Room Acoustics 101
Studio & Critical Listening Room Setup
Part 1
Room Setup & Speaker Placement 101
So you've spent all this money on speakers and audio equipment... But are you getting the sound you paid for? Your speakers are trying to tell you a richly layered sonic story. But your devious room likes to distort the story and deceive you. To hear the full story, pure and true, you need to set your room up right. This tutorial will…
Part 2
Speaker Placement & Boundary Interference
Not hearing enough bass through your monitors? The distance between your room boundaries and speakers has a huge impact on your bass performance. Speakers are more omnidirectional at low frequencies, meaning bass waves radiate in all directions, causing a rumbling ruckus. Bass waves radiate backward from your speakers, toward the wall in…
Part 3
Surround Sound Speaker Placement
Which surround sound setup standard should you choose? Ah, the paradox of choice. There are several options floating around. Most guidelines use the center of the listener’s head as the reference point for positioning the front speakers. But studio designers tend to place this reference point slightly behind the listening position. This…
Part 4
Room Setup — Acoustic Treatment
There is no point buying expensive speakers if you’re going to put them in a crappy listening environment. Despite this, most people skimp on acoustic treatment when setting up their room. Why? It costs money, they don’t understand it, the spouse hates it — whatever the reason, people are reluctant to throw some acoustic panels on their…
Further guides
Bass Traps 101: Placement Guide
Bass trapping season is upon us. But where in your room should you place your bass absorbers, aka “bass traps”? The short answer: treat the corners of your room to get the most bang for your buck. But that raises more questions, like... How many corners? Which corners? To answer these questions, I'm going to show you examples of what a…
Reflection-Free Zone
What’s the MOST POWERFUL thing you can do to dramatically improve clarity and imaging in your playback room? (Hint: it does not involve buying shiny new speakers.) Tame early reflections by treating your first reflection points. On your quest for sonic clarity, you’ll meet many early reflections. Some are nice. Others are treacherous…
Sound Diffusers 101: Free DIY Diffuser Designs
Sound diffuser scattering simulation. Diffusers reduce echoes and reflections by scattering sound waves in many directions.
Optimizing Speaker Placement with Acoustic Measurements
If you can’t flush mount your speakers in the wall, you will need to experiment to find the optimum placement. Use one of the these guidelines as a starting point (speakers close to wall or far from wall). At each location you try, do a critical listening test (with your ears) and take measurements of the low frequency response of your…