Setting-up Sound Foam Tiles

[Evilot]

I have seen these foam tiles that are hung on walls and in corners to reduce echoing and even out the sound in a room. How exactly does one go about setting them up. Are there specific spots that they should be hung?

I have searched this on the inter-web and was unable to find anything besides online stores selling them.

- Evilot

 

[Ocellaris]

Normally you focus on corners because that is where standing/reflecting sound waves cause the most issue, then you would disperse some on large flat wall areas to reduce echo. The optimal application is just to cover the entire room in the tiles, which creates a "dead" sound zone, and you only get sound from the source (speakers, instruments, vocals...).

The end result may not be what you want anyway, fully covered rooms feel weird to the senses, and normal things like having a conversation are different and less natural. Also sometimes you actually want a room to color the sound a bit, which is where you get some people doing checkerboards and other interesting tiling strategies from.

 

[Evilot]

Thank you very much. That answers all of my questions.

 

[trust_no1]

http://bryston.ca/newsletters/34_files/vol3is4.html

You can always parse through those newsletters, there may be more, but that was an interesting article on the topic.

 

[BillR]

http://bryston.ca/newsletters/34_files/vol3is4.html

You can always parse through those newsletters, there may be more, but that was an interesting article on the topic.

I like Bryston too, good sound stuff.

While the mirror method certainly is workable an easier solution is pick up a disk with various tones recorded on it, say from 40 htz to 18 khtz and play each tone while you place your back against the wall of the room and slowly step sideways a few inches at a time and allow your ears to map out the hot and dead spots.

Standing waves can be a real bear to eliminate and expect to take some time to do it right.

Another issue is your furniture. If you are at all answerable to a wifemate and she chooses to move a sofa or chair or worse, all of it you will need to do it again.

Also read a few articles on front speaker placement as that is even more critical to imaging, then worry about standing waves.

The last and of course most expensive option but by far the coolest is real time room adjustment. One Mic hung from the ceiling plugs into, you guessed it, a black box. You turn on your sound and flip the switch and bingo, no standing waves.

If you look at the last two or so years of the Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer elite lines of receivers they will actually do 90% of the work for you before you play your first video or song.

Luck and enjoy which ever way you go

 

[Tremulant]

Tuning a room is fairly complex, thats why studios spend so much money doing it right. I spent an ungodly amount of hours researching before I tuned my room. There are some simple things you can do though to greatly improve your room. First off, there are two different ways of treating a room, absorption and diffusion. Absorption will stop frequencies from bouncing around the room and ultimately back to the listener, smearing the sound. Diffusion works by doing just that, breaking up the sound so it doesn't reflect directly back to the listener. Believe me, this is a very simple explanation. Absorption(what studio foam is for) is the most common of the two. A combination of the two is usually what is used in studios or serious listening rooms, absorption kills frequencies while diffusion can actually make a space sound larger.

Yes, you don't wan't to just cover your walls with studio foam, reflections give a more natural sound. Furniture, bookshelves etc are a great way of treating some of the issues of reflection. Different frequencies can demand different solutions, I could go on for days about the different techniques used and help drain your wallet, and I'm still a noob at it. I'm going to stop here, because its just too much to detail. Treating first reflection points in your room is the first step in greatly improving your sound. Here is a link to an article that explains a little bit, but is great for figuring out where to place your soundproofing material http://www.realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm A great inexpensive start into absorption is this http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Auralex-Studiofoam-Designer-Kit?sku=422602 you can't beat the price, thats will be enough for most of our rooms. I use that plus a few bass traps for my little room. A little research goes a long way. Good luck.