I keep putting this off.
 

Over the past month or two I've been having the thought that my Harbeth 7ES3's are all wring for my room and I've been considering other speakers that I believe will perform better in this space. Most of you have likely seen pictures of this space and know that the room is untreated acoustically. I recently re-watched the GIK video on early reflection points and something just smacked me right in the head :dazed-7: Not addressing this issue will cause listeners to make choices they might not otherwise make, especially speaker choice. So, what I'm going to do is ask GIK Acoustics for their guidance and would like to do some of that here in hopes of making this a tutorial or sorts. So if Alexander from GIK is willing to participate here then we can proceed :thumbsup:

Don........Wise move. Don't bail on the speakers before you treat the room first. Each time I see the room photos since you remodeled my first thought has been you need at least two bass traps, one for each corner behind the Harbeth's. First reflection points will provide a great benefit, too. I'm sure GIK can help you. This will be an interesting thread.

My room is also untreated...it's also been something I've been putting off as it's not an exciting thing to spend money on compared to electronics. However I have left over acoustic ceiling tiles that I've used in my audio room and I've recently placed them against the wall (using old golf clubs, haha!) at the reflection points and I can't believe the change in soundstage, bass response and high frequency response. The room sounds much bigger, the bass is full and tighter and the high frequencies have eased off a bit (a good thing in this case). The sound also is so much more coherent. Details shine through much more. Room treatments now seem like an exciting purchase! :)

A cheaper way to go if you want is get some carpet panels from Walmart for about $11 each and see what they will do for ya. I think they do a very good job, maybe not as good as the pro stuff, but I'm willing to bet they will make a pretty good improvement.

Spot on... Its not an exciting thing to spend money on which is why I also avoided it. I have a significant improvement in sound now that I did add acoustic treatments and no longer have to squint or cover my ears!

Question is... if I upgrade my speakers, do I have to start all over again???

No.

I took some measurements of the room today and here is what I have:

Ceiling 8 ft.
Width 8 ft 10 inches
Length 11 ft 5 inches

By the pictures you can see a window behind the audio rack. From the seated position the wall on the left has sliding closet doors. As seated the entry into the room is in the left corner. So this is the layout. Hopefully GIK can help me get things all tuned up :)

Definitely close the curtains when you listen to music. The walls can be treated easily. I'm not familar with the Harbeth's, but I'm thinking you should be getting some really nice tight bass, but again I'm not familar with the Harbeth's. You just might be getting alittle too critical.

I'm also thinking pull the speakers out a few more inches. I just do not see that you need bass traps with those kind of speakers. I'm thinking reflection points only. You definitely need to add something to the back wall.

That's the thing, moving the speakers in this room makes little to no difference from what I can tell. And depending on the song/recording it seems you either get too much bass or not enough.