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Don't spend on highend gear then cripple the sound quality with compressed Spotify. Much better to use a lossless streaming source like Apple Music.

Love your analysis. ----- Don't spend on highend gear then cripple the sound quality with compressed Spotify. Much better to use a lossless streaming source like Apple Music.

Thank you for this format. It's very informative and useful. What should I do if I have metal heating radiator on the left side to my listening position? Is a blanket cover the best choice?

Close to wall increases bass distortion by 4 or 5 db? No it doesn't. It can increase output by that much but it doesn't causee distortion. The first reflection you mentioned earlier can often be dealt with via absorbtion done correctly. The bigger issue is acoustic loading. I've set up hundreds of rooms in my time. So many variables... I like long wall placement but in many rooms where the system is simply too big for the room you swap the side wall issues for being too close to the rear wall and sometimes forcing the listener to sit too close to the back wall. I use everything from a LEAP/LMS gated sine wave analyzer to a MLSSA FFT analyzer (more for design than in room setup) and a Sencore analyzer. Also warble tones. One of my big things is room treatment. Typically there is either none or complete overkill. I set up a pair of new Sasha V's for someone recently and he was unhappy that his dealer (I'm a long time retired Wilson dealer) just didn't get it. The room was insanely overdamped, like listening in a box of cotton. I remove over half of the absorption, slightly tweaked the speaker placement and he though I was a genius.

Love your videos. ---- my source=Apple Music lossless

Sometimes moving speakers forward will suckout midbass because of reflection cancelations around midbass from the front wall.

As I watched, and when he said how he had a 396... I developed an overwhelming urge to suddenly yell out, "NO, HE DIDN'T!" ALL CAR GUYS WOULD'VE SHARED A STORY ABOUT THE CAR! It's hard to listen to him now. I'm out.

Thanks for the video. As always, it is very informative and makes sense.

I understand the reasoning around having 4 of the same speaker. If having enough space is an issue, rather than using 1 horizontal center speaker, could you use 2 of the same horizontal centers and stand them vertical at the edges of the screen? Would this be better than a single horizontal or a waste of time? Do you simply run both speaker cables out of the CENTRE channel of the amp?

I hope all is well with you Dennis. Miss your smiling face and the chalk board. What you offer us is an amazing gift. In my world, information + experience = knowledge. Once one removes experience from the equation, what's left is just air, or ink on paper.

Right off the gate, this guy’s condescending attitude is annoying. Of course you want to find out what’s the best solution. So what if it all depends on the situation.

I've moved my subs all around my room and they sound best a few feet behind my speakers. 🤷🏻

Id love to pull my speakers away from the side walls more. But size of room limitations. Even if i pull them away another foot ive then got the problem of the speakers to close together. Which triggers a new set of problems. 😮

Own dipoles, tuning is everything Listen to sound wave reflections 😊

Just A feedback to your video production: On This specific Video, Your voice is corrupted by over DSP (noise Gate?) which makes it difficult to understand you. (Most of your other videos has an excellent sound). Thank you very much for the info you provide.

We can see that gear is in mind in these pictures. Thanks to you I am able to understand that room is the key : energy! We need to fit the gear to the room. I guess that there are some egos playing there. Audiophiles let's not be Audiofools!

I see the big window in the 3rd photo as wanting to make sure the kids aren't drowning in the pool while you're listening to music. Life is a series of compromises. I'd also like to say that those small tower speakers (which appear to be Canton GLE series maybe 476.2 or similar) are fairly inexpensive, relative to the $$$ speakers in a couple of the other photos, so while the room needs a lot of work, at least the user didn't burn a truckload of money on huge and very expensive speakers, then jam them into a relatively tiny room.

There are both single and multi-purpose rooms shown here. I can imagine what each of them sound like based on size, wall materials and number of objects within the space. I don't have personal experience with diffusers unfortunately so I'm not sure about those. I would assume that each one of these people are happy with the sound they're hearing, but I know which ones I would choose for my own listening. Both sound engineers and listeners are really good at adapting to different rooms.

Excellent

I wish they built more houses that are friendly to speakers. I have found also, the lower the gear and the farther back from the speakers make a noticeable difference. A better focus.

the biggest improvement was moving my speakers around, bit by bit, and finally a slight angle. even though my room is not exactly conform good acoustics, it made a Huge difference. approximately 60 cm from the walls about max option here, 2.5m apart. the staging is awesome.

Even though I didn't like Halo 5, I love Spartan Locks and his actor

I always put speakers on the long wall. But wonder why center speaker are horizontal and not vertical, means they not spread the sound horizontal and people watching movies sitting not in the center.

home theaters, its tough so what we do is treat the room, then run room correction. I’m doing wave forming and it sounds phenomenal

if you have one glass wall is it better as a back wall or front wall behind the drivers?

Can't you just lower the volume of the bass if it's by a wall

You say at the end of your videos " I hope this helps ". Dennis your videos almost always help, it just takes a while for some of it to sink in.

Its funny how people buy gear because they want good sound quality But they then also want it to look good so they don't end up putting the gear in the place it sounds its best, which defeats the purpose of buying the gear in the first place

It's unfortunate that 95% of enthusiasts will never have or hear a room and system that produces this level of effortless, lifelike, "you are at the live performance" reproduction...given the playback of good recordings, of course. As you alluded to, 99% of enthusiasts and audiophiles are always focused on upgrading their GEAR in hopes for a sonic improvement in the characteristics of their system, never addressing the ultimate underlying limiting factors that are holding their experience back...room acoustics. I think most people would be truly shocked at how little of an actual investment into equipment is necessary in order to achieve amazing sonic results, IF the acoustics of the room are addressed, as well as proper placement of the speakers and the listening position within and relative to the room. This is just one reason why good, actively-powered studio monitors that are listened to in the nearfield are becoming more and more popular, in addition to headphones/IEMs. However, either of these will still be lacking in regards to experiencing the room ambience and full musical envelopment of a larger listening space. Regarding equipment, at this point in time it's pretty much a rudimentary exercise to design and manufacture linear, flat, high S/N, and low THD+N electronic components at an affordable price. The same can be said for loudspeakers IF & WHEN the most critical and important elements of the design are addressed, not just a focus on brand hype or aesthetics/WAF. Obviously, most enthusiasts are limited by the layout, dimensions, and inherent properties of their listening rooms. And these most often have to function as multi-use rooms in the home. Few either have the resources or desire to create a dedicated listening space that isn't subject to other every-day functions of the home. I find that the majority of music and HiFi enthusiasts prefer a system that can be seen and listened to by everyone within their normal living spaces, not one that is completely isolated, even though that would provide the best option for an optimized and controlled listening environment. For most enthusiasts with busy families, if you wish for a "private listening room", it makes much more sense to create a high-end system in your vehicle that can be listened to in solitary on your commute back & forth to work, or anytime you want to take a drive for pleasure. A high-end audiophile system in a vehicle can be installed for less than 1/3rd of what was spent on just the acoustical treatment of this room (~$50k). And $25k will net you an End Game system. Search for Musaic Design/Matt Schaffer or PSsound. Most people have no clue how good a properly designed and implemented car audio system can be these days. Even the absolute best "Premium" or Upgraded OEM car stereo systems are FAR from what is possible, simply because the OEM auto manufacturers are ultimately still focused on the costs vs profit! There have been many advances in aftermarket automotive component speaker systems, subwoofers, multi-channel DSPs, and amplifiers, that when properly set up and tuned will present amazingly lifelike and dynamic sound with an excellent soundstage and imaging. Yes, it is far easier to achieve these goals in a relatively basic home system, but with someone very experienced and knowledgeable behind the setup, installation, and tuning of the car audio system, amazing results can be achieved. There are even professionals who perform remote acoustic measurements and setup/tuning of the system's specific Crossovers, Time Alignment, & PEQ of these DSP systems, such as Jeffrey Hald of "Total Tuning USA" (Texas) or Nick Apicella of ResoNix Sound Solutions in NY. DSP measurement & correction software such as TüN 4.0 from JL Audio and their associated 5-microphone array "MAX" measurement hardware facilitates impulse response measurements and real-time phase analysis licensed from Rational Acoustics Smaart v9 and REW. Companies such as Focal, Morel, Accuton, and Scanspeak manufacturer very high end drivers that are specifically designed for the car audio environment...i.e. Accuton Automotive, Focal Elite Utopia, Morel Carbon Elate & Supremo, and Scanspeak Revelator/Illuminator-based Gold-series Automotive versions to name just a few. Audiofrog is a newer, rapidly growing high-end automotive speaker & subwoofer manufacturer that was started by former JBL/Harman Int'l Product Manager, Andy Wehmeyer, who worked alongside Floyd Toole and other highly repsected engineers there. I'm just sayin' that a high end car audio system MIGHT be a worthwhile option for many who simply cannot create this type or level of dedicated listening space at home. Companies such as ResoNix Sound Solutions have developed bespoke, high-performance acoustic & NVH treatment products specifically for the automotive environment. So, with the proper installation and use of these acoustic & NVH automotive products, most modern vehicles can also be made into a "Deep Quiet Forest" on wheels. ;) Luxury vehicles such as Mercedes S-class, Lexus, BMW, Audi, etcetera, which incorporate thicker OEM "acoustic glass" using special laminations, and/or dual-pane window glass, careful engine & suspension isolation & damping, noise barriers and absorbers, smooth aerodynamic exterior surfaces, and quiet tires, will obviously translate in to a quieter environment and platform to start with...or a Deeper, Quieter Forest. 😛 From another perspective, as a musician myself, I love being able to reproduce my own and other's recordings to a point where they become truly lifelike. However, my issue or reservations with this type of dedicated, single use "Listening Room" is that 95% of the time it's simply a singular and very lonely experience. Notice that in this huge room, Nigel just has a single listening chair. In addition, I simply wouldn't want to "live" or spend much of my time at all in this type of room or environment. YMMV I guess that one advantage would be that nobody will see our piss poor dancing skills or excessive sobbing if the music moves us to such. 😛 As a musician, one of the key elements driving me and most others to create and perform our art is the Social Interaction and Expression. In doing so, we are collaborating and sharing our experience and emotions with others, and THAT is what is most meaningful and "golden" about music. YES, it can be a very emotionally moving experience to listen to amazing performances being reproduced even in a solitary environment. But at the end of the day, our emotional experiences are most meaningful when they are or can be shared. Emotions are deeply tied and relevant to our social interactions. IOW, it almost doesn't matter what I "feel" IF I cannot relate, share, or express those feelings with others...as is being attempted in a non-direct manner through this video. I also find it curious and interesting that more often than not, professional musicians do not have anything approaching a "High End" HiFi playback system in their homes. Sure, most will have some type of "decent" stereo system, but it's usually nothing extravagant and/or even set up properly to anywhere near the level of what is being displayed and discussed here. Most musicians simply have no interest in this, other than to simply be able to hear and potentially understand/dissect what or how the performer(s) are creating their music. And yes, they absolutely appreciate the technical and artistic accomplishments and expressive aspects of the musicians and their music (or not, LOL). But other than working in a studio while recording their own music or to collaborate with others, the majority don't feel the need or desire to perfectly reproduce the recordings or the performance to enjoy it when at home or in their car, etc. They are, however, very interested in the instruments, equipment/gear, and tools that are needed or that will help them to CREATE and PERFORM their music to a higher level in order to share their musical experience with others. But I think you'll find that very few professional musicians have a dedicated high-end HiFi system or listening room. Of course, what many musicians WILL have at home now is some form of home studio setup. But even these are usually just set up in a spare or multi-purpose room within their home. Though musicians are now tracking/recording their individual instruments or vocals "remotely" more & more in the comfort of their own home studio. And as such, they often will put a lot of effort and thought into the acoustic environment of these rooms. But they still don't often have a separate HiFi listening room, as you can surmise that it may be redundant. The same is usually applicable to audio engineers. For example, Bernie Grundman, who is arguably one of the best mastering engineers in the business, said in one interview that he has a "decent" HiFi playback system at home. But when asked, he could hardly list the specific brands/models of his equipment, and he admits that he RARELY ever sits down to listen to music at home. Same for renown tracking & mixing engineer Al Schmitt (RIP). But I fully agree that acoustically optimizing your listening environment has the potential to completely transform and elevate your experience. ...Just a few of my own curious observations and food for thought.

It's just that most of us have 12X10 foot rooms, or if a living room-- maybe 18X12. What you call next to walls to me is "away", at least for those rooms. Next to the wall would be like way less than 6 inches. I guess 85% of us are in the near field, or near near field situation.

I have a fully treated room and I popped my sub on wheels and just tested it in all the available spaces… …by chance it did actually test/sound best between the speakers. I really wanted it to be hidden but that’s not how it worked out. I used to sell B&W 800 series, not at all uncommon for UK customers to cram 802 speakers in to tiny spaces, never treated. it always made me chuckle.

Side wall reflections that creep well into midbas and cause SBIR issues.. midbass is sucked out..

Please make do series more.

So often subs are placed for aesthetics, with no thought given to sound. Not even trying out the sound with the sub in different places, much less elevations.

I suggest anyone interested checking the validity of this video start by looking for the AMcoustics Room Mode Calculator (amroc). It will help you visualize how much (if any) of a problem your room could cause and exactly where the problems are.

Hey Dennis I was just sittin here thinkin, if the idea of a studio is to have no reflection, then wouldn’t a round or circular room be ideal or could it perhaps cause even more problems than the average rectangle ?

Still best ever on Diffusion. This knowledge launched my (After Retirement) career and I'll just say thanks...

I see offerings for carbon and foam panels. I am curious to know more about the Vinyl material used with the sandwich. I am going to assume it is 1/4" mass loaded vinyl?

Hi Dennis, do you have the Transmittion Loss data of examples shown in the video? STC and the behavior in frequencies below 100 Hz? Thank you very much!

Great video Dennis! I'd have to say after years of watching this is one to watch (realistic goals and advice given based on use case, multi-purpose)!! Bonus: 2nd example, I see this one more than I should as speaker manufacturers will tell you no speaker is too large for your room (I can't tell you how misleading these ridiculous comments are, sad)...

Have you tried creating a vacuum pocket instead of air? Sound waves cannot travel through a vacuum.

Hey Dennis, I notice in these sandwiches adding the mlv eliminates air flow. When does it matter for air flow to pass? Only in the carbon filter area?

6:48 , i haven't laughed that hard in a long time thank you.

Hey Dennis, how about walls filled with sand? Not sure, but I've heard it works very well. Curious to see what you think- cheers

Hi Dennis, just a quick thought on describing the interactions occuring from "garbage truck" to ear drum, Walls can be described with conventional T/S parameters, reacting to external energy impulses depending on frequency and amplitude, absorbing these energies can be treated just like ANC?? would love your thoughts on this analagy!! thanks mate

I like this video. This format where you analyze and critique peoples listening spaces is a good idea.

In July 2024 rock wall insulation is $80 for 30 square feet at 30 R-value

At the minute 4:25 he says that they put the insulation around the ductwork and it blew into the lungs of the children.. I guess if you put it inside of the ductwork but I figure he probably put it on the outside of the ductwork

If I was going to spend the money that some of these people had spent on equipment / gear it's a no-brainer to hire someone such as yourself to make a suitable Listening Room