Attack Wall Redux

[Face]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

It works quite effectively in treating the first floor reflection. Won't my wife be surprised when she comes home this evening and discovers that I went shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond this afternoon.

[jdandy]

Jim........One of these, trimmed to fit of course, wrapped around the front of each speaker will offer improved dynamics and will accent your new blue rugs beautifully. There's just something about $6.00 K-Mart style bathroom rugs that scream high end.

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jim........One of these, trimmed to fit of course, wrapped around the front of each speaker will offer improved dynamics and will accent your new blue rugs beautifully. There's just something about $6.00 K-Mart style bathroom rugs that scream high end.

Dan, don't you think the speakers would consider that piling on?

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

Dan, don't you think the speakers would consider that piling on?

Jim.......You're probably right. Something like this might be a much nicer alternative.

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jim.......You're probably right. Something like this might be a much nicer alternative.

Yeah, Dan, that would reorient the listening room look, all right. Very favorably, I have to admit.

Esthetics aside, the two 17"x24" floor-mounted bath mats, in combination with a slight adjustment today to the first-reflection Studio Trap locations, have expanded the sense of you-are-there presence on a variety of jazz, classical, and film score recordings. The most noticeable characteristics are the openness and spaciousness imparted to different recording locations. Each venue retains its distinctive sonic identity, but within each, instruments and voices "breathe" more naturally, inducing the listener to step into the soundstage.

What really caught me off guard was a mono recording, based on a 1957 master, of the Louisville Orchestra performing a Walter Piston work on an AAD CD. There was no exaggerated left-to-right spread (nor any out-of-phase diffuseness), but within the solidly centered image the instruments were distinct entities that "breathed" with the same authenticity experienced with the stereo recordings.

As suggested above, the bath mats weren't the sole instigators of the improvement I'm hearing. Playing today with the Studio Trap locations as I listened, I finally settled on positions about 3" aft of where I'd placed them initially a couple of days ago. There's now better focus and a slight expansion of the lateral soundstage as well as noticeably better delineation front-to-rear of whatever's in the airier soundstage.

A nice day's work.

Jim

[jdandy]

Jim.......Little by little it sounds like you are massaging the presentation into shape.

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jim.......Little by little it sounds like you are massaging the presentation into shape.

Yes, Dan, it does...and I like the shape.

[jimtranr]

As the diagram indicates, I added a Studio Trap on the room's left side midway between the first-reflection Studio and the 11" Tube Trap array that "shadows" the piano. Both Studios front a waist-high book-stuffed bookcase. After listening to that configuation, it was clear that while books are better than nothing for the application, they offer at best only marginal reflection control compared to the use of devices specifically intended for acoustic treatment. I was actually surprised by the magnitude of improvement in presentation articulation with the traps in place.

My wife's now afraid that I'll want to move the right side wall sofa out so I can add another Studio Trap there. Won't happen...but I have to admit in the wake of what I hear on the left side it's very tempting.

Jim

[chessman]

Cool! You using ears or instruments to decide changes?

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by chessman

Cool! You using ears or instruments to decide changes?

Ears, Randy. After listening for a while to the initial mirror-derived first-reflection trap placement I started moving that Studio back in one-inch increments. Soundstage breadth and balance finally "locked in" with it moved back three inches from its initial position.

I did the same with the second left-side Studio, with my ears finally determining that the porridge was just right at its current midway position.

Jim