Putting Foam In A Room

VR3 · August 2005

Yeah...

I am curious if putting some foam pads in my room in odd locations (rear corners) would help my room acoustics a bit.

I speak of the Sonic Barrier Foam from Parts Express (15 a sheet)...

Would put some in each rear corner - as I get alot of "bouncing" in those corners...

Wadda ya think?

Edit: Probally would benefit from putting them in each corner of the room... and probally directly beside my speakers...

Shizelbs · August 2005

Hey, if nothing else, its a cheap experiment thats easy to reverse if you don't like the results.

Just do it.

audiobliss · August 2005

And tell us the results so we don't hafta waste our money if it doesn't work.

HBombToo · August 2005

The foam only works when dipped in Armour All

VR3 · August 2005

It actually isnt that irreversable - but atleast the Sonic Barrier stuff matches my room and would look cool on the wall

...

I'm thinking about pads in each corner... and one beside the window, and one beside it - behind each main, slightly above the rear tweeter...

Hmm, this could be costly... over $100 easy...

Will report back if I do it...

Anybody with some wisdom - chime in please!

Henry, I'll give that some thought...

VR3 · August 2005

Ah ha! I found a ticket!

I placed a foam pad (tacked) right behind the speaker... in the corner...

Woo, VERY nice difference...

Heres where I got it placed... dont mind the white behind the foam - thats the paper keeping the adhesive sticky...buahahha

Shizelbs · August 2005

What was said difference?

VR3 · August 2005

It was alot clearer... refined on the right side.

Didn't seem to effect soundstaging to much, seemed to not sound as tall, but it dosn't seem as jumbled in certain passages. Down side to having a bipolar speaker in a SMALL room I guess...

But there was definite improvement in the higher end, particularly with the clarity and placement of the cymbals... everything else seems about the same, just seems more "refined" in the center staging, clearer...

Need more foam pads...

Looks like I would spend 120-150 on foam pads...

VR3 · August 2005

Here is what I plan to try to do....

I attached a pic of my room currently (all shiney!

) -

Anyways, the two pads on the side would be where they would be on the spot where the front and rear tweeter would hit the side wall.... (so they may be spaced apart)

I also attached some foam pads under the shelves just recently to get rid of any reflection they might be causing....

tryrrthg · August 2005

Sid, you're a DIY guy, if you want to take it a step further, check out this site:

http://home.comcast.net/~audio-worx/page2DIYpanels.html

I have a few of those in the works...

VR3 · August 2005

I don't want to complicate it to much or involve nails, etc in the picture...

These things can be removed from the wall in the future and all that fairly easily.

Not to mention I won't be in this room much longer... possibly something like that in my own house, etc...

Thanks for the link!

tryrrthg · August 2005

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

I don't want to complicate it to much or involve nails, etc in the picture...

These things can be removed from the wall in the future and all that fairly easily.

Not to mention I won't be in this room much longer... possibly something like that in my own house, etc...

Thanks for the link!

Got ya, but you could make them sit on the floor, that's my plan, technically you don't want them flush on the wall, they should be an inch or two off the wall or make a triangle with them in the corner. The further from the wall they are the more bass they absorb.

Mine will look something like the pic below, but the actual panel will just go to the floor and have a base on it, that way you can move them around the room for fine tuning...

VR3 · August 2005

That would be AWESOME in a larger room...

If I put one of those in my room...just one... it would be so crowded... lol

*sigh* 10.5x10.5x8 just dosnt seem as big as it use to (when I was 5)

tryrrthg · August 2005

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

That would be AWESOME in a larger room...

If I put one of those in my room...just one... it would be so crowded... lol

*sigh* 10.5x10.5x8 just dosnt seem as big as it use to (when I was 5)

My room is about 11' by 10.5', but it's JUST a stereo room, so it's not quite as crowded as yours.

Right now I have two of this guys panels. They do a good job at the first reflection, but I need more. His panels would work well for you because they are very light and could easily be hung on the wall with practically nothing. or you could just lean them up on the wall like I do.

McLoki · August 2005

Since it sounds like you mainly want to absorb more of sound coming off your rear tweeter, have you thought about just disconnecting the rear tweeter and trying it that way? I would be interested to hear what you thought of the change. (just to see if the rear facing drivers actually help or hurt the image)

Michael

VR3 · August 2005

Eh, the whole speaker is designed around the front and rear drivers, the spacing - it all works together. I like the sound as is, but there is always ways to improve on things ya know? But alot of people put stuff behind their bipolar mains to help dampen things...

The fact my room is so small, its hard to get these things to sound right

NEED BIGGER ROOM!

I plan to give it a try... I won't be disconnecting anything

I've owned these speakers for a year for a reason... I enjoy the sound

- but my room has always been a problem... always, its a long over-due issue needing work...

Try,
Thanks for all the suggestions, but it looks like its a bit much more the project I want to try to do at hand - but it looks like something I definetely would want to do in a more permanent room... because those look like something you build around the room...

Thanks for the links, definietely something for me to fall back on later...

VR3 · August 2005

You folks with direct radiating speakers shouldnt abandon the back wall either, as you folks get reflections back there too ya know

*All Pictures are from COF at S&V*

madmax · August 2005

To start with get rid of the bed. For the sake of audio you can sleep on the floor.
madmax

PolknPepsi · August 2005

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

Yeah...

I am curious if putting some foam pads in my room in odd locations (rear corners) would help my room acoustics a bit.Wadda ya think?

Great Idea!

One of my rooms has heavy curtains all around with 12"x12" accoustical tile and fabric furniture. The other room has lots of glass, drywall and leather furniture. The same speakers in each of these rooms sound very different.

Experimenting like what you are talking about is a great idea and I bet you will hear a difference. Small tweaking like that and speaker placement makes a difference to me and is fun to do.

VR3 · August 2005

My bed....is basically a couch...

What on earth do you sit on? Dont say a recliner because that would take up more room than my couch...

Airplay355 · August 2005

I like my rear reflections, and my side reflections. Great for trance

unc2701 · August 2005

If you like the sound you get when you put foam behind Def Tech bipoles, it should be telling you that you need to get different speakers...

Anyhow, a cheap way to experiment w/ sound absorbing placing is with dirty laundry... ok, it doesn't have to be dirty. Take a bunch of T-shirts, roll 'em up and rubber band them together. Ugly, but effective. Once you figure out what you need & where you can invest in the foam.

VR3 · August 2005

Just because I like having foam directly behind my bipolar speakers does not mean I need new speakers. It just means I am getting rid of a reflection that in a larger room would benefit me alot...

See, the main frequency band from the speaker (to what I understand on how this stuff travels) would shoot right back to where I have that foam pad... hit the wall beside of where the foam pad is at, and go directly back at the speaker...(or close to it, etc)...

In a larger room, it would go behind the speaker... then go to the closest side wall (which is hopefully, more than 1 foot away)...and then travel back into the listening area... :cool:

It dosn't sound "bad" by any means, the difference is a subtle one - mostly in the center stage... you would probally* find quite a bit of improvement of putting a foam pad behind your speakers as well. Just because your room sucks dosn't mean you need new speakers. And just because I put one foam pad behind a bipolar speaker dosn't mean I am completely getting of all that it is doing back there... there is like a bazillion other reflection points...

Anyways...

The shirt thing is a good idea, may definitely give that a shot... hmmm *need to find shirts*...

unc2701 · August 2005

True, but you're talking about taming down one of the primary benefits of the bipolar speakers. Try putting dampening completely over that rear-firing speaker & see if you like the sound even more... If so, you've got the wrong speakers for the room. Or it could be like you said- you've just got a little too much reflection on the bipolars, but still hear some benfit over killing them entirely.

As for the "dirty laundry" trick, I stumbled on it when i was stuck in dorm room hell. I had a bunch of laundry stuffed up on this open shelf in my room and it made this really cool dead spot... Totally useless for practical purposes, but when you got drunk and wandered around the room, you'd think you'd gone deaf in one ear. I tried it out again when I bought my house and sure enough it worked. Unfortunately, the WAF on it is super low (same thing for foam, but at least you can put a wall hanging over the foam).

VR3 · August 2005

Well I really like my speakers, especially considering I can even get them to sound the way I do in MY room... LOL...

My room is 100% square, classic American style home, cheaply built... blah blah...

Not to mention my speakers are just way to big for my room. As we have found in this thread... The bipolar sound is very fun, with tons of "traits" that I really like over direct radiating. If dampening the primary frequency band of the rear speakers is the way to go, thats the way to go... I already have a huge, wide soundstage as is...especially for my small room...

I just can't wait till I get a larger room where I wont have to dampen them... just to see what I can get...

The den would be a nice place to test this, but it is actually to -large- for my speakers. lol, I need the next model up to test that... (I actually put them in the den and couldnt even manage 85db continuous in music... where as I am usually up in the 95db continuous range...

The DTs arnt leaving!

Thanks for sharing that, Will definetely have to give it a go someday when my Mom isnt home and wont be home for several hours... because if she sees me hanging clothes on my wall... I am going straight to therapy...

Pablo · August 2005

I covered my entire wall behind my entertainment center with carpet and I was amazed what an improvement in sound that made. I was originally going to just paint it black (helps with watching tv), but ran into an 86' roll of black carpet (thin stuff) for 86 bucks (still have 65' of it). I was going to do the foam stuff as well, but with this I am more than happy with the new sound (I also made fabric covered panels coming down the stairs that help a bunch, and still may do a little deading thing on the back wall).

Anyway, you can always just hang some stuff on of the walls. Get some tapestries or maybe a nice looking blanket and hang those from some walls. This way it looks more like "design" then anything else (And pretty much anything would be better than a square room with flat walls. That must really get echoy at high volumes).

VR3 · August 2005

Actually...

My room gets so "eaten" by my stereo, there isnt a chance for an "echo" of any kind...

It just literally eats it alive.

I kind of like the look of foam on the wall...haha, once I get more than one piece, it might look a lil more...umm.. well yeah

Covers, blankets would be a good idea as well...hmmm... I could hang some on the back walls!!!

Keep the ideas comin!

ward91 · September 2005

will hanging a rug on the wall do (a nice rug i mean a fluffy one)

Pablo · September 2005

I have carpets on the walls in both my entertainment room and my "band" room (where I play guitar). I find it made a world of difference in both rooms. A fluffy carpet should do just as well (But keep in mind you don't want to kill the whole room. Some reflect is a good thing depending on speaker type & placement).

PolknPepsi · September 2005

One of these days I will get a digital camera and learn how to do pictures but for now text only.

Anyway.....I hung a 7' carpet runner from Home Depot on the wall behind the stereo and tv and it tamed the brightness/hollowness sound and it looks pretty darn good too. I'd guess anything to absorb excess sound would be a good thing.
Like Pablo said it may be possible to "overdo" it with too much stuff.

zgw8 · September 2005

Looks like a nice setup but when are you gonna upgrade that POS TV

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

Here is what I plan to try to do....

I attached a pic of my room currently (all shiney! ) -

Anyways, the two pads on the side would be where they would be on the spot where the front and rear tweeter would hit the side wall.... (so they may be spaced apart)

I also attached some foam pads under the shelves just recently to get rid of any reflection they might be causing....

Putting Foam In A Room

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