As new architecture avoids absorbing materials, in many cases we have acoustic problems.

 I developed an absorbing picture, which solved my problems quite good.

I would like to discuss with you, if somebody had similar problems.

thanks Ed

greetings from Austria

I've got a little acoustic problem too. In the sweetspot of my bedroom sounds everything suburb, but if you move 2 meter to the left or right, the sound will become a bit boomy (especially the really low frequencies <70hz) . I hope that I will fix the problem with a acoustic absorption wall like this http://kit.hichina.com/sitemanager/user/webhost/uf7/uf7ci1/upload/Image/wallpanel.jpg

 This is my bedroom setup http://my.hifi.nl/index.php?user=7834 , it's not a Beoliving, but on a age of 18 I'm happy with it .
 

Hello Lederer!

Welcome back to beoworld again !

Of course I remember your installation very well... a fantastic modern and stylish home, full of wonderful B&O devices.

I've solved most of acoustic problems by dresing rooms with big or fitted carpets, thick and large curtains, and some hanging paintings.

Greetings from the snow-covered Switzerland.

beocool:

In my livingroom I only have hard surfaces. Wooden floors (no rugs), walls covered with plaster, no curtains and a minimum of furniture. Yet, I experience no acoustic problem at all. Am I just lucky in that respect?

Or deaf?  

That depends upon how you define acoustic problem. If your room reverb, in spite of its naked and hard surfaces, is within an acceptable range - then you're lucky. It could be that your plaster walls have wood paneling underneath, for instance. This helps absorbtion. And it could be that your room dimensions are ideal.

You don't want a too lively (wet) room, and you don't want a dead (dry) room. Clap your hands together, if there is no return sound then your room is dry -- if you hear a Brrrrrr, then your room is wet. The room should accept and convey the sound, and then let it die quickly to below audibility. The standard measure is how long it takes for the sound to fall by 60dB. Too long, and sound already in the room deteriorates the sound emerging from your speakers or instruments, too short and lengthy listening becomes unpleasant. (Though a sound engineer may want a very dry control room, in order to isolate sounds.)

Dave Moulton is quite clear on wanting a room with natural resonances for music listening, supporting the sound emerging from the speakers. For a while, audiophile trends had it that the room should be as dead as possible -- but this turned out to be a fad and gave you rooms that were better suited for loudspeaker research than music listening.

How long a reverb time you should have is not fixed. It depends upon the room, and the kind of music you listen to. Some modern concert halls even have variable acoustics, that are adjusted according to the kind of performance. And different frequencies interact with room materials in different ways (bass, mid and top sound waves need different treatment, if you want to enhance or suppress a particular area.)

What can be said, without any hesitation, is that 9/10 of the interiors used by B&O in photography are as far away from acoustically ideal as it is possible to come ... concrete, hard walls, glass, marble. Brrrrrrrrr.

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/roomacoustics.html 

Thanks soundproof for the elaborate feedback.

Thank god I'm not deaf. Actually my house is over 500 years old, but similar to modern architecture in the sense that only hard materials are used. My room performed well in the hand clap test. It's true that a lot of rooms with hard surfaces have awful acoustics. I have been in a house where reproduction of music was hopeless. It even had a metal staircase. Just walking the stairs was an assault to my ears. I really am lucky indeed.

Henry:

I always think the same when browsing through B&O's latest catalogues. The sound in such hard (AKA dry) and empty rooms must bounce around like mad. Could BeoLab 5s even adjust to such a room?

No. The BL5s adjust the bass pressure, relative to the volume and absorption characteristics of a room; but the slap-and-tickle sounds that would bounce between the hard surfaces are not in the bass portion of the sound, and would therefore not be affected by the calibration.

I spent some time "tuning" my listening room to a comfortable reverb, but also chose it because of an absence of hard surfaces. The BL5s perform well there.

(ADDING: I recently moved. While house hunting I came across a very interesting looking villa, and requested a chance to have a look. The owners were selling after having lived there for a year, and it was representative of modern architecture and its problems with acoustics. From the moment I entered I had the feeling you get when in an in-door swimming pool, though throughout the entire house. Every single noise was bouncing around, voices were muddled. No wonder they were moving out -- btw. the place was fully BeoLinked! I spent about 15 minutes thinking about whether it was worth it to cover the walls with panelling and acoustic dampers, but then decided the place wasn't for me. Simply horrible acoustics.) 

Bear in mind though that the BeoLab 5s have a very different sonic distribution pattern to any other speaker (only speaker with ALT on both midrange and treble), they will fair up a lot better than 99% of other speakers in 'bad' rooms.

And please, the rooms in the catalogues? Even the rooms in the pictures Naim advertises with are far from ideal. The images are for looks, not as an example of how the kit could sound best...

Henry:

Actually, the B&O in the catalogues must sound rubbish, they're never plugged into the mains!

Never thought about that. You'll have no sound at all....

Henry:

Actually, the B&O in the catalogues must sound rubbish, they're never plugged into the mains!

That's a product I'd pay real money for: invisible cables. 

This is the trend of the architects. Absolutly no absorber.

I wonder how the B&O products work in such a room.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

As I have mostly glass, I found it hard to apply the absorbers.

 And at the window i have this nice view to switzerland.

Kind regards Horst

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And architects go more in the direction glass. Interior designers mostly do not use carpets, curtains ..... 

…and curtains can help a lot! My living-room was very "wet", but after curtains had been mounted, the sound improved a lot. 

Dave Moulton:

This thread raises a really important issue.  

Architects and interior designers seem to be generally oblivious to acoustical issues, to a point where there is a college level acoustics textbook entitled "Deaf Architects & Blind Acousticians," by Robert Apfel.  

Barry Blesser, inventor of the digital reverb, has written a book called "Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?" (MIT Press).  He is now embarking on an ear-training project (and, yes, I am involved) to teach lay people (such as BeoWorlders, architects, interior designers, building contractors and psychologists) to hear and recognize both the physical sound qualities of spaces and also the emotional and psychological effects of such sound qualities.  

If Barry's project gets off the ground (I think it will), I'll keep you posted.  

Happily, there are a number of inexpensive and reasonably invisible treatments that can be used that will dramatically enhance the acoustical and living quality of residential spaces.  My research has lead me to a number of insights about how best to do this, and every now and again I get an architect willing to put some of this into practice.  Right now, I'm consulting on a new house for a retired pianist in New Mexico, who wants lots of glass for his views as well as great acoustics for his piano.  An interesting job!  

Anyway, threre's hope!  

Merry Christmas, everybody!!

You are so right. I can tell because I'm trained as an architect (I do not work in that field, apart from the odd assignment, though) The master programme for architecture at the TU Delft in the Netherlands where I had my education is divided in four segments: architecture, building technology, real estate and urbanism. And you've guessed acoustics can be part of building technology. You used to get some basic education in acoustics in the bachelor programme, but I believe it's not part of the programme anymore. It's possible to graduate in both architecture and building technology however.

Glad there is hope...

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Hallo Comunity, In my case I solved my acoustic problems, with the "absorber panels"

You can print any picture you want.

If anybody is interested, please let me know.

hlederer@tele2.at