DIY room treatment that won't make my wife throw me out of the house?

[fjhuerta]

Hi all!

A month ago or so, my mother in law gave us a pretty nice gift - new sofas for our living room. They are very nice, and I'm very thankful for them (you can see where this is going...)

Unfortunately, from an audio perspective, they are all all-leather / leatherette. My old sofas were made of cloth, and were very, very thick and padded.

The difference in sound is huge. In fact, my living room sounds as if it didn't have any furniture in it. It has huge echoes and reflections. Combining leather sofas with wooden walls / floors is a pretty bad idea.

I know I need some acoustical treatments now (I needed them before, but now they are obligatory), but I don't know what to do without causing a divorce... any ideas?

Thanks!

[JonMarsh]

Use the search- this has been talked about before- and consider artwork perhaps on the cloth outer surface to make more esthetically pleasing? Of course, while some folks would tolerate rectangular off white panels a few inches thick hung on the walls in critical locations, you wife may not. What are her limits/requirements?

This article will give you some ideas about what does work and wouldn't be hard to DIY using the techniques ThomasW and I have employed in the past.

RealTraps Room Treatements Stereophile



Sidewall treatments are positioned to be where early direct reflections will occur from the source- if you put a mirror on the side wall, and you can see the speaker in it, that's where it needs to be.

There is also the concept of LEDE to consider, as with studios - Live End Dead End, which translated basically is that you want to kill early high level reflections near the speakers and keep the acoustics more "lively" at the listener end of the room. That may be a little more advanced than you want to get into, except you should be familiar with the concepts- if you put all your damping in the listening end of the room, you won't be happy with the results.

[Jonasz]

Best treatment for bad (lively) rooms are fullrange (or at least up to 1khz) dipole speakers. I guess your mother in law just gave you a reason to build another pair of speakers! :B

[Face]

http://www.gikacoustics.com/gik_artpanel.html

You could place thick blankets over the top cushions to "keep them looking new".

[jliedeka]

If the problems are higher frequencies, maybe you could hang small tapestries at early reflection points. If it's more bass, that can be a challenge. I've seen bass traps built into end tables. One or two of those alone probably wouldn't do a lot. The idea is good, though, make the bass traps work with the decor. You make cylindrical bass traps that look like columns, etc. It all depends on the room and the decor.

Jim

[jbateman]

When you're sitting on a leather chair, there's a lot of reflective surface right near your ears. Putting something absorbent (absorptive?) near where your head is will help a lot. Like crocheted afghans or thick blankets over the top of the sofa backs.

[Paul W]

Ahh leather furniture...unfortunately, I've been there done that. Here are a few things that can help.

*Very large throw pillows on the sofas and floors.
*Throw a thick blanket or quilt over the back of the sofa when listening.
*Sneek "your" chair into the sweet spot so that you don't have leather close to your head.
*If you have drywall over studs, make deep absorbers by cutting away the drywall and using the space between studs.
*Use diffusers on the wall areas behind, and directly to the sides of your head.

[Saurav]

Piggybacking onto Javier's thread - any advice for a listening from a couch that's right up against the back wall? The bass is more or less EQ'd for a single position, but I've always wondered if putting reflective panels on the back wall right above my head would help. Or a thick rug hung off the wall.

[Face]

This thread couldn't come at a better time.

About a year ago, I installed 2 GIK mega bass traps and 6 GIK 244's in my 2 channel listening room. Since my large leather couch is up against the back wall, I tried two of the 244's behind my head. I did not like the sound at all, it was as most of the highs were sucked out and imaging barely improved.

Just recently, I installed a large pair of diffusers behind the listening position. Imaging improved and it corrected most of my room balance issues. The only issue(besides appearance ), the highs are a little subdued for me. It's not as bad as when I installed the bass traps behind my head though. Don't get me wrong, I like warm to neutral sounding setups(been a Tannoy nut for years), but it's a little too laid back. I removed a little padding from my tweeter and it helped, but I'd rather not adjust it anymore and throw my speaker's FR out of whack. Maybe it's time to start swapping in some different gear. :evil:

[fjhuerta]

Thanks. I'll need all the help I can get. No, my wife hated the idea of acoustic treatments when she saw the pics - she told me I could do it for our home theater, but not the living room. I understand...

The thing is - it's not as if sitting down on the sofas is the problem. The whole room sounds empty now. From every single point. Consider that my home has brick / concrete walls, a large hardwood wall, hardwood floors, and stone floors. There isn't any single carpet around. I don't have anything that remotely resembles anything soft around. The old sofas were the thing that kept the room from sounding like a huge echo chamber, I suppose.

What to do.. what to do.

[cjd]

Move the speakers into the bedroom...

[Ryan_M]

Move the speakers into the bedroom...

Add this, and a slot for quarters.

[Biff]

KIdders idea

I saw years back and started with that - ductboard wrapped in batting on the fiberglass side, then quilts pinned over that (wife loves quilts), sarongs, tapestries, whatever you like to fit her decor. I have some panels on the staircase ascending one side of the listening room and it's almost as if it pulls your head towards the wall passing by - sort of a low pressure are, sonically. My ears and her eyes are both happy.

[wettou]

Ahh leather furniture...unfortunately, I've been there done that. Here are a few things that can help.

*Very large throw pillows on the sofas and floors.
*Throw a thick blanket or quilt over the back of the sofa when listening.
*Sneek "your" chair into the sweet spot so that you don't have leather close to your head.
*If you have drywall over studs, make deep absorbers by cutting away the drywall and using the space between studs.
*Use diffusers on the wall areas behind, and directly to the sides of your head.

Very nice room you did!! I am extremely impressed!

[Curt C]

I'd suggest you build your wife some 'art' to hang on the walls. Pick up some Owens Corning 703 or similar, which comes in 2'x4' sections. Oak 1"x2"’s work well for the frames. –And most importantly: Schedule a trip to the fabric store with SWMBO to choose the 'art' you will cover the 703 with. Any open weave fabric that she likes will be fine. Tapestries and such also work, but these panels will work better and require less wall space to implement. Cheap, classy looking, and effective…

C

[wettou]

Hi all! A month ago or so, my mother in law gave us a pretty nice gift - new sofas for our living room. They are very nice, and I'm very thankful for them (you can see where this is going...)

Unfortunately, from an audio perspective, they are all all-leather / leatherette. My old sofas were made of cloth, and were very, very thick and padded. The difference in sound is huge. In fact, my living room sounds as if it didn't have any furniture in it. It has huge echoes and reflections. Combining leather sofas with wooden walls / floors is a pretty bad idea.

I know I need some acoustical treatments now (I needed them before, but now they are obligatory), but I don't know what to do without causing a divorce... any ideas? Thanks!

Ever tried this http://www.auralex.com/sonicprint/

pricey but will avoid the divorce

[fbov]

Any chance you can treat floor/ceiling? A nice thick area rug on the floor and a combination sonic trap system in the ceiling - I'm thinking the "cloud" set-ups you may have seen in some HT designs. Non-trivial to be sure, but effective.
Frank