When I come to listen somebody’s system then the first thing that I usually do is taking a possession of remote control explaining that I‘m a control freak and gently smiling…. In reality the thing are far from being so simple. The very first thing I care it to play an orchestral peace with cellos and violas group to pose the CD transport. The tempo with which music decays in the listening room when music is aborted instantaneously (electrically) is one of the most important ingredients that would be responsible for Sound in this room.

Without diving in the nuances of the RT60 tests, how to do them properly, how to interpret the results and, the most important - how to USE them I would like to recommend to audio people: learn to listen how your rooms decay in response to sound. If you look at this sufficiently enough and thoughtful enough, and if you correlate your observation with the type/topology of the acoustic systems "in use" then you might develop some very powerful observations.

In general: when you pose your CD transport your room should not go silent but Sound should very softly and gradually decay to a noise level. The softens, the length, the harmonic content of this decay should be the primary target of your interest and attention…

ArmAlex wrote:

what can we do to improve if the decay is not the way it should be? Armen

Armen,

If you look somebody to advise you in specifics then you are talking to a wrong person – I do not do it. Well, I do it but ONLY if I feel that the area of attention is very narrow and the question is well-understood by the person who asks. I do not think that that we will have a dialog about… hold on let me to figure out what we are talking about…

I am glad that you took upon the DPoLS – people have no idea how powerful it is but I am worn think to talk about it. If a person knows than he does not need any DPoLS evidenced from me. If a person does not know (the majority of them) than any of stories about DPoLS he recognize as another BS that his brain has already stuffed up.

The "listening to the room" is NOT the DPoLS subject in my view, however, if you feel that it is then it is fine with me.

Here's what I would do.

In general :

Start by excluding the DPoLs, excluding the electronics and associated gear, and considering just the room.

With no electronics functioning, is the room an acoustically pleasant space ? Invite friends over and get them to talk; carrying on two separate but simultaneous conversations in this one space should be effortless and non-fatiguing for all concerned. 

Once alone, pick up a book; is this room a nice place to read ? Can you concentrate ? (I find this "test" most revealing). 

Does your dog seem at ease in this room ?

To me all of the above should be part of what the French would call normal "savoir vivre", but it is not, and I am always shocked to learn that friends of mine endure acoustically horrible home environments.

More specifically :

From the photo of your room there seems to be adequate space, however the many hard, parallel surfaces are likely to propagate echoes (bare parquet floor, bare walls, window off to the right, bare ceiling... At this point, that  big, woolly dog is probably the most effective part of your system!). The surface treatments of your room are typical of those found in certain regions, often having a very warm climate, or, in other cases, of the residences of people who are most concerned with ease of maintenance (ceramic tile flooring is a favorite of these folks...). There are reasons why slaughterhouses and morgues have tile flooring, and its got nothing to do with acoustics. Do you sing in the shower ?

In fact, the photo of your room reminds me of the corporate restaurant at the place where I work; I'm not at all exaggerating when I say the acoustics of this place result in indigestion, and are problematic to the extent that everyone complains, but the room is easy to keep clean.

Assuming fixed dimensional geometry, the optimization of an overly live or dead room can be accomplished to a great extent by adding/subtracting normal furnishings and surface treatments; that is to say, without resorting to expensive "official" audiophile-blessed room treatments.

You may also want to consider adopting a few really fluffy feline friends for that nice big dog.

jd*

Romy the Cat wrote:

The "listening to the room" is NOT the DPoLS subject in my view, however, if you feel that it is then it is fine with me. The Cat