Advice on placement of rockboard panels

[Yonce N Mild]

I am starting the process of treating my room. I have moved the computer to the closet and positioned my desk so that I have sufficient space behind my monitors and my head is at the correct listening position of .38 along the long wall. I am building speaker stands that will allow me to spread my monitors out a bit to get the equilateral triangle thing going.

I am building 7ft tall 2ft wide 4 inch thick bass traps using roxul rockboard 60 in homemade wooden frames wrapped in burlap. These are for the back corners. The ceiling is about 7ft 6 inches so that will give me bass traps almost floor to celing in the back corners.

I have 12 sheets of the rockboard. It will take 7 sheets to make the bass traps. That will leave me with 5 (one of which will be in four 1 x 2 pieces)

So my question is what would be the best use of the other 5 sheets? My room is about 12 x 14.


I was thinking about using 2 for the wall/ceiling corner in the front and back of the room. Then another 2 for one panel each on the side walls. Then using the one that is cut into pieces for a cloud above my listening spot.

I also plan on buying a pack of auralex foam to clean up the high end reflections a bit but being in a almost square room this small I need a lot of broadband absorption/bass trapping.

I can't really place anything in the front corners because of the doors.

Any suggestions? Am I on the right track?

[Yonce N Mild]

I got the bass traps assembled and mounted. Wow! What a difference! Just with the bass traps on their own the room sounds much better. I don't know what I was expecting but I was totally shocked at how dramatic the difference was.
I put 2 of the panels on the side wall toward the back of the room. I still have 3 left.

Where do you guy think I would get the most benefit out of them?

[CIRO]

Clouds. A great improvement at least on my small room (stereo image and peaks).Is a pity that your ceiling is only 7'...

I have 2 clouds (one 5" and one 10"), but a 4" with air gap will works fine.
One cloud is above my head and the other take the space above the monitors and wall ceiling corner, and works like a corner trap too.
My ceiling is only a bit better (8,8').

Ciro
www.soundclick.com/ciromoreau

*don´t forget the L/R RFZ panels too.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by Yonce N Mild

I can't really place anything in the front corners because of the doors.

Sure you can, here's how:




--Ethan

[keane]

Hi, Thanks for nice info.

[Yonce N Mild]

Thanks for the input fellas.

A few more questions.

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Sure you can, here's how:




--Ethan

Would that be more effective than a 6 inch by 6 inch box running floor to celing. Kind of like this but made out of the rockboard?


What about front and back wall celing corners ? Is the corner fill method effective there? or is the method of spanning the corner more effective because of the airgap behind?
Would it still work well with a 1ft wide piece of rockboard instead of a 2ft piece?

In my drawing the box on the left side of the room is actually a chimney it's not brick it is covered in plaster. That creates 2 extra corners in the room. Should I think about treating them?

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by Yonce N Mild

Would that be more effective than a 6 inch by 6 inch box running floor to celing.

Yes, because acoustic treatment is all about surface coverage and thickness. Six inches is thick enough, but it's way too narrow to do anything useful at bass frequencies.

--Ethan

[Yonce N Mild]

Ah that makes sense! Bass waves are big you need a big surface to catch them.
Sometime when you get wrapped up in the logistics and details the fundamental theory gets forgotten. =)


I have another question. How well will auralex foam work for creating the RFZ? The reason I ask is my brother has some he doesn't need. I am thinking that my rockboard panels would be better used for bass traps/broadband absorption. Maybe foam on the sides and a rockboard panel on the ceiling? How important is broadband absorption to the RFZ?

[CIRO]

Originally Posted by Yonce N Mild

How important is broadband absorption to the RFZ?

In a room that size (mine is smaller, as I said you), seems all have to be broadband...
I changed the thin foam I had on the L/R RFZ for 4" rockwool w/ 2" gap and is much better now (they´re working on very low frequencies).
Same on ceiling point... I´m trying to use the "the thicker the better" rule in my room and I´m satisfied with the results.

Ciro
www.soundclick.com/ciromoreau

[CIRO]

double post

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by Yonce N Mild

How important is broadband absorption to the RFZ?

RFZ is mainly about mid and high frequencies, so good quality foam is fine. But more bass trapping is always welcome, so thicker absorber panels will be even better.

--Ethan

[Yonce N Mild]

Just wanted to thank you guys for all the good advice. I decided to use my remaining panels to build the RFZ. Only 2" thick with a 2" gap because of lack of space and materials. It sure does sound great though. You can tell as soon as you walk in the room, remarkable. I wish I would have done this years ago. I am going to order some more rockboard to take care of the front corners and the wall ceiling corners. Hands down the best investment in my studio that I have ever made. My most recent mix is the best I have ever done, it sounds good on the stereo downstairs, in my car, on my brothers stereo, in the wife's car........... that is something I've never achieved before. Awesome! Thanks guys! I'll post some pictures soon.