What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 21
hobbyist
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OP
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Would it be a mixture of hard and soft surfaces, or just soft surfaces? What other factors are involved? I realize the size and shape of the room are important, but are there any other practical considerations, since I'm building a room to be my Man Cave?
Dan
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Re: What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3,016
connoisseur
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connoisseur
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every high-end home thater set ups i have seen , all have soft sound absorbing material on the floor and walls. i suppose its so you dont get any sounds 'bouncing' around, and becoming misdirectional. ?
i dont have any direct advice on what to use in your HT room, but i would think soft materials is the way to go.
bigjohn
EXCUSE ME, ARE YOU THE SINGING BUSH??
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Re: What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Dec 2003
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connoisseur
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connoisseur
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A mix, believe it or not.
Having NO reflective surfaces sounds very odd.
Bren R.
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Re: What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3,016
connoisseur
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connoisseur
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well, there ya go!!
i would take bren's advice on this kind of stuff, way before i would take my own.. he kinda has the advantage being that he does this FOR A LIVING!!!!
bigjohn
EXCUSE ME, ARE YOU THE SINGING BUSH??
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Re: What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Dec 2003
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connoisseur
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connoisseur
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I've never been in an absolutely dead environment acoustically, but I've been in close (recording studios) and it's an odd feeling... like there's a "gate" on your hearing... the notes slam shut.
In the other extreme - an empty concrete concert bowl sounds awful as well - need to pack it full of all those sound-absorbing bodies.
Bren R.
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Re: What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Dec 2003
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axiomite
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axiomite
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The recording studio is relatively dead, not because that's what sounds best, but so that the sound can be controlled. If you were to record in a reverberant room, the reverberation could not be controlled. What you got recorded would be it. But by recording the artist with a minimum of room effect, the mixer can add just the right amount of effects, whatever they may be, to achieve what is desired.
Just saw, in another thread, that jh20477 is a soundmixer. Hopefully he'll chime in here.
Jack
"People generally quarrel because they cannot argue." - G. K. Chesterton
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Re: What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,462 Likes: 7
connoisseur
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The college I did some course work in had an anechoic chamber.
As Bren said, it is a very odd transition from normal everyday room, to listening to simple sounds within this environment.
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Re: What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Apr 2003
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shareholder in the making
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Part of the reason an "dead" or relatively anechoic room is strange is that it confuses the brain. Your brain is used to being able to get a TON of information from the sounds it hears: the distance of the source, the relative size of the room, the direction of the sound. Most of that information comes from reflected sound.
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Re: What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Jan 2002
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connoisseur
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Yes, I am well aware of the science and reasons for this.
But that still does not prepare your senses for the experience. The sterile nature can become a bit interesting to experiment with. In my case we were designing circuits that needed to produce certain outputs and be tested for this output, and several charateristics - such as "ringing".
I have been in many tuned rooms, and had designed and built a good listening room in a previous house I owned. It looked much better than that of the lab room referenced in another thread.
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Re: What is the ideal acoustical environment?
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Joined: Apr 2003
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I didn't mean to sound like I was lecturing. That post was meant for everyone, but I had to reply to somebody.
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