User Manual

advantages to placing several subwoofers around the room, rather than relying

on a single large woofer. If you have the luxury of doing so, this having multiple

subwoofer can reduce the size of the room’s response irregularities from 20

decibels down to perhaps as little as 6-8 decibels—a tremendous improvement.

Reducing the room’s inherent problems to this degree provides a huge advan-

tage. It allows the SC-1 System Controller to put its considerable abilities to work

on perfecting your system’s response, rather than on trying to perform major

corrective surgery.

Room Treatment Rectangular rooms have six reecting surfaces (four walls, ceiling and oor)

that reect sound to the listener, after various delays introduced by the indirect

routes the sound take on their way to the listener. These rst reections are par-

ticularly damaging to sound quality. Looking at the simplest case of stereo repro-

duction, you have a minimum of twelve rst reection points in your room that

deserve some attention.

Unfortunately, it is often difcult to do much about the ceiling and oor reec-

tions, even though they are known to be the most destructive. (The minimiza-

tion of these reections is one of the strongest arguments for tall, line source

loudspeakers.) This leaves you with eight “rst reections” that you should

consider minimizing somehow. These points are easily found by having an as-

sistant slide a small mirror along the four walls of the room, while you sit at the

listening position. Any place on the wall where you can see a reection of any

speaker is a rst reection point. Concentrate on the rst reections for the Left

and Right speakers rst.

If you can, arrange to apply either absorption or diffusion at these eight points

(don’t forget the wall behind you). Absorption can be as simple as heavy, insu-

lated drapes; diffusion can be provided by a well-stocked bookcase with books

of varied sizes. Alternatively, you can buy purpose-designed room treatments

(some sources listed under References, below).

The important things to remember are these: a good room should have a bal-

ance of absorption and diffusion; and if you are going to treat only a few areas

of the room, the rst reection points are the most important ones to treat.

Professional Acoustic Design Does this all sound too complicated? For good reason. It is complicated.

The difference between the average listening room and one that is professionally

designed and implemented is huge. A great listening room will disappear to an

astonishing degree, letting the experiences captured in your recordings speak to

you directly. A well-designed room is also quieter and more comfortable. It can

easily become a favorite retreat for peace and rejuvenation.

If you decide to investigate the possibility of improving your room with the help

of a professional, it is important to nd someone who focuses on residential

spaces. Most acousticians are trained to deal with large spaces — airports, au-

ditoriums, lobbies in commercial buildings, etc. The problems seen in “small”

rooms (residential spaces) are quite different, and outside the experience of most

acousticians. Find someone who specializes in and has a great deal of experi-

ence designing home studios, home theaters, and the like. Your Wisdom Audio

dealer may be such a person; failing that, he/she can help you nd such a pro-

fessional.