Front Wall Diffusion vs. Absorption - A Case Study

[GW1800]

I guess I'll chime in also as I have CLX's also.

What I ended up with from RPG was the BAD ARC panel behind my CLX's. These are an abfuser in that they both absorb and diffuse with the additional wrinkle that the panel is curved in the front not flat. I found this dual combo panel to work real well. That is the good news about RPG (at least the original company) however the bad news is they are out of business as of a about a year ago. There is a new company that has a similar name but as far as I know do not make this type that I'm aware of. I was going to order a set a year ago for my media room and found this out. If anyone knows where I can purchase them I would be very much interested. Actually I got the idea from one of the ML reps to explore a abfuser type of treatment. I can't remember anymore who but that got me going down that path at least to explore.

 

[sleepysurf]

... however the bad news is they are out of business as of a about a year ago. There is a new company that has a similar name but as far as I know do not make this type that I'm aware of...

Looks to me like they're still very much in business. Their website is active, and they still list the BAD Arc... http://rpgacoustic.com/bad-arc/

 

[GW1800]

Looks to me like they're still very much in business. Their website is active, and they still list the BAD Arc... http://rpgacoustic.com/bad-arc/

Yes indeed. So I called and found out a little what was going on. I think I called about a year ago when the old company was out of business and was not yet totally in the hands of the new owner who chose to use the same business name. I was kind of bummed out as I wanted some BAD ARC's behind my 13a's in my media room at the time. Need to pick out a color but I have the Gilford of Maine samples so that should be easy. Again behind electrostatic panels at least give the BAD ARC a try for those that are looking I think you will like what you hear.

 

[captain-m]

A store in my area has a few guys that does professional acoustic treatment. I have the ESL for mains and motion 10 for rear and the 20 for the centre. At one point I intend doing similar. I have a few diagnostic cd that has the frequency sweep and reference tones. At the AudioFest show in Toronto last fall had a few panels and diffusers on display.

Rich, great post. Curious, how long did this actually take (aside from research)? Yeah, I've been to a few demo rooms dampened so much you can hear a pin drop on the floor. What cables do you have? I have Nordost Blue Heaven flat cables.

 

[Rich]

Rich, great post. Curious, how long did this actually take (aside from research)? Yeah, I've been to a few demo rooms dampened so much you can hear a pin drop on the floor. What cables do you have? I have Nordost Blue Heaven flat cables.

Lol, Captain-M, this post was 12 years ago. I couldn’t begin to remember how long this took. I probably did the testing over the course of a few weeks. But I’ve changed my setup a lot since this post was written. I managed to pull the Summits out from the front wall by a little more than four feet, and then wrapped three diffuser panels across each of the front room corners, so the Summits’ rear wave is firing into the diffuser panels now. This works the best in my opinion, as long as you can get the speakers far enough out for effective diffusion of the rear wave. Five feet is probably ideal. I’ve also got diffusion panels on the rear wall behind the main listening position and absorption at all the sidewall reflection points. The sound is stellar. Imaging and soundstaging are superb. There’s probably another thread around here somewhere where I discuss my current setup.

As for cabling, I have a mix of cables but nothing really high end. Mostly Signal Cable. Glad you enjoyed the post.