Is my living room acoustic?

Question

I want to have some parties but I'm wondering if my living room is a good place for playing loud music.

It has a stone floor, one wall is brick, one wall is mostly glass (glass doors), and the two side walls are just normal walls. When I play music it seems extra loud, which is good, except the bass isn't heavy enough.

Does anyone who knows a little about acoustics know what to do?

Answer 1

Any room can be acoustic with the right DSP.

Load music is always good but if you want to do the ultimate in signal tweaking try this unit. It will allow you to create signal effects for up to 4 different components. With 8 different outputs to really create the ultimate in acoustic properties.

Answer 2

Sounds like you have a very live room.-no good for music. People will absorb some sound ,but when they are gone you will still have the problem.You have to make it absorbtive.Heavy padded chairs, thick carpet or scatter ruggs. something to cover the glass doors. Hang some curtains or rugs on all the bare walls .Cover the floor with carpet or scatter rugs. This will help the bass from bouncing off the floor.If your speakers are close to the walls or corners move them out at least 3 feet from all surfaces. If they are small bookshelf type speakers make sure they are on heavy duty stands with the tweeters at ear level when you are seated.And tow them in towards the center of your listening position. When the speakers are working, the wall adjacent to them has to be treated to absorb the first reflection of sound off the wall .The area to treat is the wall a couple of feet in front of the speaker. Hang a 6 x 6 foot heavy curtain or rug,to absorb that first reflection. When you have finished treating the room as best you can, stand in the middle of the room and clap your hands to see if there is an echo off the walls. If there is still some echo, hang more fabric on the bare parts of the wall. and clap again .When there is no echo or just a part of one the room will be a lot better for your music.
I know its a lot of work but you will benefit from a better sound from your gear. Thats what i had to do to get the acoustics right for my room. I have two 26 foot long parellel walls completly covered with heavy curtains! but the result is worth it.

Answer 3

Yes, I would consider your living room as "live"

acoustically. You have a lot of reflective surfaces

that will not only make the speakers sound louder,

but also affect the clarity from the speakers because

of so much reflective sound.


You can quiet down the room with thick curtains and

a nice large throw rug in front of the speakers. Your

bass should improve as well. However, if you still

don't have enough bass, you may want to consider

getting a quality powered subwoofer to add tactile

reinforcement and dynamic power to your sound

system. Hsu Research or SVS are superb choices

for a powered subwoofer option.

Answer 4

The highly reflective surfaces (stone floor, brick wall, glass doors) will make the sound seem extra loud but a tad muddy to the discerning listener. But for an average party, it's just fine. If you want the bass to have an extra kick, put the subwoofer in the corner where the highly reflective surfaces mentioned above converge...

Answer 5

Just adjust the subwoofer level or, if its a stereo, the tone controls to add more bass. If it is a separate subwoofer, moving it into a corner will accentuate the bass frequencies.

As far as acoustics go, you are describing a very "live" environment. For a party, where the focus is socializing, dancing, etc., acoustics are not much of an issue, unless the sound is distracting (lots of echoes, etc etc). It will sound much different with a bunch of people in the room because bodies absorb sound. For a party, your acoustics aren't much of a concern.

Answer 6

if the room is full of people it will help with the acoustics.. and it doesnt sound like you have much choice.. if you put a carpet down it would help also.