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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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In Reply to: RE: Comments or tips from actual users of the DIY or original Roomlens please posted by cdc on June 19, 2007 at 15:57:32:
Do I think they're worth the time, expense and space?
Basically yes, but I think some added comments are necessary.
The room lens units were the first acoustic treatments I dabbled in. I built four 3 pipe units and used them for about 2 years in my previous house. I eventually added some bass traps based on Jon Risch's quick and dirty bass trap recipe.
Then I shifted to my current house some 5 years ago. The room here was quite different being L-shaped, carpeted instead of polished floors, large bookcase filled with books instead of bare walls with pictures, larger window space and lots of heavy curtain area. A very different acoustic environment to the previous room. The bass traps went into the corners behind the speakers with no problem, but I could not find a decent placement for the room lenses and put them in the garage for several months. I eventually brought them back into the room and started playing with them in the space behind me, the toe of the L for want of a better description. I ended up with them in the corners, one unit in the corner behind me to my left as I faced forward, and the other 3 in the opposite corner which is almost directly behind me but slightly to the right. I found I got better results with more units in that corner, probably because of the asymmetric shape of the room and the fact that there is an open archway in the side wall just in front of where they were. They were in an open U shaped arrangement facing towards the wall behind me and they helped to balance some of the sense of an asymmetric space placed like that. That lead to me reconfiguring them into 2 units, an 8 pipe unit and a 4 pipe unit, with radically different pipe placements based on other diffusor designs. Several years later, they're still in use and I have no desire to remove them.
I don't think they'd be my first choice for trying to tame early reflections—I'd choose absorption for that. I also don't think that these days they'd be my first choice of treatment—I'd probably go for bass traps first if they were an option. I do think some diffusion is good as an addition to absorption and I think the room lenses make a great DIY diffusor that doesn't take up a lot of space and is relatively easy to make and flexible to place. I don't think the standard 3 pipe design is the most effective way to build them but other designs use more pipes and are bulkier so they're not going to be as easy to build or as flexible. You definitely need to play around with them to get the best results in an asymmetric room or in a space where you don't have walls on one side. It can take quite a bit of time and effort to find a placement that works for you in a non-rectangular room and you may have to consider what looks like some very odd placements compared to the stock recommendations. Against that, it's physically easy to play with them and try options.
As I said, I wouldn't be without mine and I'm still using them, though now in radically different layouts and placements, after 7 years. I think they're great for what they do, but you may have to play around a bit to get the best results and what they do may not be quite what you want or expect.
David Aiken
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Follow Ups
- RE: Comments or tips from actual users of the DIY or original Roomlens please - David Aiken 20:41:15 06/19/07 (1)
- As usual, very thorough and informative, Thanks! (nt) - cdc 11:03:56 06/20/07 (0)
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