Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Room furnishing Basics?

Hi there, I have had my M60's for about 2 years now and I am just loving them. I was wondering what I could do to my livingroom/theater to improve sound balance. I don't want to get into major construction but just looking for some relatively unobtrusive pointers.

Room: 18'x16'x8' with 50" DLP TV on the long wall. 5.1 Speakers are all placed within Axiom's recommended locations. The room is wood framed sheetrock with oak floors. There is a cloth couch facing the TV about 12 feet back and a cloth loveseat to the left at 90degrees. A small 6'x8' area rug under the coffee table. One set of curtains on a french door on the right wall. The room is pretty sparse. It seems pretty "echoee". Some bass notes sound a bit boomy. I found improvement in moving the mains about 15" away from the back wall and toeing them in about 4 degrees. The sub is just outside the left main. The mains are about 9 feet apart. I have optimized (by ear) by using crossover changes and level changes with the sub controls and the Onkyo settings.

Do I need more fabrics? Should I hang tapestries? Any little tricks of the trade I should know? I am not looking to solve a particular problem. I just want to learn a bit about room acoustics.

Thanks.

Furnishings will help, but if you do the clap test, and hear echoes (as you may have described above) then you may want to refer to this thread:

Sirquacks Bass Traps

It might help, in your situation, may not...but different rooms produce different results. Also, have you calibrated the speakers via an SPL meter, so that all speakers are in 'sync' per se?? Might try that, with an SPL meter, from radio shack, or otherwise.

As far as the sub goes...have you performed the 'sub crawl' yet? Basically, put the sub in the primary listening position, and crawl around the room (walls) to find the spot where the bass sounds the best. This is where the sub should go...and trust me, it works wonders.

Good luck.

I would also say to read this article....

http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

Acoustic panels can be built pretty cheap, compared to manufactured brands, if you have the time. Bass Traps are the most important, which go in front/rear corners and can be straddled across the corners, triangles filling the corners, or rectangular columns. Corners where walls meet the ceiling and floor/walls is also important.

First reflection panels handle mid/highs and help with echoing from hearing the same sound hitting your ears from the walls/ceiling.

Throw rugs, blankets thrown over your recliners, etc... will help, but can't absorb as much bass/mid/highs as treatments.

Ok, some great pointers. I have plenty of sub cable to move the sub over near the couch. I will have to explain to my wife about why I'm crawling around the living room but she will understand... All four of my livingroom corners are pretty much available. I guess I will have to figure out how to make the treatments look unobtrusive. I did see some nice bass traps built on this forum. What exactly should the bass traps accomplish? I will read the articles and search "bass traps" here and google.

Thanks.