Theatre finally built, now acoustic treatment time.

carlos · May 7, 2025

Finished building the theatre room and realize that room acoustic treatment is needed. It is a small, odd room. The room measures 20.6' x 12.9'. Ceiling is only 7.5' high.
I have on the list to purchase a mic. I was looking at the ECM8000 or the Dayton Audio iMM-6. Now do I need to purchase the REW pro to set up my acoustic treatment analysis of the room? As it stands right now, the bass needs a little taming and the mids/highs are in need of treatment.

carlos · May 7, 2025

I ended up purchasing the Dayton iMM-6. It will arrive on Friday, so I anticipate that acoustic panels will be needed. Has anyone used the Roxul Comfort Board 80?

Todd Anderson · May 7, 2025

Looking good, Carlos! I like your curtain idea for the large open wall. I suspect you'll have a lot of fun nights ahead watching films!

Your room dimensions aren't terribly odd - the length is a good thing, though, I'm not sure how the larger spaces through the open wall will factor into things. Definitely makes it more challenging to fill your space with low-frequency energy. What kind of subs are you running?

Good choice on your iMM-6. You shouldn't need to purchase the pro package of REW. I suspect you'll find all of the tools you need in the free version.

For acoustic panels, this is the stuff you should be looking at:

DIY Supplies - Build Your Acoustic Panels & Bass Traps - GIK Acoustics

For those who prefer the DIY route and wish to build their own acoustic panels and bass traps, we have all the supplies necessary. GIK Acoustics is a proud reseller of the Owens Corning 700 series, Knauf ECOSE absorption material, and Guilford of Maine panel fabrics. All are offered at very...

www.gikacoustics.com

You won't find it at a regular hardware store... you'll either need to buy it online (GIK is a great option) or find a professional supply house. years ago I built some panels and had to drive an hour to a supply store near Baltimore. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably just give GIK my business ;-)

carlos · May 7, 2025

Thank you, Todd,
Unfortunately, I can not find this in Canada. I can order this Rockwool® Mineral Wool 60 Acoustic Insulation - 6Lbs 48"x24"x2" Case of 6. It takes a month to get, or I just bite the bullet and order APC (Acoustic Panels Canada) 24" x 48" Wall - "The Basic" . The panels are available 4 hours away from me.
As for the subs, I am using 2x Klipsch R-100SW.

carlos · May 7, 2025

I contacted GIK for advice on acoustic treatments. I can order from them and pick up in Ogdensburg.
I will wait and see what they suggest, while waiting, checking the room acoustics with REW.

Todd Anderson · May 8, 2025

Good move - a little extra effort in getting the right materials is going to be worth the effort.

Look forward to following along with your project and curious to see how it ends!

carlos · May 8, 2025

I just found Prime Acoustic in Canada. I completed a room model and waiting for a quote with advice. I have a supplier near me with a flat shipping fee!
Carl

Todd Anderson · May 9, 2025

Even better. Curious to read what they’ve suggested!

carlos · May 9, 2025

Prime Acoustic suggests 1x London 12 kit plus 2 boxes of Broadway Nimbus Cloud panels. I am still waiting for GIK's suggestion.

JStewart · May 9, 2025

I like the look of the ceiling cloud slanted as they show in the link.

London Room Kits - Primacoustic

London Room Kits Creating the ideal recording environment is a matter of taste and preference. No two rooms are alike in terms of sound and acoustics, and

www.primacoustic.com

Stratus Studio Cloud - Primacoustic

Stratus Studio Ceiling Clouds eliminate ceiling reflections while enlarging the sweet spot in your studio. So you can focus on crafting the perfect mix.

www.primacoustic.com

ddude003 · May 9, 2025

If I may... I did not see any bass absorbers... So I would go with about 2/3s wide band absorbers that are 2 inch thick and 1/3rd 4 inch wide band/bass absorbers... Maybe with a strike plate or what ever the term is now... And plus one for a cloud...

carlos · May 9, 2025

Yes, the ceiling clouds do look sharp on an angle.
I am building some base traps, 6 inch thick, now for the room. Just been educating myself on room acoustics. I downloaded Harmon Kardons room mode calculator. My seats are not in a lull, luckily, Moved my 2 subs to the front wall at the 1/3rd from the sides. I do not have the room to spread my front speakers to the 60 degree point, so I followed Gene's method, from Audioholics, 70 percent. The front seat is 11 ft from the front speakers, so the speakers are 7.7 feet apart. My room is only 12.9 ft wide, this gives a fantastic front wide feeling immersion.
I have also been educating myself on the design of acoustic panel building. I have all the material available to me within an hour drive, so this is very tempting. I enjoy the DIY factor. I built my audio amp for the room along with all my speakers, less the subs.
So much to learn, but it is enjoyable.

dladow · May 10, 2025

Exciting to have a dedicated room - looks beautiful, congrats! My room is somewhat similar but slighty larger at 22x15 with a sloped ceiling 8' to 12' fron to back.
My floor is natual stone so it was all hard surfaces and sounded terrible (like having a transistor radio at full volume in a bathroom).
I bought my acoustic treatment from GIK and was able to tame both the slap echo and the bass standing waves. It sounds great now.
I did mine in stages, adding more as needed.
If you go with GIK, my suggestion is to start with their 242 or 244 panels on the side walls and ceiling to tame the slap echo, and either the soffit or tri-trap bass traps for each room corner. Then fill in as needed (such as adding panels to the middle front and back walls). You will be amazed how much better it will sound.
Also, DIY is definitely doable, as the panels are super simple to construct, and is very cost effective.

carlos · Sunday at 7:17 AM

Thanks, I have ordered my supplies for making the acoustic panels. I have watched dozens of YouTube videos. Some good ideas out there. I decided to cover my panels with Mandarin Cotton Duck Canvas - Charcoal. This material happens to be fire retardant, which is a bonus as 2 panels will be a few feet above my supplemental baseboard heaters.
Not sure about my choice of measurement microphone. The IMM-6 is only compatible with phones. I misread the requirement, thought I saw windows in there, thinking Windows 11. LOL
Now, I do have a 2 channel mixer, so the choices are Dayton EMM-6 or the UMM-6.

carlos · Sunday at 10:18 PM

My son dropped off a laptop for me to use with REW. My IMM-6 works perfectly with the Laptop. Just waiting for a mic stand and a TRRS extension cable. Changed my seating around to make it more spacious in the room. I was going to add surround sides. Just have to think on how to mount them.

carlos · Monday at 3:24 PM

Mounted my surrounds. I have to say, GIK is a very thorough acoustic company. One of their designers got back to me with a complete room plan. Very detailed and explained well. They suggest diffusers behind my seats on the back wall. Plus many bass traps on the ceiling and wall corners behind the speakers. The diffusers, I will purchase from them.

carlos · Thursday at 12:13 PM

Ok, my equipment came in for my REW test. Now, I could use a little help deciphering the results.

Edit: I removed my measurements, as I felt this is not the place to post them.

carlos · Thursday at 8:01 PM

I have started my DIY acoustic panels. The first one is done. These are 3" thick roxul. 2.5lb per cubic foot. The panels are not bass traps, but general absorbent panels.

ddude003 · Thursday at 10:22 PM

carlos said:
Ok, my equipment came in for my REW test. Now, I could use a little help deciphering the results.

Edit: I removed my measurements, as I felt this is not the place to post them.

It might be better if you would post an .mdat file with all your measurements...

carlos · Thursday at 10:40 PM

Ok, my measurement is in my main seat position at ear level. Left and Right front speakers only. I will test my surrounds tomorrow, as well as my other 2 listening seat positions.

ddude003 · 2025-05-16T19:09:56-0500

Hi @carlos... Would you mind telling us what speakers, make and model, you are using for the above measurements? Also a little bit about the kit driving them... I would not expect them to roll off at ~8kHz to 10kHz like that... Your sweep gain seems a little much... You might shoot for 75dB to 80dB range... Are you using 48kHz with your sweep tone? And go out to 20kHz or 22kHz..

carlos · 2025-05-16T19:59:34-0500

Hi, The speakers are a DIY Troels Gravesen of Denmark. They are the Discovery-4. The amplifier is a Rod Elliot ESP P101 5 channel DIY build. I was using 48kHz sweep tone. I may not have had all the settings right. I am using an imm-6 microphone. The only extension cable I had was 25 feet long. Perhaps I need to get a proper UMIK-1.

Edit: My sound card was not calibrated. The measurement varies by 104 db ?
I also forgot to mention that my front speakers are behind my acoustic screen.
I have posted some tests from the Designer of the speakers.

Todd Anderson · 2025-05-16T21:19:38-0500

Carlos! Wow. You've made a ton of progress in the last week. You must be excited to have all of your supplies in house and pre-builts on their way!

carlos · 2025-05-17T00:47:39-0500

Thanks, Todd. No pre-builts yet. I have sent my room results to GIK and Prime Acoustic to see what diffusers, if any, they suggest.
I have just leaned a few panels against the wall at the first reflection, then down the 1 wall. This has made a difference already in the sound stage. I have a few more panels and 4 bass traps to go.
Edit: The panels will be mounted 3" from the wall. I am making feet for the one panel in front of the baseboard heater.

Todd Anderson · 2025-05-17T09:45:35-0500

Excellent. You’re moving fast!!

Many moons ago, I built my own corner traps. It can be a labor of love, but satisfying to experience results!

Theatre finally built, now acoustic treatment time.

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