My Listening Room - DIY Room Acoustics

More progress on the acoustic treatment I'm doing in my listening room.
Get a LOT more detail in the project article on my website: ibuildit.ca/projects/how-to-a...
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[@IBuildIt]

Your room looks like ______!!

[@fwanknmt]

Chipotle

[@troeteimarsch]

what are these speakers if I may ask?

[@ClownbaretTV]

Like a small puppets auditorium

[@you5711]

The ceiling panels are GORGEOUS!! I wish the wall with the holes in it looked like the ceiling panels. It's the only change I'd make if I were doing that room. I also love the side walls with the solid plywood.

[@matt_sitas]

Your woodworking shop! :)

[@DIYBuilds]

Nooooooooo! Don't paint it. I love the plywood with black holes behind.

[@RobertABradley]

I think the (unpainted) wood gives it a classy, slightly retro 50’s modern look that says: “I am a very intentionally, and precisely, engineered space, and I’m not afraid to show it.” Thanx for a glimpse at the current state of your room.

[@rodpotts2666]

Your room looks like a cool place to hang out.

[@murphymmc]

Oddly enough, the room has a Frank Lloyd Wright feel to it. Kind of a 1950's, 21st century look. I like it.

[@scott001music]

John! I think the room looks phenomenal. It gives me a very Mid-Century vibe!! Love the look of the wood!!

[@sapelesteve]

Your room looks like a very comfortable place to enjoy listening to music, watching TV and relaxing!

[@Thomas11091967]

Fantastic job. Congratulations

[@greganikin7003]

You created with your own hands - it deserves respect! You spent time measuring room responses and trying to figure out what to improve. Man - big respect to what you do!

[@1010fairchild]

Very cool project John. Well done.

[@marklinden5718]

Very cool room work!

[@fxm5715]

John, I'm enjoying your new content. I watch you as much for the general creative problem solving as for specific woodworking. I'll certainly stay subscribed, regardless of the particular projects. Thanks for sharing your process.

[@petedillon8011]

Looks freaking awesome

[@travisstrickland8977]

Awesome listening space John. Can't wait to see the speaker build.

[@iandavidson8565]

Love it, Excellent Job!!!

[@mouseyou12]

Look's very nice cant wait to here the sound in the room.

[@DOSmanager]

Your room looks flipping awesome!

[@rytchbytchrockingclub3867]

John, this series of videos has been SO inspirational to me. I'm moving to a new flat soon and plan to build a 5.1 setup to listen & watch but also to mix, and I'm thinking back and forth on what treatment measures to choose... this documentation, especially the waterfall measurements, are pure gold. Thanks so much! And re the looks: It looks awesome, the wood surfaces shine nicely with the lights. I like wood :)

[@markhedquist9597]

Very cool. There's nothing like listening to music in a room designed for doing so. I've had the pleasure of recording in a number of studios and it always made me appreciate the science behind it all. I think the room you've built is awesome. "The Altar" haha!

[@draztiqmeshaz6226]

It's definitely working, man. A few mins into this video I was wondering if I had something set weird on my amp and it occurred to me that actually i was just not HEARING as much room as I'm seeing.

[@OleGramps53]

Ship's cabin look for your interior. Reminds me of the old sailing vessels.

[@pugsleyoid1]

looks great as is John!

[@teamthoth]

The room looks super cool!

[@ryanfitzpatrick3256]

Nice! Clear lacquer. Timeless.

[@supadeluxe]

Love this channel! The wood with black accents looks really good, so no paint! Also the laptop stand is awesome!

[@themeat5053]

Geez, you took the words out of my mouth. It's really cool looking to me.

[@citicolina]

It looks amazing as it is.

[@s2kvozac]

Hi John, the room looks amazing. Your work is impeccable and inspiring. I have a room of similar dimensions and want to caution you about building the quadratic diffusers on the back of the room. If you don't have enough space between the rear wall and your primary listening position, they can create the phase issue which in my case was very audible. I end up using the absorption (behind my head) and curtains since I had to cover 3 windows.

[@jakematic]

Room looks amazing. Can't stop looking at those friggin kickass light fixtures, they are incredible.

[@IBuildIt]

It's almost like those lights were made for me to put in this room, they are exactly what I envisioned. And not expensive, either.

[@hooknladdercharters]

Could you let us know where you got them? I love the lights as well

[@llamah]

Looking good John!

[@ralph7585]

Love your room it looks great.

[@chrisfrank9288]

Beautiful room. I would love to see an update video to hear your long term impressions and see if anything has changed.

[@henrysimmelink4748]

Your room looks like as good as it will sound. Great!

[@ScottBaietti]

The audio sounds really great compared to videos recorded in the shop. It's certainly making a difference for that.

[@davisampayo]

I love it!

[@gudjonjonsson4272]

Looks really good

[@TheVictoire22]

John this is so awesome what you are doing. Hopefully I will end up in a house with these options as well. It needs room to do it right!

[@NathanOakley1980]

You can already hear it in this recording, the room is going to be fantastic!

[@QuadDoc]

Freakin crazy John!!! Love this!! Keep up the great work BUT hey… don’t let it be so long between videos next time we wanna follow along 😉 We know it’s tough to video while you’re going through a project because it slows it down tremendously but we really REALLY appreciate it!! Thank you for sharing this with us sir!! 👏🏼👊🏼👍🏼

[@eduardom800]

Your room looks like something I would copy and make for myself.

[@michaeltablet8577]

Don't care what style it is. I like it and can't wait to see it finished!

[@elanman608]

Reminiscent of a mid 90's studio control room which gives me a dose of nostalgia. Though it sounds a little brighter than most control rooms. The binary diffusers are very BBC. I'm no expert either just a former Comms and Video Engineer.

[@mtozzy11]

Very cool room John, how you got your head around designing for reverb, response etc is impressive. Kill 1khz straight up. Was always a issue I found no matter what room we set a system up (auditoriums, halls, arena's, outdoors amphitheatres, theatres etc) I did live production in my late teens early 20's

[@petelopez8841]

I love the look of the finished panels. I would make it just like it is now.

[@allencummings7564]

I like the contrast between the dark holes in the diffuser boards and the light wood color

[@JamesManCave]

Love the look of the room, if you really want to paint something, how about a 6/8 inch wide stripe all the way around about shoulder height? Just to break up the solid plywood look

[@mrboat580]

Very nice.

[@erics.4113]

It's cool. Definitely love the ply look. You could stain or treat sections but don't paint and lose the grain. Black stain maybe on accents or sections.

[@redoorn]

your room looks like the Blown Away Guy from the Maxell ad should be just waiting for his cocktail to slide into reach. i'm impressed and jealous at once.

[@holynex]

Good to see you mate! :)

[@c2gutbuster]

I like it!

[@holottawang]

Love the sideways receiver as a laptop stand.

[@bekkiebeans6004]

Warm, John, the wood makes your room have a warm, inviting, restful feeling.

[@douggroulx1525]

You definitely shouldn’t pant that beautiful room man, in my opinion. I absolutely love the aesthetics! I bet it sounds great too. I have a recording studio and I wish my Control room and live room could look that classy Great job man!

[@iannesbitt2986]

I don't know if it is my imagination, but the tonal quality of your voice is much better than other videos. Your voice is clear and natural sounding, bearing in mind I have never heard you speak in person, as if you where talking to me in a wide open space.

[@IBuildIt]

I'm using a lapel mic in this video and the room is already very good for recording, while I use a boom mic in my workshop for the others. The workshop acoustics are pretty good, but nothing like this room.

[@claytonpabst]

Black/Wine Colors are nice but I love all the wood! Great build

[@daifeichu]

I will now give you advise on how you should have done that room...as I watch this video in my kitchen on my laptop through a small bluetooth speaker. I'm impressed with your knowledge and ability. That room looks really cool and that door. I've always wanted a secret door. My daughter and I sometimes talk about how we can make a secret door in our home.

[@IBuildIt]

Gotta agree, secret doors are pretty neat :)

[@user-sb3wh3dd4v]

Beautiful smart work Sir! I would describe the current look of the room as practical and warm. IMO paint is not needed. The only issue with bare wood is dust, and you can use your favorite water-based poly finish to smooth surfaces and produce a pleasant "sheen." The idea of using screws only is smart. You can change things as needed. That allows for fixing any loose or rattling components as you use and "flex" the room. Lots of good ideas here John! As a studio designer and audio engineer, I'd say you have a solid grasp of how audio equipment and acoustics work. Also from experience I'd like to add, the pursuit of perfection is both good and bad. To enjoy a room, we must at some point STOP working on it. If there are small anomalies in reverb times or frequency response, let them be. That's true of control rooms, studios, mixing environments, theaters or nightclubs. You are plenty smart enough and experienced enough to make practical decisions. Only YOU can decide when it's good enough. So long as walls are not parallel, you'll avoid the nightmare of standing waves. And if you use the LEDE ( Live End Dead End 80/20) approach, almost any size room can sound good. Even in the high-end studios I've built or engineered in, we are better off knowing the slight deficiencies or "character" of the room, rather than trying to chase "perfection." We can always EQ or adjust furniture and wall treatments to fix small problems. Perfect audio does not exist. But really good audio does exist and it's achievable. Always remember, most of your favorite recordings are nowhere near "perfect" in any sense. Most great rock records were done in a hurry, in improvised or cheap environments. And many rock recordings were performed by very intoxicated players! Many great classical and jazz records were recorded in one take, then mastered, warts and all. Judging solely by your previous videos any those acoustic measurements you show, I think your room is as close to perfect as any home audio environment ever need be. I hope you enjoy it!

[@wobblysauce]

The best one is the one you are in, yep getting that last little bit can take lots of time, depends what it is worth to you.

[@IBuildIt]

All of the plywood is already finished with polyurethane. I painted the panels before I installed them.

[@SteveC38]

Please don't paint those panels... The "secret door" is very cool!

[@scottengh1175]

We are building a new cottage. I got a space for stuff my wife doesn't want in normal living area. So I originally called it my hobby room. My vintage stereo was going there anyway. But I have changed the main focus to be a 2 channel listening room. 15 foot wide x 9 tall x 24 long. Wife wouldn't let me do plywood. Not even for the ceiling. I did get pine planking. 2x6 insulated interior walls spaced an inch away from exterior 8" concrete that has 3 inches of Styrofoam on each side. Interior walls also have those isolated rails. Will do some room treatment after we move in.

[@jimcooney9019]

Good one

[@danthefrst]

Looks very 60s utilitarian industrial post modern scandinavian. Pretty neat. Nicely done

[@warpspeed9877]

Paint it of course. A blank wall makes it easier to concentrate on music. Less distraction to truly enjoy the fruits of your work of art!

[@EarlPartridge]

It looks very cosy and "warm"

[@FearsomeWarrior]

It’s the large sheets that make me want to suggest paint. The front wall is great. Plain sheets...maybe not. A strip or something to break it up might do the trick too but if you like it, it’s your plywood dungeon of sound. :)

[@IBuildIt]

T Like I said at the end, there will be acoustic panels in front of those walls and that'll make a difference. Also I'm think of painting the cloth on the acoustic panels with my favourite album covers, so that'll add a little something.

[@jamesoneil9757]

I think you are going to like what the plywood walls do for any art you hang, or the screen print acoustic panels.

[@wingnutbert9685]

I really like the Mid-Century Mod look. If it was my room, I'd Shellac the wood. Give it that nice warm feel. But I love me old Shellac'd panels and ply furniture from childhood cottages (you and I are probably the same 'vintage'. LOL!)

[@broskiemandudebrov]

Honestly I think painting a few things black, or maybe even staining it like espresso or something would really add to the room. I also was thinking that hanging curtains between the lights, kind of like they do in movie theaters, would be a cool look. Some dark carpeting or area rugs would also add to it I think. Obviously everyone has their own taste, but that's my input.

[@dankolar6066]

The look of the room suits you and your sensibilities. Please yourself, it's your house. Those of us old enough to remember "real" knotty pine walls tend to view plywood with skepticism tho. Still, I appreciate the sound of your room. Our house shakes from the drive-by sub-woofers.

[@jimthesoundman8641]

Your room looks like a Scandinavian sauna. Just kidding, looks very good.

[@substrate001]

I know this is a late reply, but I'd seal that beautiful wood & let the gorgeous grain show thru, baby!!! I'm 62 & have designed & built speakers, subs, etc in nearly every studio, worship, residential & the Mobile Audio stting & imaginable config: T/L, Iso-Barik, Slot port, standard port, folded horn, line-array, di-polar open-air with dynamic drivers (those were the line array's) & of course the old reliable sealed box, lol!!! I think your room is awesome & your design is just like I would build... not locked into just ONE config no matter what. I have a killer finished basement in my house that I'd LOVE to sub-divide the cavernous main room (gotta leave the 1 bdrm, 1 bath part alone) & construct a "room within a room" in the huge 16' x 34' open (living/ fireplace room). Too bad Stage IV Metastatic Prostate & Bone Cancer in my hips has brought my "project life" to a stop while I fight the immediate threats. The Postate stuff is getting under control, my lifestyle changes have produced chages in my bone strength that the specialists term: "unexplainable". 2 ops & 6 months of grueling re-hab (training; former tri-athlete here) an I can finish my original room plans so my Fam & Frens can enjoy it all! I love your room and approach to building things!!! All Success, My Man. JW in NC

[@danmiller8429]

Looks good John, those panels remind me of old computer program cards.

[@bbfoto7248]

Yep, FORTRAN computer punch cards.

[@albertkelly7129]

"lets nail it this time" lol Johnnos king

[@wardprocter2371]

I love it just the way it is, the wood gives the room a certain amount of warmth and coziness. Just wondering if or how the floor is treated for acoustics - is that carpeted? I’m really enjoying this new channel and want to thank you for bringing us along on the journey!

[@IBuildIt]

Not much is done to the floor in rooms like this, since it's very expensive to effectively treat them. Carpet can be good and it can be bad if it eats up too much of the higher frequency sound that makes the room sound "live". I wrote a lot more detail in the website article and you might want to check that out: ibuildit.ca/projects/how-to-acoustic-room-treatment/

[@PrimalEdge]

Awesome room! How about Contractor Chic?

[@chuckisidro8624]

That’s an awesome project! What are your thoughts on skyline diffusers?

[@act.13.41]

I have found that Harbor Freight moving blankets are very cheap and very sound absorbing. They could be purposed into panels easily.

[@negotiableaffections]

1980's recording studio aesthetic!

[@curiousmike1044]

I like the hole pattern so much I wonder if by use of a template and some black paint, you could extend the hole pattern throughout the entire room.

[@bbfoto7248]

That would be too much IMO. There should be some different contrasting surfaces or shapes to break up the monotony.

[@baconsoda]

I don't know much about sound but my ears tell me the sound from that room is really lovely. I like the wood look. You've built an escape pod there, my only advice would be... never take your phone in there.

[@IBuildIt]

A phone-free zone for sure :)

[@GP-fc7jv]

I like it

[@animationcreations42]

I'm not usually a fan of bare wood, but I must admit it looks rather sharp in that room!

[@nfix09]

think the room looks great, the diffuser panels don't really stand out to me as needing paint( there's enough contrast with all the holes), the big walls look a little odd with the large sheets at the center, but I imagine that will change with the panels you mentioned hanging up in future. any plans for the floor?

[@abizzleblandn3211]

Thats ah bad mtAfkR.......Beautiful and the sound is dead awesome

[@cryptomnesiac]

I think the industrial vibe is from an "unfinished" look. I'm into that, maybe some blacked out accents here and there using something like Vantablack, Blk 3.0 or carbon fiber?

[@jcowboy123]

Hi John , love the room ! What did you do for insulation above the ceiling slats ? I thought about fiberglass, but you don't want that raining down on you lol. Also did you put a black backing above the slats like the bass traps on the wall? Thanks in advance

[@AtomicKing74]

The bare wood hits me like a new version of the 80's wood paneling, just with way more effort and detail-oriented. To give it a name, Next Gen Wood Paneling. it might be cool to put some LED strips behind the binary hole wall to accent the room. And I would agree that paint would be be a bad call, maybe some stain or oil... to give a touch of color. but that may look worse...

[@mmmmmmm8706]

Why didnt the notification appear for this? 5 days later its on the homepage. Sure would love to purchase a design file of those wall panels with holes. The audio seems like you’re right next to the camera. The thumbnail for the vid is impressive.

[@teridzard1776]

I like your 2 channel stereo approach. I like the design of your room. But I would myself not be happy hanging out in there because it would feel like a hole in the ground to me. I prefer natural light through windows, even when it's dark outside. I know that those create more acoustic problems. Looking forward to see your future speakers been build.

[@bbfoto7248]

Nice listening room, John. I think it looks good overall (we all like "wood", of course), but maybe a bit lonely and uninviting/character-less. Reminds me more of an anechoic chamber rather than somewhere I would enjoy listening to my music. It's JUST an Opinion, nothing more... But it's hard to judge seeing it all lit up just for this video. I think just using the wall sconce "mood lighting" would make the room more inviting and "comfortable". Assuming it is a basement room? But just judging from your lapel lav mic, it sounds pretty balanced and relatively reverb free. It will be interesting to watch your other video with the acoustic response after hanging the wall panels...gonna watch that next. What speakers do you plan to build? I guess I should read more about it on your website link. And nice laptop stand as well, LOL! Keep it up.

[@MerwinMusic]

I think some fabric wall mounted panels in probably any color would help break up the plywood monotony. Super jealous of the room, wish I could really hear how it sounds. I bet a nice Walmart sound bar would sound killer. ;)

[@IBuildIt]

Was thinking the same thing for the covers on the free-standing panels. Maybe paint my favourite album covers on the cloth.

[@MerwinMusic]

@@IBuildIt yeah. Maybe some kind of chair rail that could hold albums too.

[@EdwardT9]

Quilts and blankets, with nice art on them, hanging from the walls?

[@dale1956ties]

I like it too. IMHO, the diffuser wall already breaks up the plywoodiness of the room because of the holes with the black background. So I really don't think that wall is the one I would attack to break things up. Honestly, I like it. Perhaps you could come up with a way to break it up by going after the side walls? I dunno, just spitballing. I like it as is.

[@TigerCarpenter]

this audio room looks remarkable, and from what you described about the sound improvements based on the measurements and on the actual sound perception / feel I assume it is starting to sound to kill too. the only thing I will never understand is that you went with the PVC upholstery, instead of forking few bucks for the cowhide leather. you will be sitting on it for 1000s of hours in years to come. I seriously can't imagine myself sitting on the plastic. but hey! probably you will upgrade your chair after a while of sitting on plastic anyway. I would consider adding some LED strips at the floor level not to disturb your eye level while watching movies, and still giving you some ambient light, so you don't feel like sitting in the dungeon.

[@ashikhan244]

Looks nice, how does it smell?

[@whatdaf11]

What was the final room dimensions after adding all the treatment? I see it was originally 14'x14'x7', but afterwards?

[@rifficide]

I bet AC/DC sounds amazing in that room.

[@jked7463]

What you are trying to build is a panel absorber. The panel absorber formula is based on the panel weight per s.f. and panel size. At 16" span the panel will resonate at a relatively high frequencies. If you want to absorb lower frequencies, lengthen the span between screws. You might want to use different spans or different thickness plywood to absorb different frequency bands. Also trying different thickness plywood panels, will help the different octaves drop at similar rates on the rt-60 measurements. That is very important for a clean sounding room. Finally don't tune too much bass out or the bass impact will be destroyed on transients. A great acoustics 101 book is by David Egan. Easy to follow and understand.

[@IBuildIt]

The panels aren't screwed to the wall studs, so your assumption of 16" span is incorrect. They are screwed to furring strips around the perimeter - you can see that in the video if you watched it carefully instead of gearing up to switch into lecture mode. They are also mass loaded, as I explained in a pervious video. And in other videos I built an accelerometer preamp to measure the frequency the panels were vibrating and ran those measurements. The "finally" part of you comment is bunk. You can't "tune too much bass out" of a small room. If the book you recommend says that, get one with facts instead of something that's easy to follow and understand.

[@jked7463]

@@IBuildItahh, yes, that makes a difference. That said, proper tuning of the panel will allow you to tune the frequency band they address. Again be carefull. Too much absorption will hurt transients. Also, a balanced approach is important. A smooth drop off of Rt-60 measurements is extremely important for good music reproduction. One thing you might want to try is separating the bass module from upper bass - high speaker. Put the bass cabinets about half way up on the front wall at about quarter points across. This will provide a wave front emanating from the whole wall minimizing side wall reflections/cancellations. Of course you will need to be able to change time alignment or at least phase to integrate back with the mid/hi speakers. Proper absorption at the rear wall is needed for this technique. FYI, I have been doing commercial and residential audio and acoustics for about 30 years. There is a lot more to this than most people realize. From what I can see from your videos, you understand that. Keep them going.

[@macedindu829]

You should make speakers out of bamboo panels as featured on the Tech Ingredients channel. Talk about matching the aesthetic!

[@IBuildIt]

The kind of speakers featured on that channel are definitely not what I have in mind for this room :)

[@torontopianotuning]

What does it sound like to you when you’re recording? Does it sound dead? Would it be good for recording voice overs?

[@philvale5724]

Hi John, I know that this is an old video I can’t seem to find update on this video, I have noticed when you were showing the bit where you are screwing the strips on the ceiling you only fitted the end surely the strip would vibrate over that length which will probably cause your problems, I don’t know how big your room is but is it worth putting acoustic panels like picture frames on the walls. ? And carpet on the floor either dust in front of the loudspeaker cabinet or the entire floor, Because I live by myself I don’t care what my place looks like in some respect but I have put thick cotton material up on some of my walls, I think The material I believe is called a duvet quilt that you put over a bed something that was used years ago, if anything is made room feel warmer and I cannot hear the music outside or it seems very muffled. Phil from the moulin