Getting to grips with the acoustics of your listening space

[audiomuze]

Anyone have some tips/ web references they can point me to, to aid in understanding room acoustics?  The curiosity in me I can't help but wonder whether I can make significant gains by tweaking the room's acoustic treatments...problem is I've no idea what tools I'd need and how to begin to understand what they tell you.

[GearSlave]

I've ordered the 'Get Better Sound' book and hope to get it soon. I believe that has a lot of info focused around your listening room.

[---------]

audiomuze, I found the numerous articles on this site particularly useful: http://www.audioholics.com/education/acoustics-principles 

[audiomuze]

I've ordered the 'Get Better Sound' book and hope to get it soon. I believe that has a lot of info focused around your listening room.

ditto, waiting for it to arrive, hopefully within a week or so, albeit the tracking doesn't look promising.

[audiomuze]

audiomuze, I found the numerous articles on this site particularly useful: http://www.audioholics.com/education/acoustics-principles 

thx, will take a look.

[audiomuze]

So I've been doing a little reading and by the looks of things my listening space is not that bad compared with the characteristics of a theoretical ideal where room dimensions and the resulting axial modes are concerned.  Top graph is my listening space's axial modes before acoustic treatments, bottom is theoretical ideal... according to Ethan Winer's software.  Explains why bass response in my room needs work (without the IB compensating).

[naughty]

Ethan Weiner is always a good source of info for this subject as you have found out

heres a link to something else that may help a bit as well

http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/ipb/index.php/topic/149437-practical-domestic-room-acoustics/

also see if you can the F. Alston Everest "Master Handbook of Acoustics" and this will explain all the basic principles and everything gets easier to understand .... note you dont need to study the book like a textbook - just have it around as a general guideline and look up stuff as you come across it

[Blues]

there's a nice torrent out there regarding the subject. don't know if it's appropriate to post the link, so rather pm if interested...

[audiomuze]

^^^ thx, but unbelievable as it may seem I don't go near torrents.

[audiomuze]

also see if you can the F. Alston Everest "Master Handbook of Acoustics" and this will explain all the basic principles and everything gets easier to understand .... note you dont need to study the book like a textbook - just have it around as a general guideline and look up stuff as you come across it

I've got this book and another that comes highly recommended as the bibles of acoustics.  Ironically they contradict one another.

[Atjan]

So I've been doing a little reading and by the looks of things my listening space is not that bad compared with the characteristics of a theoretical ideal where room dimensions and the resulting axial modes are concerned.  Top graph is my listening space's axial modes before acoustic treatments, bottom is theoretical ideal... according to Ethan Winer's software.  Explains why bass response in my room needs work (without the IB compensating).

How did you get these?

[audiomuze]

http://www.realtraps.com/modecalc.htm - runs fine under Linux using Wine.

[audiomuze]

The two books I've used as reference n the past are:
Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms; and
Master Handbook of Acoustics

What I'm after now is the knowledge, know-how and equipment necessary to measure and diagnose what is going on in my listening space and to be able to see the impact of further tweaks such as introducing further bass traps, relocating a freestanding basstrap etc.  Sure, one could and should use one's ears to tell you whether things have improved or not, but the right tools should go a long way to enabling you to establish a good baseline rather than flying blind.

[Atjan]

http://www.realtraps.com/modecalc.htm - runs fine under Linux using Wine.

Thanks, I'll give that a bash. I'm running Window and have also foind Wine to help when figuring out new software.

[audiomuze]

you NEED wine to use windoze, but hard tack numbs the pain quicker.