Damn, I was wrong and you were right. Room treatments are my Rubicon.

So I’ve been in this crazy hobby for a while. Like 20 + years. My father got myself and my brothers into this at an early age. A/B’ing gear listening for minute differences. Soundstage. Space. Decay. Realism. All the stuff. Room layout etc.

When I joined this sub I was shocked at what I was calling the “Room Treatment Police”. Whenever I go to showrooms the rooms either look like padded cells or lousy attempts at concealing them. I knew their value but I knew my wife would never go for it. After all our listening space also doubles as a family room. We also have 2 children under 5 so there are limits.

But I kept reading over and over again that wall treatments and bass traps are a must for a “Hi-Fi Sound”. I had everything dialed in. But I was craving more and I wasn’t sure what I wanted. Do I upgrade my cartridge? Add a larger power conditioner than my entry level Furman PST-8? Then I did some research. A rep at GIK advised me that I would need 18, 8 sq/ft panels at 4” thick. That was a giant no. And absurd to boot.

Then I read more posts in this sub and I was realizing there were more audio engineers than just audio enthusiasts here. That got me thinking. They would know a shit load more than me just knowing 2 channel audio.

I then ordered some GIK Impression series 4” diffusers/absorber/bass traps for my first reflections. I’m not a crazy measurements guy. No I don’t have a Mic and REW. I have used House Curve in the past (and incorrectly too lol). Well I added the treatments and god damn. There’s no going back after that. It’s absolutely a step in the right direction. It just sounds more dialed in with more sharpness & better space. I’m pretty damn happy. My measurements without sub look pretty similar. But when I zoomed in there was a clear difference in some of the peaks and a small taming of the low and some mid range peaks.

Damn. It worked and I didn’t address the biggest issue, the corner room modes. Someone on here mentioned I could be having comb filtering as the speakers are not centered the same with the side walls. Whatever these treatments are doing I don’t care bc I love it. Now I just have to figure out how to get some treatments on the front wall and some bass traps at the front wall and the mid wall.

Thank you, you maniacs. Sometimes being wrong is an opportunity to learn. That ain’t so bad.