Rear Wall advice for small room, but not what you think

rhyno

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2010
65
24
913
aloha guys
small room here (15'*11'*8'), with Magico S3s set up on long wall. Maybe 8' from front baffle to ear, and frankly i've got a killer stage and excellent measured response (thats what ten 16" ASC tube traps, three 6" thick bass panels and four 4" thick bass panels will do--they clean up the bass). seat is unfortunately < 2' from rear wall. but by and large, i'm very happy with the sound, but i'm an audiophile always looking for better sound...i'm not griping about bass or tone or staging. my issue is with the completely dead nature of the room's rear wall (where six of the aforementioned bass panels are stacked). i'm absorbing everything short of oxygen, and it makes the room a bit too dead behind me--no reverberation or air. removing the panel behind me causes some nasty colorations, so thats not the way to go.

any products i should consider? was thinking of trying diffusion but A) i gather diffusers need more than 2' between product and ear, and B) when i tried RPG skylines there i didn't like them (admittedly a cheap foam product has a coloration, which is what i likely heard).

mahalo
rhyno
 

Nyal Mellor

Industry Expert
Jul 14, 2010
590
4
330
SF Bay Area, CA, USA
aloha guys
small room here (15'*11'*8'), with Magico S3s set up on long wall. Maybe 8' from front baffle to ear, and frankly i've got a killer stage and excellent measured response (thats what ten 16" ASC tube traps, three 6" thick bass panels and four 4" thick bass panels will do--they clean up the bass). seat is unfortunately < 2' from rear wall. but by and large, i'm very happy with the sound, but i'm an audiophile always looking for better sound...i'm not griping about bass or tone or staging. my issue is with the completely dead nature of the room's rear wall (where six of the aforementioned bass panels are stacked). i'm absorbing everything short of oxygen, and it makes the room a bit too dead behind me--no reverberation or air. removing the panel behind me causes some nasty colorations, so thats not the way to go.

any products i should consider? was thinking of trying diffusion but A) i gather diffusers need more than 2' between product and ear, and B) when i tried RPG skylines there i didn't like them (admittedly a cheap foam product has a coloration, which is what i likely heard).

mahalo
rhyno


Keep the acoustic treatment at the reflection points on the rear wall fully absorptive, set up the rest of the traps on the rear wall to reflect higher frequencies. You'll either need to modify them or swap them out to do this, unless they are tubetraps, in which case you can just rotate them so the reflective side points into the room.

2' is too close for any phase based diffuser like a Skyline. Amplitude based like BAD or a slat diffuser is fine.
 

rockitman

Member Sponsor
Sep 20, 2011
7,097
414
1,210
Northern NY
Absorption is a delicate balance...it's very easy to over do it and kill room ambience and the sound. I use full absorption traps on my rear wall behind my seat as Nyal mentions and sit about 3-3.5 feet from that wall. I have quite a few traps in storage having bought too many from poor advice.
 

Rodney Gold

Member
Jan 29, 2014
983
11
18
Cape Town South Africa
Use this product you can find at most places that do digital printing and signage on your bass traps
Its called contravision .. its reflective to a fair amountof HF and it allows absorption and bass passes thru
Its printable so you can make it look nice with graphics etc
google "contravision"
vehicle_contravision_04.jpg
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing