3 ms·

> Doesn’t treat his room. From the article, it sounds like he did have some room treatment: > In the 1980s, Fritz launched his project by blowing up the livin

by scrlk 3y ago

> Doesn’t treat his room. From the article, it sounds like he did have some room treatment: > In the 1980s, Fritz launched his project by blowing up the living room into a listening room, a 1,650-square-foot bump-out based on the same shoe box ratio, just under 2 to 1, that worked magic in concert halls from the Musikverein in Vienna to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The idea was that the acoustic waves would similarly roll off Fritz’s long, cement-filled walls and 17-foot-high, wood-paneled ceiling to bathe the listener in music. > He got his older son, Kurt, to help pour the concrete floors. Then he worked alongside a construction crew to put up the 12-inch-thick walls and the sound panels to line them.

TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
Wood-panelled concrete sounds like the opposite of treatment. You may get a nice reverberant mess off that, but it's not going to be controlled. If the walls are parallel you will absolutely get standing waves at the room modes. This doesn't happen so much in concert halls because the walls aren't usually parallel and orchestras aren't loud enough to excite the modes for long. But if you put a big PA in a large concert hall and kick it with sine waves, there are always a few frequencies that make the room ring.
- scrlk 3y ago
  Doing a bit of searching led me to: https://darklantern.proboards.com/post/16119 https://darklantern.proboards.com/post/16119 https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz > The general thoughts that went into the overall plan in designing this room was to accommodate not only audio but video. The acoustic plan was to eliminate as many parallel surfaces as possible. The side walls are skewed out by 2” from front to back to help reduce slap echos. Both the front and the back of the room incorporate a curve design that would help scatter sound. I replicated the ceiling design from a concert hall in Osaka, Japan. The ceiling to floor dimension at the front of the room, 11.5 feet, expanded in five different planes to 17.5 feet at the rear of the room. > Acoustic testing was then done by a Richmond company, “Acoustics First”. ETF measurements were taken and sound panels were then designed according to a patented algorithm. The panels were then built by Owens Corning according to prescribed specification.
  - mindslight 3y ago
    Thank you! These links paint a much different picture than the WaPo story, which is bordering on dishonest with phrasings such as "$1M stereo" and "modest split-level ranch". From these links, this project seems to be more appropriately described as a fancy and bespoke DIY home renovation. That wide two story shot looks quite gorgeous, independent of all the acoustic treatment. And yeah it is a sad fact that if you do extensive customization to your house the market doesn't really care, while new builder grade crap plus a coat of beige paint will be enthusiastically rewarded.

by scrlk 3y ago

TheOtherHobbes 3y ago

Wood-panelled concrete sounds like the opposite of treatment. You may get a nice reverberant mess off that, but it's not going to be controlled. If the walls are parallel you will absolutely get standing waves at the room modes. This doesn't happen so much in concert halls because the walls aren't usually parallel and orchestras aren't loud enough to excite the modes for long. But if you put a big PA in a large concert hall and kick it with sine waves, there are always a few frequencies that make the room ring.

scrlk 3y ago
Doing a bit of searching led me to: https://darklantern.proboards.com/post/16119 https://darklantern.proboards.com/post/16119 https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz https://acousticsfirst.info/tag/ken-fritz > The general thoughts that went into the overall plan in designing this room was to accommodate not only audio but video. The acoustic plan was to eliminate as many parallel surfaces as possible. The side walls are skewed out by 2” from front to back to help reduce slap echos. Both the front and the back of the room incorporate a curve design that would help scatter sound. I replicated the ceiling design from a concert hall in Osaka, Japan. The ceiling to floor dimension at the front of the room, 11.5 feet, expanded in five different planes to 17.5 feet at the rear of the room. > Acoustic testing was then done by a Richmond company, “Acoustics First”. ETF measurements were taken and sound panels were then designed according to a patented algorithm. The panels were then built by Owens Corning according to prescribed specification.
- mindslight 3y ago
  Thank you! These links paint a much different picture than the WaPo story, which is bordering on dishonest with phrasings such as "$1M stereo" and "modest split-level ranch". From these links, this project seems to be more appropriately described as a fancy and bespoke DIY home renovation. That wide two story shot looks quite gorgeous, independent of all the acoustic treatment. And yeah it is a sad fact that if you do extensive customization to your house the market doesn't really care, while new builder grade crap plus a coat of beige paint will be enthusiastically rewarded.