We recently completed an upgrade to the acoustics in one of our smaller sound lounges.
Like all AV outlets, we had already treated this room – but like many, it was a rather cursory attempt. This time, we engaged Artnovian Acoustics‘ services in Portugal with impressive results. The impact was immediate and obvious. Favourite speakers and systems we were familiar with took on a new life. Among other things, focus and imagery were greatly improved; there was more ‘air’ around the systems, and there was less smearing of instrumentation. Overall, we found this was one of the most cost-effective upgrades to a system we could think of.
However, the question of the ethics of such a change was soon raised. Within days, one of our clients suggested that such an environment was unrealistic and that in the vast majority of cases, our customer base did not have treated listening environments, and therefore, what they heard in our showroom would not be what they heard at home. This argument is, of course, correct. Every room and every environment will sound different. We have no way of recreating our clients’ listening rooms. However, we can demonstrate what a system or speaker will sound like under close-to-ideal situations. This allows our clients to hear what a speaker or system is capable of and choose the product that suits their requirements and ears best.
There are some rooms that just sound ‘wrong’, and in this situation, there are two options – treat the room or live with the results.
Keep in mind that your room is going to treat every speaker or system the same. The speaker you like best under ideal circumstances will still sound best under less-than-ideal circumstances. The only exception to this revolves around the acoustic brightness of the room. If you have a very lively room – i.e., lots of glass and hard walls, a speaker with lots of high-end energy may sound too shrill, despite what you have heard in our showroom (and the opposite applies for very ‘dead’ sounding rooms.) This is where dealing with a reputable dealer comes in. Very few dealers would refuse to exchange your speakers of initial choice in this situation.
There are some rooms that just sound ‘wrong’, and in this situation, there are two options – treat the room or live with the results. While we are well aware that most systems reside in the main living part of the house and any major acoustic upgrade is both impractical and aesthetically unappealing. However, there are usually some minor improvements that can be made even in this situation.
For our sound lounge, we sent all the dimensions and the room layout to Artnovian – and they came back with recommendations for a combination of absorption, diffusion, and bass trap panels, complete with installation diagrams, right down to the specifications that we could expect to achieve with this upgrade. If you are lucky enough to have a dedicated listening environment for your music (or your theatre), we strongly suggest you investigate going down this path. And if you don’t, at least you know that when you audition any component in this environment, you are listening to what that component is capable of rather than listening to the room itself.
Following the results of this recent upgrade, we will be working through the rest of our sound lounges in the future.
We invite you to visit our showroom to experience firsthand the remarkable improvements to our new sound lounge. Discover the potential of Artnovion products and how they can enhance the acoustics of your own space. Our team is here to guide you in making informed decisions about acoustic treatments that suit your specific needs, ensuring an optimal listening environment in your home or dedicated audio space.
