Spanish Harlem", over and over.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5647.jpg

In the sofa, back on his knees, back to the sofa, back to the right speaker:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5649.jpg


Each time a subtle, but noticeable difference:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5651.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5652.jpg


He says the Vivids are truly excellent speakers, but their woofers on the side make it a bit more difficult to get them ideally positioned.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5653.jpg

It took us almost an hour for the right speaker to fully satisfy Ben.

Then we did the left speaker.
Only some minor adjustments were needed.
Minor and Ben: that still means 20 minutes! :D

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5656.jpg


End result:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5654.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...e/IMG_5655.jpg


Like I wrote before: the best sound ever in our room.
With these final speaker adjustments everything fell even more into its place.
I didn't know this would possible in our certainly not optimal room.
The first visit gave us 4 dB more bass, a better soundstage and more depth.
This second visit gave further improvement on all those points, and made the music much more real, as in: really in our room.

Thank you Ben!
This costed me as much as a couple of good cables, but it brought an improvement not even a 50K source would be able to offer.

Yeah, they are.
RTFS is the label.
German product.