Before I got my new 7.1 receiver and added the QS8s to my room, I had some simple studio foam panels at the first reflection points on my side and rear walls (there are windows directly behind my left and right mains, which have miniblinds on them now, but I'm going to get heavy honeycomb blinds soon). Since I was moving my surround speakers around, and got a receiver with "room correction", I took the foam down, and haven't put it back up yet.
The open windows in the summer months were a bigger detractor to the sound of the room than the room itself. But now that things are cooling down, and I've had the windows closed a few nights, I'm noticing the walls a lot more. Rather than just put the old 2'x4' panels back up, I'm thinking about doing something more advanced. I'd like to attempt to control the bass, and add a little diffusion rather than straight absorption.
My room is a little strange, it's 20'x15'x9', but the corners are cut off to make it more of an elongated octagon, rather than a rectangle. That may help a little with room modes, but it hurts in trying to install bass traps which are designed for square corners.
Looking around for cost effective, yet stylish treatment options I stumbled upon
Auralex pArtScience Audio|Tile. Their layout flexibility, and over all design appeal to my aesthetics, and their price appeals to my wallet.
If you have a look at the installation image at the top of that page, Joel Osteen's performance studio; I'm thinking about doing something like that, but upside down (the more solid concentration at the ceiling, with only a scattering once I reach the baseboard). I could do a solid border around the entire top of the wall where it meets the ceiling, maybe even putting a 3" spacer behind the top edge to trap more bass. Without being able to take full advantage of the three-surface corners of a cube room, I figure I could still get nearly that level of bass taming by using the full, two-surface wall-to-ceiling area. The gradually thinning placement will allow the naturally reflective walls to keep the room alive, yet with no large expanses, and the sloping surface of the foam will cause the sound to diffuse rather than slap straight back.
As I get closer to the time of purchase I'll get the free room evaluation from Aurelex, and ask them what they think of my idea. But for now I'm asking you guys.
