Quote:

...both Ian Colquhoun and I would admit to a bias towards not treating rooms, other than our standard line of "a typical domestic mix of carpet or rugs, upholstered furniture, some window coverings, and shelving or bookcases and the like to break up excessive reflections"...both of us have experienced so-called professionally "treated" rooms that were overly dead and absorbent and quite unpleasant as listening spaces....


Just saw this thread and wanted to underscore this.

I have a fairly large dedicated 20 ft x 16 ft listening room, with M60/VP150/QS8 and a Hsu VTF-3 sub.

The equipment was first installed when the room was unfurnished, no carpet, bare walls, a bunch of cardboard packing boxes randomly placed in the rear. The room was "echoey", but stereo imaging was superb -- crystal clear.

We installed carpet, and for interior decor reasons, the side walls were treated with 1" fiberglass panels overlayed with acoustically transparent cloth. Also added a few panels to the rear wall.

From a conversation standpoint, the room feels much better -- less like an auditorium. It's more "hushed" and intimate feeling. However the stereo imaging isn't nearly as clean as the unfurnished room.

Room acoustics is a tricky area. Just adding a bunch of treatment doesn't guarantee improvement and may even worsen the situation.