Some of you might remember that in my new house the HT is going up in a "loft" running about 1/2 the length of the house. The floor of the loft is roughly 23' wide and 25' long, made up of 2x6 T&G pine over timber framing. The side walls angle in at 45 degrees so the peak of the ceiling is about 11-1/2 feet up. I gave the acoustics a "quick think" and (wrongly) concluded that modes wouldn't be a problem.

For some reason I was thinking that the distance from floor to angled wall to the other angled wall back to the floor would be different depending on where you measured, ie I would not have to deal with modes because there was no "constant distance between the walls".

Hey, guess what. I screwed up... whether I measure at the bottom of the wall, the middle of the wall or the top of the wall that path is the same distance, roughly 23 feet. From a room mode point of view, I think the effect will be the same as having a room 23 feet wide and 23 feet high. Dang !!

So, my wonderful "no modes" room just turned into something like 23x23x39 feet. Could be worse, I guess.

I think I'm out of my depth here, thinking about going to one of the good acoustics consultants for advice. Has anyone here dealt with Rives or someone similar ? Rives seems to have designed some very cool rooms for quite a reasonable price...



http://www.rivesaudio.com/examples/mrd/finish.html

John:
I don't know that I have much help to offer, but I figure if nothing else, I'll bump the thread for those who may have missed it.

Have you considered building and installing your own panels on the ceiling? I would think...(I'm no expert) that some 1x2 framed acoustic fiberglass panels on the "ceiling angles" for the reflections of the highs would be easy. If bass is a problem (and it's not just falling out of the loft(!), it should be real easy to install a bass trap at the peak by "squaring off" the peak....if that makes sense...(?)

D'oh !!

The top is a 90 degree corner. I forgot about that.

I guess I can also load the wall/ceilings up with bass traps (which can also act as absorbent panels) if I have a boom problem...

Thanks !!