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Old 07-01-2014, 01:05 AM
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Default Listening Room Acoustics Re-do with GIK - Phase 1

The listening room: A very lived-in and spouse-shared living/dining room 29’9”L x 14’4”W (squeezed down to 10’10” for the last nearly 10’ of length) x 7’8”H. Heretofore treated with cylindrical traps to ameliorate a host of asymmetry and reflective issues indicated in the photos and diagram below and compounded by the inability to position speakers optimally due to the need for normal-living foot traffic navigability and relatively inflexible furniture placement.

Partly out of esthetic considerations, but mostly out of a desire to push the edge of the what-more-can-I-get-out-of-this-room envelope, I recently decided after researching various product options to e-mail room photos and a diagram of which GIK products I thought should go where in the first phase of an overall room re-do to Glenn Kuras. The next morning I got a call from Bryan Pape, who recommended modifications to my initial concept and product choices, giving me good reasons why in every instance.

The front wall now looks like this, its treatment consisting of three 244 panel bass traps and one soffit trap:





(Apologies for the photos’ dark ambience. This is Oregon, where the skies occasionally don brooding grey, and I opted not to use indoor lighting for the shoot to minimize reflections off the 40” flat-screen.)



As indicated in the plan view diagram above, there are also floorstanding 244s at the first reflection points and a 244 mounted horizontally at the center of the rear wall. Taken together, the six panels and the soffit constitute the re-do’s first phase. An additional soffit, originally intended for the second phase, has since been added to the mix and appears at the jog-in corner next to the piano in the diagram. Shown, too, are two temporary cylindrical trap holdovers in the rear corners.

I’m not overstating when I say that what Phase One of the GIK re-do (even before adding the piano-corner soffit) has achieved is transformative. Much of my listening is large-ensemble—symphonies, concertos, “big” film scores, big band, massed choral, and a tad of opera. With recordings I consider well-produced (e.g., Henry Mancini’s Peter Gunn [RCA LSP-1956], Sir Adrian Boult’s reading of Holst’s Fugal Overture [Lyrita SRCS 37], the Pavarotti/Freni/von Karajan collaboration on Puccini’s Madama Butterfly [London OSA-13110], and Richard Rodgers’ Victory at Sea, Vol. 2 [RCA LSC-2226]), the pre-GIK “decent” and reasonably holographic soundstage has morphed into an organically substantive entity—“reach in and touch someone” seems a distinct possibility. It’s not simply a question of expanded breadth and depth, though both are wall-obliterating impressive. It’s the delineation of interior space and of individual instruments and voices--tonally, spatially, and dimensionally--and the revelation of previously-masked ambient cues all the way to the now-further-out-and-back rear corners that render performance presence in the room spookily palpable, an illusion enhanced by the exposition of inner voicing and microdynamics formerly buried in the room’s noise floor.

The same comments apply to small-ensemble performances. Jane Monheit’s now-more-evident bell-like clarity and subtle breathiness in “Over the Rainbow” (Come Dream with Me, N-Coded Discs NC-4219-2) came close to persuading my wife (at her off-axis position, no less—and for the first time) that the vocalist had entered the room (“she’s right there”--a testament to image focus). Listening to the Brubeck Quartet’s “Take Five” (Time Out, Columbia CS 8192), I noted that for the first time Joe Morello’s drum kit actually sounded to me like it was the right size and not the too-stretched-out entity I’d heard so many times before. This more accurate scaling renders the quartet more "believable" in its performing space.

Enter the piano-corner soffit, in effect a left-side complement to its right-front-corner twin. What it brings to the table is increased clarity and solidity in the sonic presentation from bottom to top, with a noticeable increase in heft, for example, in the bass drum strikes in the opening movement of the Arthur Fiedler/Earl Wild go at George Gershwin’s Concerto in F (RCA LSC-2586) and a greater sense of venue spaciousness and overall clarity.

Bottom line: Calling the expenditure a "good investment" would be a gross understatement. Bryan’s analysis and recommendations were spot-on, resulting in an exceeds-all-expectations sonic game changer attributable to better modal control with the corner soffits and better reflection control with the 244s’ greater surface area coverage of the front wall (including the problematic fireplace), the first reflection points (the 2’x4’ panels are wider and taller than their predecessor 3’-tall 11”-diameter cylindrical traps), and the rear wall center (where a 244 replaced a large framed and reflective-surface print).

Jim
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Bedroom: Aurender N150, TEAC UD-505 (AKM version), EMIA Cu Elmaformer passive line stage, conrad-johnson MF2500, Paradigm Studio 20 v5. Shunyata Delta D6, Altaira CG hub. Shunyata Alpha XC, Delta NR v2, Alpha USB, Alpha and Venom CGC/SGC. Wireworld Eclipse 8 interconnect & speaker cables. Stillpoints footers, Butcher Block Acoustics maple platforms. Stillpoints and GIK acoustic panels.

Home Office:Windows 11 PC/JRiver 31, TEAC UD-501, Luminous Audio Technology Axiom II Walker Mod passive, conrad-johnson Sonographe SA-250, Paradigm SE-1. Shunyata Hydra (Original Version), Venom 10 NR. Wireworld Eclipse 7 interconnects. Blue Jeans speaker cable.

Living-Dining Room: Windows 11 Laptop/JRiver 29, Oppo BD-83, TEAC UD-501 DAC, SOTA Sapphire TT, Graham Slee Era Gold V, Ortofon 2M Black, McIntosh MR-77, c-j Sonographe SC-25, c-j MF2500, Paradigm SE-3. Wireworld 8 IC, Blue Jeans SC. Shunyata Hydra 8 v.2, Shunyata Delta NR, Venom NR. GIK 244 bass & scatter-plate panels.

Last edited by jimtranr; 07-01-2014 at 01:18 AM.
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Old 07-01-2014, 02:36 AM
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Jim, first CONGRATS! Second, as a guy with a lot of "tubes" in his room, very interesting. Third, it looks great!
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Old 07-01-2014, 04:41 AM
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Jim, congrats on the treatment. Very nicely done and I'm glad to see that you're happy with the change.
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Old 07-01-2014, 08:31 AM
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Can't really add much to the above statement, besides thanks for taking the time to write such a in-depth review. Keep us posted on your room! The room looks great.
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Old 07-01-2014, 01:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chessman View Post
Jim, first CONGRATS! Second, as a guy with a lot of "tubes" in his room, very interesting. Third, it looks great!
Thanks, Randy. My wife characterizes the replacement of tubes by monoliths (what she calls the 244s) as a move from an ancient Greek temple to "2001."

My first listening pass with the GIK traps utilized only the panels, with the 244 that's now stand-mounted in front of the fireplace angled across the right front corner atop the c-j cabinet module. That configuration gave a tantalizing taste of things to come and indicated just how important it was to (1) cover the wall surface behind the speakers up as high as they are now (framed prints previously occupied a portion of that surface), (2) provide first-reflection point coverage at least as high and wide as the 244s do, and (3) trap the center of the rear wall.

Number 3 was a bit of a surprise, as the rear wall is about 13 feet aft of my listening position, and I wondered just how much, if any, difference I could hear with coverage that far behind me. The answer, after several put-the-trap-up/take-it-down listening comparisons, was "substantial enough to leave it up." With the 244 in place, the performance venue is more clearly delineated and the overall sonic presentation more detailed. In some instances, depending on the recording, the effect is more subtle; in others, more pronounced. But in every case it has been discernible in the comparisons.

Jim
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Bedroom: Aurender N150, TEAC UD-505 (AKM version), EMIA Cu Elmaformer passive line stage, conrad-johnson MF2500, Paradigm Studio 20 v5. Shunyata Delta D6, Altaira CG hub. Shunyata Alpha XC, Delta NR v2, Alpha USB, Alpha and Venom CGC/SGC. Wireworld Eclipse 8 interconnect & speaker cables. Stillpoints footers, Butcher Block Acoustics maple platforms. Stillpoints and GIK acoustic panels.

Home Office:Windows 11 PC/JRiver 31, TEAC UD-501, Luminous Audio Technology Axiom II Walker Mod passive, conrad-johnson Sonographe SA-250, Paradigm SE-1. Shunyata Hydra (Original Version), Venom 10 NR. Wireworld Eclipse 7 interconnects. Blue Jeans speaker cable.

Living-Dining Room: Windows 11 Laptop/JRiver 29, Oppo BD-83, TEAC UD-501 DAC, SOTA Sapphire TT, Graham Slee Era Gold V, Ortofon 2M Black, McIntosh MR-77, c-j Sonographe SC-25, c-j MF2500, Paradigm SE-3. Wireworld 8 IC, Blue Jeans SC. Shunyata Hydra 8 v.2, Shunyata Delta NR, Venom NR. GIK 244 bass & scatter-plate panels.
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Old 07-01-2014, 01:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by antipop View Post
Jim, congrats on the treatment. Very nicely done and I'm glad to see that you're happy with the change.
Thanks, Georges. What's most telling, I think, is that my non-audiophile wife suddenly wants to listen more to recordings--and last night asked me to explain how the soffits worked. (She's frankly not that keen on their appearance in her living room, but admits that she has never heard what emerges from the speakers sound anywhere near as good with them in place. )

Jim
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Bedroom: Aurender N150, TEAC UD-505 (AKM version), EMIA Cu Elmaformer passive line stage, conrad-johnson MF2500, Paradigm Studio 20 v5. Shunyata Delta D6, Altaira CG hub. Shunyata Alpha XC, Delta NR v2, Alpha USB, Alpha and Venom CGC/SGC. Wireworld Eclipse 8 interconnect & speaker cables. Stillpoints footers, Butcher Block Acoustics maple platforms. Stillpoints and GIK acoustic panels.

Home Office:Windows 11 PC/JRiver 31, TEAC UD-501, Luminous Audio Technology Axiom II Walker Mod passive, conrad-johnson Sonographe SA-250, Paradigm SE-1. Shunyata Hydra (Original Version), Venom 10 NR. Wireworld Eclipse 7 interconnects. Blue Jeans speaker cable.

Living-Dining Room: Windows 11 Laptop/JRiver 29, Oppo BD-83, TEAC UD-501 DAC, SOTA Sapphire TT, Graham Slee Era Gold V, Ortofon 2M Black, McIntosh MR-77, c-j Sonographe SC-25, c-j MF2500, Paradigm SE-3. Wireworld 8 IC, Blue Jeans SC. Shunyata Hydra 8 v.2, Shunyata Delta NR, Venom NR. GIK 244 bass & scatter-plate panels.
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Old 07-01-2014, 02:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras View Post
Can't really add much to the above statement, besides thanks for taking the time to write such a in-depth review. Keep us posted on your room! The room looks great.)
Thanks, Glenn. We're pleased with the sonic result. And appreciate the expeditious customer service (a shout-out to Christina) that has accompanied the transaction.

Addressing a point that came up in another thread, I should add that the panels are all "standard" 244s. In this particular listening environment, focusing on absorption at the first reflection points and elsewhere has not suppressed the "life" embedded in any given recording. Peter Gunn, a superbly engineered LP, is an excellent test of this, and its playback in the now-GIK-treated room is what elicited my "spookily palpable" seconds after the stylus touched down on the lead-in groove.
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Bedroom: Aurender N150, TEAC UD-505 (AKM version), EMIA Cu Elmaformer passive line stage, conrad-johnson MF2500, Paradigm Studio 20 v5. Shunyata Delta D6, Altaira CG hub. Shunyata Alpha XC, Delta NR v2, Alpha USB, Alpha and Venom CGC/SGC. Wireworld Eclipse 8 interconnect & speaker cables. Stillpoints footers, Butcher Block Acoustics maple platforms. Stillpoints and GIK acoustic panels.

Home Office:Windows 11 PC/JRiver 31, TEAC UD-501, Luminous Audio Technology Axiom II Walker Mod passive, conrad-johnson Sonographe SA-250, Paradigm SE-1. Shunyata Hydra (Original Version), Venom 10 NR. Wireworld Eclipse 7 interconnects. Blue Jeans speaker cable.

Living-Dining Room: Windows 11 Laptop/JRiver 29, Oppo BD-83, TEAC UD-501 DAC, SOTA Sapphire TT, Graham Slee Era Gold V, Ortofon 2M Black, McIntosh MR-77, c-j Sonographe SC-25, c-j MF2500, Paradigm SE-3. Wireworld 8 IC, Blue Jeans SC. Shunyata Hydra 8 v.2, Shunyata Delta NR, Venom NR. GIK 244 bass & scatter-plate panels.
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Old 05-27-2015, 12:46 AM
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jimtranr jimtranr is offline
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Default Phase 2 - Finished



Finally got around to completing treatment of the primary listening--oops, I've been reminded that it's the living-dining--room by supplementing the centered standard 244 on the rear wall with two scatter-plate 244s flanking it and 12"x48 Monsters straddling the corners. The room is now configured as diagrammed here:



The rear-wall configuration reflects some compromises. The location of a window frame near one wall junction precluded snug-fitting Soffits or TriTraps into that corner, besides which the stated desire for a future wall-to-wall cabinet array ruled out floor-to-ceiling corner treatment. Hence the wall-hung 12"x48" Monster straddling the corners at 45 degrees. (Installation note if you're contemplating the same solution: I found that positioning hangers [50-pound Ooks Hooks in this case] at 7.25" from the corner facilitated attachment of the Monsters per GIK's suggested wire-loop method for hanging straddling panels.)

My ideal configuration would have incorporated two Q7D diffusors. But esthetic considerations proved a stumbling block, and domestic tranquility is a priority here. So I proposed a pair of scatter-plated 244's as an alternative, stressing that they would maintain visual continuity if covered in the same Guilford of Maine Belgrade Dover Grey fabric used on all the other room 244s and Soffits. Bingo! And she helped me hang all the new panels.

The rear wall is 13 feet behind my listening position, so I was interested in what, if anything, of note I could expect to hear with the rear wall now fully configured. My professed non-audiophile wife typically sits well off the ideal listening axis on the other sofa in our L-shaped sectional setup, so I expected her reaction to be minimal at best.

I was wrong on the latter point. Within seconds of cueing up the first record, I heard "the voices are more distinct, and so is the rest." My wife. That reaction proved consistent for both of us for the rest of what turned into an extended listening session, whether the performers were Pavarotti and Freni ("Madama Butterfly"), Cocker and Warnes ("Up Where We Belong"), Getz and Byrd ("Jazz Samba"), Bernstein and the NYP ("Symphonic Dances from 'West Side Story'"), Joao and Astrud ("Getz and Gilberto"), Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic ("Captain Blood"), Brubeck and Desmond ("Time Out"), the Sofia Opera Chorus ("Prince Igor"), and...well, you get the idea.

The perceived improvements are pronounced, not subtle, in all these areas: Instrumental and vocal articulation bottom to top, foundational solidity, image focus, soundstage breadth and depth, venue ambience (where it's in the recording), attack and decay, microdynamics, and the "float-free-of-the-speaker-and-room-boundaries" sensation. Whatever compromises I felt necessary to get this done don't strike me as such, given the outcome. It's clear to me that comprehensive treatment of the wall behind me, even at 13 feet away, is essential to squeeze as much as possible out of my audio investment in this very-lived-in-space.

Am I happy? You bet...not least because my wife thinks it's all worth it, too.
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Bedroom: Aurender N150, TEAC UD-505 (AKM version), EMIA Cu Elmaformer passive line stage, conrad-johnson MF2500, Paradigm Studio 20 v5. Shunyata Delta D6, Altaira CG hub. Shunyata Alpha XC, Delta NR v2, Alpha USB, Alpha and Venom CGC/SGC. Wireworld Eclipse 8 interconnect & speaker cables. Stillpoints footers, Butcher Block Acoustics maple platforms. Stillpoints and GIK acoustic panels.

Home Office:Windows 11 PC/JRiver 31, TEAC UD-501, Luminous Audio Technology Axiom II Walker Mod passive, conrad-johnson Sonographe SA-250, Paradigm SE-1. Shunyata Hydra (Original Version), Venom 10 NR. Wireworld Eclipse 7 interconnects. Blue Jeans speaker cable.

Living-Dining Room: Windows 11 Laptop/JRiver 29, Oppo BD-83, TEAC UD-501 DAC, SOTA Sapphire TT, Graham Slee Era Gold V, Ortofon 2M Black, McIntosh MR-77, c-j Sonographe SC-25, c-j MF2500, Paradigm SE-3. Wireworld 8 IC, Blue Jeans SC. Shunyata Hydra 8 v.2, Shunyata Delta NR, Venom NR. GIK 244 bass & scatter-plate panels.
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Old 05-27-2015, 12:53 AM
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Outstanding job! You did a great job of integrating serious acoustic treatment into a common use area, which is a daunting task. Bravo!!
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Old 05-27-2015, 10:07 AM
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Thanks, Randy. The real credit belongs to Bryan Pape, who, after reviewing the room photos and diagram I e-mailed to GIK, laid out the basic template during an extended phone conversation. While I had to modify the specific product selection mix to accommodate real-world considerations here, his advice was spot-on.

Not a little credit is also due my wife, whose willingness to forego what you might call a traditional living-dining-room esthetic made the project possible (leaving the final say on covering-fabric color and weave to her didn't hurt). As an example, I'd originally intended the floor-standing first-reflection-point 244s to be moved in and out of the room as the listening/non-listening situation dictated. But once they were in place and she heard what their presence effected, she said, "Leave them there, they look okay."

The scatter plates "work", teasing out previously masked midrange and upper-end detail and "air" and, in doing so, impart a greater sense of dimensionality, depth, openness, and intra-soundstage space even though they're all the way across the room from the speaker plane. Turns out that my ancient (don't ask) ears are in better shape than I thought, and the Living Stereo Mancini "Peter Gunn" sounds even more spookily present in the room than before.

Happy camper here.
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Jim


Bedroom: Aurender N150, TEAC UD-505 (AKM version), EMIA Cu Elmaformer passive line stage, conrad-johnson MF2500, Paradigm Studio 20 v5. Shunyata Delta D6, Altaira CG hub. Shunyata Alpha XC, Delta NR v2, Alpha USB, Alpha and Venom CGC/SGC. Wireworld Eclipse 8 interconnect & speaker cables. Stillpoints footers, Butcher Block Acoustics maple platforms. Stillpoints and GIK acoustic panels.

Home Office:Windows 11 PC/JRiver 31, TEAC UD-501, Luminous Audio Technology Axiom II Walker Mod passive, conrad-johnson Sonographe SA-250, Paradigm SE-1. Shunyata Hydra (Original Version), Venom 10 NR. Wireworld Eclipse 7 interconnects. Blue Jeans speaker cable.

Living-Dining Room: Windows 11 Laptop/JRiver 29, Oppo BD-83, TEAC UD-501 DAC, SOTA Sapphire TT, Graham Slee Era Gold V, Ortofon 2M Black, McIntosh MR-77, c-j Sonographe SC-25, c-j MF2500, Paradigm SE-3. Wireworld 8 IC, Blue Jeans SC. Shunyata Hydra 8 v.2, Shunyata Delta NR, Venom NR. GIK 244 bass & scatter-plate panels.
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