Audiophiles! 4 THINGS for BETTER SOUND!

Danny dances, God knows, there's a lot of echo here, it's all hard surfaces, welcome back to new record day, my name is Ron and in today's video or

things

for

better

sound

, no doubt, guaranteed and guess what, it has nothing to do with equipment or Wait a second, this is an acoustic panel, its job is to absorb

sound

. This is a diffuser. It diffuses and its job is to disperse or divide the sound. Now this is also an acoustic panel, but it has a wooden plate on the front. of it, so your thinking is your main job function to absorb or also spread more about that in a minute, but before we begin, a word from the sponsor of today's video across the stereo world, if you're not familiar with the world stereo, we have already done it.

I mentioned them before in a previous video, if you haven't seen it, the links are below enter to win some really awesome prizes. I'll leave links below, be sure to check them out if you're in Pennsylvania, they have two local locations for you and I'll leave those locations below in the show notes. The bottom line is this, no matter what. what you are looking for are hifi related bookshelf speakers for floor standing speakers AV receivers for channel receivers televisions you name it world stereo certainly has it all so friends I was visiting your site before and in the audio section for the home have their top picks for home theater systems for 2019, be sure to check them out 0% Financing Price Match Guarantee 60 Day Return Policy It's a World Stereo Obvious Thank you so much for sponsoring the video, we certainly appreciate it and you know how. to rock now I know what you're thinking, you're thinking Ron, you put out three different panels and said there are ways to improve your sound, guaranteed, where's the fourth thing?

Stay until the end of the video because I'm going to let you know what it is, I'll tell you right now, it's the one thing that I bought in my own listening room that I think made the biggest difference and here's the kicker, it's not a panel that is placed on the wall, let's go back. and I actually want to share with you just a clip from a previous video that I made on a frequency on Friday when we moved into this new house and I made a little video showing what we had to work with before we moved in and actually set up the room if You have already seen this video.

I don't want to waste your time, so I'll leave a timestamp somewhere around here that will let you know when that particular clip ends and we're back to talking about something new.

things

here is the clip. I'll be right back, so I don't know if you can hear this with my voice, but there's a lot of echo here. In fact, let me turn on the side microphone so you get a

better

idea. Look at this. No, there's a lot of echo here, they're all hard surfaces, so when we moved into the house, the first thing I knew, based on what you just heard, that I had to board and fight to the ground was that we got a lot of echo.

There are too many hard surfaces in this room, so the first tool for that job was the first panel I took out, which is absorption. Absorption panels come in many different varieties, different thicknesses, different sizes, but the principle pretty much remains the same. The same for the most part if we're talking about a traditional acoustic panel that's going to absorb those frequencies that you don't necessarily want, all that crazy reverb and echo that happens in a lively room and you're trying to tame it well, I've noticed two main ingredients and They will be rock wool as the material used to absorb those frequencies or you may find some type of variation of acoustic fiberglass.

Owens Corning is really a popular brand that you will see over and over again and they make a specific fiberglass that has acoustic properties and will also absorb those frequencies either way. It's a smart move and keep in mind that they do come. different thicknesses and the thicker it is, the less frequently that panel will be able to absorb unpleasant sounds. Now another thing I want to mention is that it's not just the thickness of the panel that matters, but also the distance the panel is away from the wall because guess what when you do that, that panel is now much more effective than just slamming it against the wall.

Who would have thought a quick tip and it's so easy to do now? That being said, you might be thinking about Ron. Is there some kind of special bracket I need to remove that panel from the wall and move it further away from the wall? I had a hard time finding something like this, so I hope I can trust it. Guys, if you've found something that goes a little bit away from the wall to the panel, attach it below for me if you don't mind. I noticed that there is a company called Acoustic Mac that has no affiliation with them.

They have some brackets that I think could work perfectly for this. I'll leave that link below and if you have any others you want to offer to help everyone, that would be great for the next thing I want to talk about. When it comes to absorption, what about location? Keep in mind that with absorption you are really trying to address several different frequencies, but in my experience, with absorption your main function will be to absorb the bass of the lower frequencies. frequencies when you have bass peaks in that room that you need to try to even out and clean up, while absorption is your friend and that's what you really want to gravitate towards, speaking of gravitating towards the base, it gravitates towards the corners of the room, so It is my recommendation.

Again, from my own experience, that's a great place to start: you take a thick panel and straddle it in the corner of the room or you can find some panels that are actually designed to fit in the corner of the room, so similar to the ones that you have seen in my own listening room that are acoustic gik I think they call them they are test traps they are stackable they fit perfectly in the corners of the room and I dig them now listen to me no Don't think that the corners of your room are the only place where you actually have a corner where the base will be, that's definitely not true and this is where my room still needs a little love whenever you have two. walls that are close together and there, but enough between each other, guess what base will be hanging there, so don't be afraid to be creative, look up, look at the ceiling, look at the corners and say, oh man.

I need some base traps up there and I need some base traps up there and I need some in the corners, but that will lead me to the next tip: It's really quite easy to go crazy with the absorption and that was a mistake I actually made in the In the previous house had too much absorption and I think that room was too muffled and pretty soon you have a dull, lifeless sounding room, so there is a fine line to try to balance and blend the sound of the room to where you have it. a balanced sounding room where the bass is tame, you know, the bass has been treated, but at the same time you don't want so much absorption in there that you end up with this dull, dead, lifeless sounding room, so keep that in mind and next we're going to talk about diffusion and you might be a little confused because when I took out that diffuser I made you think it was a diffuser but there's a disclaimer and the way I set it up and there's a the right diffuser is based in the math, it's based on science, it's not Joe Blow trying to sell his diffusers on Amazon, who has a table saw and is just cutting up a bunch of MDF, gluing it to a stand and selling it, decides Ron, the mastermind of the dodo. buy a couple of them because you think they look cool, that's not a proper diffuser, so I need you to understand that just because you see that kind of stuff on my channel you might be thinking: Oh, Ron knows what he's doing, sometimes I No.

And just like you, I buy something because, yeah, it looks really cool to give myself a little grace, it turns off the sound, so what I want to do is at least explain the function of a diffuser and what the end result is, like you. move in the direction of adding diffusion, a diffuser takes whatever frequency comes in, disperses it, shoots it in two different directions of the room and therefore what you get is a diffuse sound, hence the name diffuser, a sound diffuse which can be a very good thing when it comes to - I'll tell you why if you diffuse that sound and you have enough diffusion in your room, guess what you'll end up with, you'll end up with a room that sounds much bigger than what the room actually is. soundstage, anyone, a diffuser, my friends, is the ticket, the golden ticket to soundstage when it comes to acoustic treatment and from what I have learned, please, I am NOT saying this with authority and I am being humble about it .

I have too much absorption, but I find that that's not always the case with diffusion, so once you have the absorption under control and everything is even and everything sounds great, go crazy with diffusion, but slow down, Branko, Keep in mind, like absorption, where you are. When you try to tackle something like bass, you put it in places where bass like to hang out. Diffusion is very similar in that you're not addressing the bass, but it has a proper place in the listening room and you know what it is. not in the corners and it's not where the bass hangs, maybe you want to put them on the side walls, maybe in your first reflections, which causes a lot of debate, a lot of people would say that you always need to absorb the first reflections and maybe diffuse the second thoughts, but the truth is those are places where you should and can consider diffusion and experiment with it and you never know what you'll discover, you might really enjoy the way it sounds on first thought. the second thought and if you land in a place that you really like then it's a win-win and who gives a damn what they say on the forums, just enjoy the music from then on, now another thing I want to mention.

If you take a look in my listening room, you'll see that I have these Uncle Bob diffusers on the front wall, they're behind the speakers. Anyone who has watched my channel and knows a thing or two about acoustics and acoustic treatment. they'll probably say that's probably the sound a lot of these guys make when they see those panels right behind my speakers on that front wall. A more appropriate place, realistically, would actually be the dead center where the images of the Center are broadcast, that would be a smarter move, but I'm going to tell you why I have them back there.

I love speakers with open baffles. I love dipole speakers and guess how exotic: they are playing frequencies that go to the front and there are frequencies that go to the front. back and that's kind of a win if I have diffusion back there, right behind those speakers, that's going to diffuse that back wave that's going to hit the front wall, dispersing it and that's it, so consider diffusion, it's really important and it matters too. I'll leave you some links to some legit outreach products, some real stuff that's not from Uncle Billy Bob who has a hacksaw and lives in a van by the river, don't waste your money on the stuff I bought, yeah If we're If you're interested in sound, I'll leave some links below that will be proper diffusers that actually work, do what they're supposed to do and it's something that you should certainly absolutely consider, so here we are with the third thing that I'm going to talk about. who is this guy behind me.

This is gik's series of prints and when I bought them I read what gik had to say about them and they mentioned absorption and they also mentioned diffusion or dispersion effect, I'm not saying. that these are not spread. I'm not stating that. I'm saying there will be better diffusers that will certainly do a better job than what this guy is doing now. I'll say this if you have two goals. What you have in mind when it comes to impression series number one is that you want to absorb but are a little worried about things sounding dead, that's where I'm going to say that the wooden plaque on the front will really be your friend because if you think about it, that will prevent it from absorbing as much as it would if that plate wasn't there.

Second, not all of us have dedicated listening rooms and we have to take into account loved ones, children, partners, wives and husbands. whatever, we have to think about what we can actually put on our walls and do all of our acoustic treatment and that's where I'll say this if your goal is to end up with something that looks attractive and if you understand its limitations then there's no There is nothing wrong with a panel like this and I will say this with complete confidence, it is much better than nothing, so if this is what you have to get based on your own criteria and your own aesthetic and Whatever opinion is being given to you , that says that you have the green light for that and nothing more, listen to me carefully, this without a doubt can make your room sound better.

In fact, wait a second, it will make your room sound better. Blank walls without any acoustic treatment is a terrible idea and what that leads to from my own experience and from so many emails I have received.Over the years,Doing this leads to someone continuing to purchase more and more equipment in search of an answer to a problem they had never considered. It all has to do with the room. I hope this was helpful. I hope it encourages you to do so. At least consider some of the different panels out there and I hope that wakes you up and you're okay, if the manufacturer says this is what they do, maybe you should slow down, learn a little more and find out if they're getting complicated. with a few words here or there are other products that you might want to look into before you hit that checkout button so that's really what today's video is inspired by is my own adventure when it comes to acoustic treatment.

I think my room sounds really good. It's not perfect, there are still some problems that I need to solve, but we are already on the right track. Here's another thing I want to mention, and in fact, I'm going to show another video that was recorded when I first moved in, and that's where I put it. panels first thoughts what the hell are you talking about Ron let me play the video this is what's called the mirror trick and the mirror trick is what allows you to find out, based on your listening position, where the speakers will go during the time As you know those two things, you will be able to figure out exactly where those first points of reflection are and I should mention that if you are already lost, what is he talking about?

First thought, let me explain it in the most simplistic terms. that I can your speaker is sending you a direct signal directly to your ear which is a signal that you eventually want to hear and hear the signal that actually bounces off the wall the frequencies that bounce off the wall that then reach your ear is a delayed signal , it's after the signal which is a direct signal and when that happens, guess what, it doesn't sound very good, so dealing with those first few reflections is what you really need to do, so let me show you the This video was previously filmed on a different frequency on Friday, if you've already watched it again, I'll leave timestamps somewhere around here that will allow you to move on to the next part of the video and if you have any questions, I'll be.

I'll be happy to help you in the comments section below, so all I'll do is move the mirror along the wall until you can see the tip of the light stand. Keep coming this way. Keep it against the wall. Wait, turn it down a little. Well, come this way. Come this way. Well, come here a little more. Stop. Well, that's what I'm doing, guys, is looking in the mirror so I can see. that tip of that span of light, so I know I'm going to have a reflection point right there, which is the second one, which tells me guys that the first reflection point will be before that, I guarantee it, that's how it works. makes the first point of reflection with The little boy afterwards okay, so I want to show you guys.

I take the mirror on the wall, but this gives you an idea of ​​what you want to see, so from the listening position you can see what your first point of reflection is and with George's help before. We think that the second point of reflection is right after and there we go, well friends, we reach the end. Acoustic treatment 101 for the topic. Oh, wait a minute, I'm not getting out of here yet. What the hell is the fourth thing? We've come this far, you cross the finish line and now I'll tell you that this doesn't apply to every person or every room here in Arizona.

Guess what? We have a lot of tiles, tons of tiles almost all of them. the house you enter is a mosaic, you want to know what it is that doesn't like the music and the excellent sound of the hifi, it sounds horrible, the most important factor if we talk about it from a subjective point of view, the I heard, the immediate results, The biggest thing that made a difference in my room was a rug that is as simple as that. I went out and bought the biggest, thickest shaggy rug I can afford and it certainly wasn't expensive.

I think I paid $400 for it. anyway, the rug there is gigantic and when I put the baby down I was blown away by what just one rug did and it made me think about something that we're not thinking about downstairs and we're not thinking about what's above us. and we should do it as we venture to consider our acoustic treatment take a look above, take a look below, you have tile, get a rug that would be priority number one and I'm going to take a risk here and I'm going to get roasted for it. I would do it even before making my first reflections.

I really wish you had a bigger floor area and would take care of that. I think that's definitely going to make a bigger difference than throwing up a couple of panels and I said, "Well, maybe I don't need a rug, silly, get a rug if you have tile and I'll take it a step further." I put that rug down and then I got to thinking, oh hey, I should put a rug pad underneath. I took the thickest, largest rug I could find and put it under the rug and again I saw an immediate improvement in the room and thought maybe I should buy another one so I experimented. with these things, explore them and if you have the ability to do so, I can promise you this, I can promise you that it will be a much bigger improvement on what you're hearing than any other update you can make.

I don't care what preamp we're talking about I don't care what power amp we're talking about I don't care what speakers we're talking about If you really treat your room and fix it up, you're off to the races, so folks, that's a lot of ending Thank you for stopping by with today's video. I've enjoyed my time with you guys if you like this video make sure to like it hit the bell notification subscribe you guys know the drill and I want to mention that the Patreon links are down. I don't love to mention patreon next, but every dollar helps and gets us closer to being able to do this full time.

We see that it is almost within our reach, so consider it. Thank you so much. I appreciate your turn, I appreciate each of you if I made a mistake in this video and I need you to correct me. I have free insensitive comments below and uh yeah I think we're done here let's listen to some music I said I didn't say you were bad I just said you couldn't spread it try harder to spread them oh my god.