Thanks guys! Suggesting I could make a living at this is high praise. It's been a dream of mine for some time. Maybe someday.
Mojo, no refunds!
Fred, one of the reasons I've tried to resist descriptive sound explanations and instead providing data is it seems, online anyway, that results in photo or data form are more credible. It is very easy to fall into a trap of emotional gushing over system performance, and looking over some of my posts from the olden days, it reads that way too.
. I agree, and can attest, whatever is measured isn't always better or heard.
What I can say is I've been an avid online AV hobbyist for almost ten years now. The real jump for me getting serious was buying books and reading white papers starting just over a year ago. I base decisions on math ratios and try to predict outcomes without too much experimenting. The online learning experience prior was fun, but the last year counts for 90% of what I practice now. So saying that, lets get descriptive!
I use the HT system for both movies and music listening. I also own a seperate 2ch system in a semi-dedicated room on the main floor. I will compare the two systems in general terms to give you some idea.
The basement room has an overall RT60 time of 0.34 seconds or so, most of it at 0.3seconds after 125hz or so. The 2ch room has an overall RT60 of 0.4-0.45 seconds. Both systems measure relatively flat, with even decay times vs frequency, and have no obvious coloration or problems as far as measurements would indicate. But they sound completely different.
The 2ch system does not have treated sidewalls, but does have front and rear wall treatments to calm flutter echo in the space. It sounds spacious and very live. The singer phantom is eerily realistic and the soundstage is wide and well defined. Treatment in this room was to eliminate echo, not really focusing on reducing RT60 times.
The basement HT setup is fairly heavily treated. It has the panels just installed, bass traps and poly diffusers. I will count the screen wall and area behind as a membrane absorber, as it definitely has an impact on bass response. I'm pretty sure it was doubling up the screen with a speaker cloth backer aided this. The basement sounds less lively and spacious when compared to the 2ch system. It doesn't have an eerie realistic singer quality either. But what it does do better is pinpoint imaging, clarity, and low level resolution. It is also far more dynamic sounding, partly due to the subwoofers.
The benefits of the panels in the HT are 2 fold. They act as lateral early reflection reducers, improving clarity, and they reduce RT60 times, reducing "room sound" and increasing perceived dynamics. Reducing decay times also benefits our perception of low level sounds within a song/soundtrack.
To see what I mean, go into an echoey room like a bathroom (long/uneven RT60 > 0.8s). Hold both hands out at armslength in front of you. Snap your fingers on one and rub your other fingers together. Then stop snapping and listen to the low level rub. With a well treated room you can hear low level sounds like this clearly, even when loud sounds are in and out of the mix like this test. Its incredible what detail we can hear when our brain is not forced to reconcile the tail of one sound with the onset of another. Its waiting in the mix.
I guess to sum it up they are very different sounding systems, but measure with similar trends. Which one do I prefer for music? The basement by a long shot. For movies it's a given.
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