As soon as my wife left for the day this morning...

[jimtranr]

I got into trouble, like so:



For reference, my room's 29'6" long x 14'6" wide, pinching in to 12' wide a couple feet behind the long-wall midpoint. The absorptive centers of the Tube and Studio Traps are oriented inward, facing either directly at or perpendicular to a line running from the speaker plane to my listening position approximately 12' away.

What I've set up (at least until just before my wife is expected home this evening--I hope I time disassembly right or I may not get dinner) is obviously well shy of a complete "attack wall" box. It's also a tad inconvenient for source access (except to the FM tuner and to remote control of line stage source selection and volume control). So I haven't auditioned vinyl for my initial listening tests, relying on SACD's, CD's, and FM for my first impressions.

The long and short of it: Wow! (Yes, Michael...again.) When RCA/BMG reissued the 1961 Living Stereo Arthur Fiedler/Earl Wild collaboration on George Gershwin's "Concerto in F" and "I Got Rhythm Variations" as part of a Fiedler Gershwin SACD, there were some complaints that the bass drum strikes on the SACD lacked a bit of the oomph and "rolling" decay present on both the original vinyl release and the subsequent Classic Records reissued LP. Some of that missing punch was "restored" when I followed Michael Adams' recommendation to "clamp" my Paradigm SE-3's between two 9" traps. Today's configuration darned near rolled up the floor on the way to my chest (and that's with twinned 5-1/2" woofers in the SE-3's).

Not just on the Gershwin. There was clearly more foundational substance and definition, creating the illusion of "more and deeper" bass, on other program material, whether it was the string bass accompaniment to Sarah Vaughan or organ in Fritz Reiner's reading of the opening of Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra."

The unmasking of bass is only a small part of the story. Today's experiment improved vocal and instrumental focus and articulation from bottom to top as well as the rendering of soundstage space--not just width or depth but recording venue acoustics--beyond what had already been accomplished with Michael's suggestions. While the visual impact of all that trapping might lead one to expect that the sonic presentation would appear to be confined within the outer boundaries of the trap "wall," that's not the case. More than once I could hear program floating behind and to the left or right of those visual boundaries--whether I had my glasses on or off (sorry, that was prompted by something I read in another thread).

Now I'm going to get back to enjoy it while I can. I have to hustle attack-wall Cinderella out of here in just a couple of hours.

[US Blues]

What a great experiment/sculpture. Low WAF for sure, but it looks like great fun!

[Masterlu]

Very nice, love to see your wifes face when she returns.

[cmalak]

Jim...that is a blast. I know that you will end up hungry doing this but what if you kept it as is until your wife walked in just to see the reaction? Or am I just stirring up the pot to the point where this might lead to eventual divorce? Not sure, but it just seems like your experiment can take that extra step to see what happens when the wifey walks in. Maybe all the absorptive material can drown out her screaming...

I'm just playing Jim. Looks like a lot of fun. Enjoy

[Vintage Pete]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Very nice, love to see your wifes face when she returns.

Me too!





Pete

[JJinID]

That's actually not a bad strategy - once she calms down let her know you are willing go take 50% of them out and/or move them elsewhere in the room and she can help choose where they go!

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Vintage Pete

Me too!





Pete

[jdandy]

Jim.......Let me know when your wife schedules the sale.

[jimtranr]

Ouch!



Well, it won't happen this evening. I put everything back where [she says] it belongs, and the front door hasn't opened yet, so I'm safe 'til the next time. Interesting to see how many of my "friends" here would love to stir the pot...or benefit from "the sale."

Very useful experiment, and the suggestion that I offer to remove 50% of the traps as a negotiating ploy (if you knew my--and our--history, you'd realize you'd said a mouthful) actually has some legs in a way, as I tried a stripped-down version (three 3-foot 11" traps spaced evenly along a line just behind the speaker plane), and it sounds promising. Its attraction is multifaceted in that it's an easy setup and takedown, affords easy access to the source components, and offers a perceptible sonic benefit, particularly in the rendering of spatial cues.

I expect to try some other variations (don't worry--I won't inundate you with pics unless I find a configuration worthy of comment)--and of course only when I'm the only one in the house.

[PHC1]

Intriguing title for this thread.

Yes, I did something similar one day. Fortunately and very surprisingly my wife actually liked it. Of course this is a dedicated theater room in the basement so perhaps she didn't care as much.

But seriously, acoustic treatments simply do what no upgrades of gear in the world can. The quality of sound improves in epic proportions. I kept adding a few panels here and there and noticed how the echo's, ringing and leanness turned to smooth, rich, gorgeous sound with deep, tuneful bass and jaw dropping focus/imaging.

Hopefully you'll get to keep some of the treatments in your room and enjoy the improved sound. Good luck!

Here is my project.