I am just the opposite of the person that unsubscribed. I have recently unsubscribed from channels such as CheapAudioMan and others like it. It is not that I don't like hosts, but it seems like they all review the same products with the same conclusions. The one reason I love your channel is because of your uniqueness, your insight, and the passion for what you do. Keep it up.
I get ya. I do try myself to get a good variety. I unsubbed from Ron, after that Horrendous Danny video. I still watch the odd vid, but not sure Im ready to re-sub. Production Quality, Effort, Creative, are all words to describe Rons channel. I just don’t have the trust built back yet. Im conflicted if you can tell. I hope everyone the best always.
@@DrSinisster Thanks for taking the time to share. For the record, that video was a mistake for me to participate in. It was my goal to temper the way Danny was going to unpack his thoughts and unfortunately, I wasn’t as successful at that as I had hoped. I lost a lot of subscribers for that mistake and I certainly took some time off to reflect and learn. I’m sorry it happened and hope for restoration.
As a reviewer, the less of a part the room plays, the better equipped you are to review gear. You can hear differences more readily and comment with confidence on them. If your room is bad, as a reviewer, you're less likely to be giving a true reflection on equipment under review. Yes, we'd all like a dedicated space, suitabley treated etc, but it's not always practical. That does equate to a treated room, not being able to offer a good honest review that will not apply to every day listening spaces. Love the channel, Keep it up.👍👍👍
As someone who had a treated golden ratio room in my last house, and doesn't now... i really miss my room. I feel like it's at least as important as the system to the overall sound. We did some tests with my high end gear at my friends place with his terrible room, and his budget system in my room. His sounded better in my room than my high end gear did in his room.
For us mere mortals who dont have dedicated rooms, dsp is your saviour. Sure you still need to do as much as you realistically can in setting up your room (the less the dsp has to do the better) but a well designed dsp is a complete game changer. Ive been using the Lyngdorf system for a good few years and the difference was night and day better
Although I don't anymore, I've reviewed audio for one of the very early online publications for about 15 years and I couldn't agree more with you. The better the room, the easier it is to assign the right character to the gear. It's easy otherwise to attribute a characteristic to the gear when it is instead a gear / room interaction, not an intrinsic trait. That said, you'll likely find out like I did, that it doesn't easily translate to what the gear (especially speakers) will sound like in other environments. That takes a lot of comparative listening with different rooms and not easy to pull off. I'll go further, what will sound best in a very well designed room like yours, is unlikely to be the best in a typical lossy room like we have in US construction, so ideally you'll need 2 rooms; your shed to know what the gear sounds like intrinsically, and a regular living room to know what it sounds like surrounded with lossy walls. A great example of that are Wilson speakers - they are designed to sound best in a typical US living room and fairly close to the front wall, but in a well damped room, far away from all boundaries... not as great. The fun and the journey never end 🙂
How would you design a speaker that sounds better with reverb? Room modes are contingent on the size and shape of the room. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_modes
Ron, Love the channel and what you are doing. If I'm not mistaken, this is the core of what this channel is all about and why I subscribed. For you and me, this is the baseline for all your future reviews, and I look forward to learning firsthand on what I may not be doing correctly or improve upon or try and valued resources. Keep the faith and I look forward to what is to come.
Ron I love your channel and I aint going no where. I think what people must appreciate is that channels like yours are not there primarily to recommend what gear to buy, we most times already have gear and our equipment. Yes when you are in the market for equipment, few and far between, such channels will help and yet any one channel does not cover all gear there is. So for me channels like yours, cheap audioman, steve, Jay, thomas, are there to help me appreciate what music is, what is good sounding music, what good sounding music should sound like, what to listen for and to, to appreciate good music. That is why I loved these sessions you had with Ron your plastic sound/music man. Continue what you doing man, Love it.
Dedicated diffusers are expensive and take up more space. I think the practical solution is scatter plates or slats on the faces of absorbers…and then very strategically placed true diffusers as icing on the cake.
Same experience. The great room was not designed to be great, just happy circumstances colliding. And because of its near perfect acoustic I was able to get phenomenal sound by spending just a few thousand dollars on a really simple system. Then, I moved across the Big Pond to Germany. BAD room! Hard, with screwy geometry. I've since spent at least five times more money and STILL can't duplicate what I had in the great room. Next step will be room correction and crosstalk cancellation software.
looking forward to the upcoming videos personally I really love how you thoroughly break down room and equipment set up and share the tools and processes so we can also improve our space and set up. I find all of that translatable., your speaker positioning video is a great example of this.
Looking good Ron. The worst “bald look” is the “I’m in denial with my combover.” I see a lot of this here in southwest Florida and with many politicians everywhere. With a buzz cut no one is drawn to the fact you’re almost bald. Smart move Ron.
Dear Ron, drinking coffee in a cardboard cup with a lid on... Is already wrong. Your look is top notch! I love audio! With a nice espresso or heavy beer (Belgium) in a glass...! Keep it real!
While I can see where the comment is coming from, I view it from the complete opposite direction. I'm struggling to come up with a good analogy but... a carpenter buying new, sharp tools to make higher quality furniture likely won't change the essence of what they will be making, it'll just make it easier to them to get a good result. Same deal here, as you explain: you now have the proper tools to work with, so the result should be higher quality information that you can then pass on to us viewers. I think getting invited into your "Sound Shed" is a huge boon. Few people have a dedicated, purpose-built listening space, and fewer people still post monthly longform videos with reviews and discussions with high-quality recorded audio from said listening room for others to take part in. Keep up the good work Ron. I sure as hell appreciate it.
You have a place where you can make more accurate measurements of audio gear so you can pass them on to us, this is GREAT. Don't stop or slow down from what you are doing, you need to continue... from the truths on gear the good through the bad. "Your room is looking good! Keep up the good work!"
I love what you are doing with the sound shed and I applaud you for your efforts!! I WANT to watch a reviewer that actually cares about what they do and how they do it. I have always been impressed with the detail and level of professionalism you exhibit on your channel. Keep up the good work!
Ron love your videos. In my eyes you’ve created the ultimate goal, it’s a bit like a fisherman owning his own lake or river. And if you’re going to be critical of equipment the best listening room has got to be the ultimate
Hey man. You are way cool. I follow you religiously - along with Steve Guttenberg, Steve Huff, Jay's Iagy, etc. You have your own unique approach that no one else offers. Keep the faith.
This is crazy. You are such a devoted guy. I think the users comment was complete absurd. Don't mind that at all. Like - are you supposed to apologise for having a great room??? Great gear??? Great ears?? What next? Apologise for existing?? 😮😮😮 This is crazy. This dude was off the charts. Keep up the good work, it's a pleasure!!
I think that for a reviewer and content provider for audiophiles a dedicated listening room is really important. I think if you spend hundreds of thousands on your audio equipment a dedicated listening room is very important. And I'm looking forward to watching these videos because I'm interested in the topic. But here is the reality: Most of us, even those of us with pretty serious high end gear, listen in rooms that serve multiple purposes and in which there is very little we can do about placement, etc. I've got two "high end" systems. Both reside in typical rooms with all the problems typical rooms have for audio. That's just the way it is. So if we all buy into the idea that the room is important, and we should, then the most critical info that we can be given is how to deal with sub-optimal rooms since a blank-slate fully optimized listening room is never going to be a reality. And for it to be meaningful that info is going to have to take into account both the multipurpose nature of the room AND its decor. In other words "cover up this window with a giant ugly acoustic panel" is not helpful. At all. Would this require a one-on-one consultant? Maybe. But a series of videos on how to deal with typical room inadequacies would be great. I could see each video addressing a single different types of room: long and narrow, too many windows, too much furniture, etc etc.
I just built a listening shed a 19x20 spray foam insulation top to bottom. Wired it myself. Have one dedicated receptacle on its own breaker just for my amp and preamp. Grounded my line filter/surge protector to my grounding rod outside and I can tell you i noticed a big difference in sound especially how clean the sound is with a pitch black background. Zero line noise. I also am in love with my new Q-Acoustic 50’s that your review made me pull the trigger on them and everything you said about them you were 100percent correct. The guy completely missed the point of your sound shed. Keep up the good work my friend, you are my number one reviewer by far.
Hey Ron. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming vids. I believe the room is the biggest influence on sound quality. If the acoustics are bad the sound suffers terribly. Throwing money at better gear will not fix the problem. I think what you have built is tremendously important to your channel and its subscribers, especially when comparing products. You are reviewing products, comparing them. It wouldn’t be fair to the manufacturers or us viewers if your reviews were based on the sound you experienced in a room with high decay times and frequency suck outs, peaks etc. Good job mate, delighted to see more vids popping up and that you are covering and demonstrating such an important topic. Regards from Perth, Western Australia.
Ron, you’re a great guy and I’ve been watching you since before the pandemic. I wouldn’t unsubscribe for any reason. The reason the fellow unsubscribed has nothing to do with you or a feeling that you think you’re better than the other guys on RUclips. It has to do with your room and its advantages that most of us don’t and won’t have. For example, my listening room is my great (living room). My wife tolerates all my components in the room. But, she wouldn’t want to replace or wall art or family pictures with treatments. So, I’ll never be able to change the room’s acoustics.
Ron, keep up the good work. The Sound Shed is awesome. Keep educating folks on the importance of the room, which is at least 50% of how speakers sound. People should really think about this if they care how about audio content.
Happy New Year Ron. For me you have spotlighted the issue with all reviews and all recommendations from every channel. What I take from your review of a product really needs to be taken together with my own listening. This is difficult if not impossible for many with limited brick and mortar dealers - in their country maybe. This is particularly so when it comes to the synergy that comes with some combinations... There is no easy way round this. Greetings to you and yours.
Hey Ron, Happy New Year!! I watched the video and am moved by the sincerity that I hear in your voice regarding the viewers' comments. Keep your head up and know that I love the direction that you and your channel are headed. I can remember three years ago while watching an interview that Steve Guttenberg did of a sound engineer, and his words ring in my ear to this day. He was speaking about the upgrading ones speakers and equipment, and what he said struck me as profound, and that was, "it made no sense to upgrade your gear if your room was treated. He elaborated by saying, "If your room isn't treated, you haven't heard your system." I was like 😮🤔😔, wow. Since then, I have seen quite a few reviewers address their room(not to the extent you're going outside of Gene from Audioholics, or Erin), but I definitely understand and aspire to get there as well. My question is, once the room is ready, are there any plans to revisit any products? Are there some that you feel maybe might warrant a listen in the new space. I see an entire segment or channel you could dedicate to that, kind of like Take 2 on Soundstage, but better. Anyway, God bless you and your family, and keep up the good work.
1/2 a century ago when I was in college after 4 years in the military, I shaved the beard I had grown as a symbol of a new freedom. My wife and I thought it would be a shock to our daughters so we set them up on the counter to watch. Oh how I wish today that I had a video with the hilarious commentaries of “put it back”.
I think this whole room build is so educational and can take what I'm learning from you into my "regular living room". I'm looking forward to coming up to Dallas (from Houston) and hearing it for myself - ha ha! Maybe in March?! Will you be attending the show there?
Oh.. and thank you for this series. forget people who want something more relatable. If they don't want to step up to another level of this hobbie, it is unfortunately their loss. Keep going please.
This series couldn’t have come at a better time for me Ron. I recently moved into a new house and my supposed “listening room” has a huge and I mean HUGE 100-300hz suck out. It’s truly untreatable. So now I’m refinishing a basement and building my own space. Thank you for paving the way.
I do not understand that guys logic at all I would much rather get an idea of what a speaker sounds like in a good room then what a speaker sounds like in a flawed room. Also, no one is doing what you do in terms of recordings. I find your channel very informative and unbiased and will be sticking with this format. Thank you.
I think this will be an interesting series to follow. I want to put in some sound treatment this year. Probably start with one of the first reflections, then bass traps and might get to the back wall too (art prints might be something my wife will tolerate there). Our living room opens up to the rest of the 'open concept' living space on one side (back corner) so I know there will be a little bit of work trying to balance out left and right. Should be a fun project. 😁
Ron!!! Excellent I look forward to it !!! HI-FI myths die hard if they ever die @ ALL. All love to the James Brown of RUclips (hardest working man) You are on the right path we look forward to others seeing it.
In my best "Joker" impersonation concerning your hair shave "you remind of my father, I hated my father" 👀🤪😂😂😂 I am holding the line and will NOT shave my head!, yet 😬
For what it's worth I fully agree with your path. Looking forward to these videos. Strange comment that, I'm not interested in what the kit really sounds like (which I can then interpret for my own room), I'd prefer to know what kit + room sounds like in someone else's room...
There is a much cheaper alternative to extensive acoustic room treatment which works superbly. Install your system out in the garden in a large tent located well away from your house.
Ron, i think you're spot on. i see soo many reviews / views on you tube of high end systems in completely untreated rooms. That would sound soo much better in my room 😊😊. But if you would break it down into levels because not everyone can provide or WAF approved properly treated rooms.
The best listening space is a Room where you can belt out tunes while not annoying your family or neighbors. So for me that is my car. Acoustically compromised yes but over all I enjoy the experience. I like bass. I want to feel bass pressure. So optimize whatever is your preferred listening space and if you are lucky enough to have a room to dedicate and understanding family then do that, many do not.
I had like 30+ years ago, as a student (lived by parents) a really great acoustically treated room, but it was very hard to live and sleep in it, especially in the summer. Friends were bringing to me their amps and speakers to listen to because they could not believe the sound transformation of any system played in this room.And this was not some hi-end gear, but mostly ordinary/budget stereo - hi-fi speakers and amps of that time. But in this room everything sounded just sooo much better than in other environments.But then one summer day I striped down most of the treatment and... my audio soul is still missing such a magical audio room. My late uncle was a guitar player, tenore singer at octet and a sound and studio technician at national television and he helped me with advices...But this year I am going to invest some money and time and try to make another audio magic room.And yes finally as you have said Ron ... first proper damping treatment, "fancy" diffusion comes later.
Listening rooms are not dumb. Best thing I did when building a new house is redesign a bonus room to follow the audio golden ration dimensions and then acoustically treat it..
I’m ready to join you on this journey. I joined you when you were putting tape on the floor to place your speakers, binaural microphones, Sapphire open baffle, etc. But the topic of room acoustics really has me stumped. I have the ability to measure my room (REW + USB microphone), but I’m not able to make sense of the data I gather. I’ve followed experts who detail how they’ve designed their rooms and why, but their rooms aren’t my rooms. So, again, I’m stuck. I very much want to free myself, gain an understanding both of how the various treatments work, but how to implement them. It’s pretty damn important! If the speakers are half the cost of the system, room treatment should be a significant part of the remainder, because the speakers are interacting with the room far more than they are interacting with the equipment, and, more importantly, the room greatly affects what you hear from your speakers.
I’ll definitely keep you posted. I’m also with you on the receding hairline front (or lack of it!). I definitely like it better than the hat, which obscures your face, at times. In my case, I’ve decided that, contrary to the wisdom of the Lord only made a few perfect heads, and the rest he covered with hair; mine needs all the cover it can get, but I’m losing the battle. 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂
I guess what I don't understand is how I distinctly remember hearing what the shed sounded like before treatment, and you had a baseline, recorded for us, Ron. I'm stunned that you've removed all the room treatment to go and show us again from beginning to end what the improvements did. Feel like I've been here last year and I don't need to revisit it. But you do you. I still respect your content.
I burst out laughing as soon as I saw the buzz cut. Not laughing at you but laughing that you would have the guts to just...go for it. I bet you use less shampoo! 🤣
Hi Ron and I wish you well with your listening room acoustic treatment. I'm sure you will do a good job and achieve superb results. My listening room is far smaller than yours being about 13 by 11 feet and an 8 foot high ceiling. Despite it's small size I ended up using 17 large broadband bass traps and 17 large tuned limp membrane traps. I used the design equations to design and build the membrane traps and tune them to the frequencies that were causing standing waves in the listening room. Took me ages to build all the traps but it was worth it in the end. I used neoprene rubber sheet for the membranes which is available in many different thicknesses and works well. Diffusion isn't really effective in such a small room so I haven't used any. I now have a lovely balanced sound with no noticeable humps or dips in response and a wide three dimensional sound stage. I feel certain that what I have done is far better than mucking about with DSP electronic room treatment. In fact I have proved that if you treat the room correctly you don't need electronic room treatment. .
@@Newrecordday2013 Hi Ron, In order to design your membrane traps you will need the following equations. For a sealed trap with no acoustic wadding inside, F=170/Root MxD. Where M is the mass of the membrane in LBs/square foot, D is the depth of the trap in inches and F is the canter frequency in Hz. For a sealed trap with internal acoustic wadding F=143/Root MxD. Traps with internal acoustic wadding will have a wider band width but a lower coefficient of absorption. Broadband non-membrane traps about 8 inches deep will work well down to around 150Hz, However below that frequency you will need a range of membrane traps.
hi ron, i don't see the need to repeat everything that has been said here, but I want to say that the very fact that you are promoting the concept of proper acoustic treatment in your room and therefore the conclusions you reach will be more correctly reflected in the client's home strengthens me as an acoustician!🙏 In addition, I am working on a research project for rooms that are already acoustically treated correctly, how to maximize the acoustics of the room for a specific person, mainly related to phrtf (personal head related transfer function)😎
Hi Ron, I think you’re in AZ. You mentioned coming over to hear your listening shed. I’ve been in the A/V business for fifty years. I’m still in it! I’d LOVE to see and hear your shed. Fritz
Will you be covering framing out of your room in anymore detail in your next video(s)? We are breaking ground right now, so I am watching your videos very closely.
No, I wasn’t planning on talking about the construction anymore than I already have. Did you have some questions I can help with? Feel free to call if you need some help!
looking forward to exploring / testing diffusion. treatments / acoustics is such a nebulous world often, without before n after resting at least. it’s also a great field for scammery. all the weird companies selling crazy expensive bass traps etc that don’t do much below 500 hz if anything.
People like that are more looking for attention. I believe most viewers are here for entertainment as much or more than someone just looking for a new piece of gear. We watch your posts because we like you, your style and your content
Ron, interesting episide. I have been watching your episodes since the AZ Times, and they were fantastic and realistic. I have purchased some stuff you recommended. What you do now with the shed has evolved for you as a reviewer, but as a subscriber, I can completely identify with the commenter you mention. I am left with the impression that this journey started for you with the Danny episode, where you guys criticized everyone else who does reviews in realistic settings. Anyway, I will never unsubscribe, as I have been a fan of NRD for a long time. Thanks for all you do.
Thanks for taking the time to share. For the record, that video was a mistake for me to participate in. It was my goal to temper the way Danny was going to unpack his thoughts and unfortunately, I wasn’t as successful at that as I had hoped. I lost a lot of subscribers for that mistake and I certainly took some time off to reflect and learn. I’m sorry it happened and hope for restoration. As for the shed, it was actually decided and even discussed long before that video was aired. We planned on making this dedicated studio for RUclips work and listening shortly after moving to Texas a few years ago. Thanks for being a part of NRD.
I agree with this videos content. Everyone should realize not only are listening rooms different but also so is everyone's hearing. The simplist appraoch for me to listening to music is the reproduction quality as close to the live performance. The listening room might need modification based on music content. Which is another big can of worms.
Love these videos ' My rooms are 🔥Atleast you don't have to pay for haircuts ! Thanks Ron it's OK F.F. is back in full attack !! You notice me video quality now ? 😊 Don't Tempt me to a BQ !! You going to hang up accustic clouds ⛅️?
The room is a HUGE part of what our systems sound like. You throwing away your money on gear and speakers if you don't give some love to your rooms. Ron is right use absorption to get rid of echo slap, sound bouncing all around the room, you cannot throw up panels say diffusers, and expect good results, they liven the room so they are the last thing to add. Front wall bass traps and absorption, reflection points from both speakers absorption, then mix in some diffusers. You have to educate yourself as you go along place listen and learn what their impact is. No stands between the speakers or TVs, furniture placed right by the speakers, make it your audio room and not a general family room. You spent good money and now reap the rewards of money spent and musical enjoyment.
Looking forward to the next videos and I agree with your approach to best yourself. You seem to be overpromising though: a viewer who buys the same speakers after your review can still have a totally different experience. Boomy or nonexistent bass (however room modes and ear/speaker position mix up) , messed up soundstage (esp. with a reflective environment) etc... A very general issue with Hifi.
I think it’s obvious to say that you need a neutral backdrop in order to accurately gauge, measure and listen to audio gear. Otherwise, it’s just talking about flavors and colors with no pretense at objectiveness. And for a guy that listens to a lot of music I would love to have a music room. If people are knocking that they might be wee bit jealous.
@Ron - Got it - Shaving down the hairs around your ears provides better ambiance with less diffusion. Makes sense to me and it was probably less expensive than the shed. Kidding aside - there is some science to this from JVC's research on binaural recordings. Thanks
This is why i don't throw money at gear. Until i have a dedicated room I'd just be wasting my time and money trying to solve unsolvable problems and getting frustrated. Im always interested in speakers that sound good in bad or "normal" rooms
I totally understand. The benefits of a better Room, Most people have systems Between 7 to 15 thousand dollars. I've heard some 50 to $100,000 systems they sound good, but not worth The slight Improvement
Re: that guy that wrote that he's leaving. You could have told him "Don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out"...but acoustically it would make a really cool sound. I think he might be the same guy who gave a swan song notice to a headphone reviewer on his channel, after the reviewer reviewed a pair of headphones with a bigger driver diaphram, and felt he could no longer relate. Interesting fellow?
Adding diffusion and absorption is not a difficult thing and it can look in place in a room, It is all about placement is the important factor here, It can be a simple as putting up shelves bookcases having lined thick curtains where you have big windows or solid brick wall hanging rugs on the wall that only works down to about 100k though. You can make a quadratic diffuser there's a calculator tells you what distances you need to the given room and frequencies you want to isolate, can use old pallets and make a diffuser from that using the calculator none of this has to be expensive. You want to look at three strategic places maybe four places, where you want diffusion absorption both of these can be used in the same object as well not one or the other it's better to use both together, always make sure when you're using diffusion that it's not repeating so you don't have a base diffuser with a bass diffuser next to each other or the same across the room, you don't want symmetry that's the secret. you have to adjusts its frequencies but the calculator will do that for you. Try and use REW its free you don't need a special mic necessarily a karaoke mic would do. Concentrate on the corners two and a half feet across you can use shelving the bottom use absorption middle and top used books toys magazines records. First reflection point keep it below the tweeter about 6 inches you can go above the tweeter but you need that 6 inch gap, if your speakers are no more than three and a half feet away from the wall. again use absorption thick as possible at the bottom at least two feet up and the rest can be diffuser of some sort bookshelves again would work well shelving just make sure the shelving is not uniformed thick at the bottom and narrower sections at the top and partition in the odd places. At the back of the room use absorption mainly keep it wide as possible again shelving filled with soft items just make sure it's deep you could always use some 4" foam behind the items 4" minimum you want it about 6 in deep minimum, the shelving Keep it away from the back wall and without a backing an inch and you're about done you can put a thin diffuser in the middle between your speakers and play around with that a bit Keep them vertical at this point and can be protruding past the speakers that is a good thing You could use office partitions they work well they usually freestanding about up to neck level they are a paper field felt lined board could be placed against the sidewall first reflection and in the corners
I am just the opposite of the person that unsubscribed. I have recently unsubscribed from channels such as CheapAudioMan and others like it. It is not that I don't like hosts, but it seems like they all review the same products with the same conclusions. The one reason I love your channel is because of your uniqueness, your insight, and the passion for what you do. Keep it up.
Thanks man!
I get ya. I do try myself to get a good variety. I unsubbed from Ron, after that Horrendous Danny video. I still watch the odd vid, but not sure Im ready to re-sub. Production Quality, Effort, Creative, are all words to describe Rons channel. I just don’t have the trust built back yet. Im conflicted if you can tell. I hope everyone the best always.
@@DrSinisster Thanks for taking the time to share. For the record, that video was a mistake for me to participate in. It was my goal to temper the way Danny was going to unpack his thoughts and unfortunately, I wasn’t as successful at that as I had hoped. I lost a lot of subscribers for that mistake and I certainly took some time off to reflect and learn. I’m sorry it happened and hope for restoration.
As a reviewer, the less of a part the room plays, the better equipped you are to review gear. You can hear differences more readily and comment with confidence on them. If your room is bad, as a reviewer, you're less likely to be giving a true reflection on equipment under review. Yes, we'd all like a dedicated space, suitabley treated etc, but it's not always practical. That does equate to a treated room, not being able to offer a good honest review that will not apply to every day listening spaces. Love the channel, Keep it up.👍👍👍
I completely agree with you.
Totally agree and hope Steve Huff read that!
As someone who had a treated golden ratio room in my last house, and doesn't now... i really miss my room. I feel like it's at least as important as the system to the overall sound. We did some tests with my high end gear at my friends place with his terrible room, and his budget system in my room. His sounded better in my room than my high end gear did in his room.
Love this whole series. You are not just living the dream, you are sharing the knowledge. Can’t wait for the rest.
For us mere mortals who dont have dedicated rooms, dsp is your saviour.
Sure you still need to do as much as you realistically can in setting up your room (the less the dsp has to do the better) but a well designed dsp is a complete game changer.
Ive been using the Lyngdorf system for a good few years and the difference was night and day better
any system benefits from dsp so i always recommend it, i can not go back now.
that improvement of dps is so large that anything else is unlistenable.
Glad you brought the e-mail to our attention. I understand his point of view but I get the bigger picture!!
You’re just a genuinely great guy looking to put his all into his work. You should be commended for that.
Although I don't anymore, I've reviewed audio for one of the very early online publications for about 15 years and I couldn't agree more with you. The better the room, the easier it is to assign the right character to the gear. It's easy otherwise to attribute a characteristic to the gear when it is instead a gear / room interaction, not an intrinsic trait. That said, you'll likely find out like I did, that it doesn't easily translate to what the gear (especially speakers) will sound like in other environments. That takes a lot of comparative listening with different rooms and not easy to pull off. I'll go further, what will sound best in a very well designed room like yours, is unlikely to be the best in a typical lossy room like we have in US construction, so ideally you'll need 2 rooms; your shed to know what the gear sounds like intrinsically, and a regular living room to know what it sounds like surrounded with lossy walls. A great example of that are Wilson speakers - they are designed to sound best in a typical US living room and fairly close to the front wall, but in a well damped room, far away from all boundaries... not as great. The fun and the journey never end 🙂
How would you design a speaker that sounds better with reverb? Room modes are contingent on the size and shape of the room.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_modes
Ron, Love the channel and what you are doing. If I'm not mistaken, this is the core of what this channel is all about and why I subscribed. For you and me, this is the baseline for all your future reviews, and I look forward to learning firsthand on what I may not be doing correctly or improve upon or try and valued resources. Keep the faith and I look forward to what is to come.
Man, I really appreciate it!
This is my favorite series on youtube!
Ron I love your channel and I aint going no where. I think what people must appreciate is that channels like yours are not there primarily to recommend what gear to buy, we most times already have gear and our equipment. Yes when you are in the market for equipment, few and far between, such channels will help and yet any one channel does not cover all gear there is. So for me channels like yours, cheap audioman, steve, Jay, thomas, are there to help me appreciate what music is, what is good sounding music, what good sounding music should sound like, what to listen for and to, to appreciate good music. That is why I loved these sessions you had with Ron your plastic sound/music man. Continue what you doing man, Love it.
Dedicated diffusers are expensive and take up more space. I think the practical solution is scatter plates or slats on the faces of absorbers…and then very strategically placed true diffusers as icing on the cake.
You ain’t wrong buddy!
I agree, I’m using polycylindrical - bass absorber panels throughout my room for cheap and they work unbelievably good!
@@sean_heisler poly’s are underrated because people who don’t sell them tend to knock them. I use the GIK ones
It took me from a great room to a bad room for me to realize just how important the room is
Yup!
Same experience. The great room was not designed to be great, just happy circumstances colliding. And because of its near perfect acoustic I was able to get phenomenal sound by spending just a few thousand dollars on a really simple system. Then, I moved across the Big Pond to Germany. BAD room! Hard, with screwy geometry. I've since spent at least five times more money and STILL can't duplicate what I had in the great room. Next step will be room correction and crosstalk cancellation software.
I'm still here... cuz I enjoy your perspective... keep on, keeping on!
looking forward to the upcoming videos personally I really love how you thoroughly break down room and equipment set up and share the tools and processes so we can also improve our space and set up. I find all of that translatable., your speaker positioning video is a great example of this.
Looking good Ron. The worst “bald look” is the “I’m in denial with my combover.” I see a lot of this here in southwest Florida and with many politicians everywhere. With a buzz cut no one is drawn to the fact you’re almost bald. Smart move Ron.
Dear Ron, drinking coffee in a cardboard cup with a lid on... Is already wrong. Your look is top notch! I love audio! With a nice espresso or heavy beer (Belgium) in a glass...! Keep it real!
Look forward to these videos. I've never been happy with my listening room and want to start fresh.
I'm really looking forward to this series!
Ron.
Shouting Hello with no reply when nobody else is there but you, is always,
a very Good thing!
While I can see where the comment is coming from, I view it from the complete opposite direction. I'm struggling to come up with a good analogy but... a carpenter buying new, sharp tools to make higher quality furniture likely won't change the essence of what they will be making, it'll just make it easier to them to get a good result. Same deal here, as you explain: you now have the proper tools to work with, so the result should be higher quality information that you can then pass on to us viewers.
I think getting invited into your "Sound Shed" is a huge boon. Few people have a dedicated, purpose-built listening space, and fewer people still post monthly longform videos with reviews and discussions with high-quality recorded audio from said listening room for others to take part in.
Keep up the good work Ron. I sure as hell appreciate it.
Cheers my friend! Always love the content and it always does keep getting better.
You have a place where you can make more accurate measurements of audio gear so you can pass them on to us, this is GREAT. Don't stop or slow down from what you are doing, you need to continue... from the truths on gear the good through the bad. "Your room is looking good! Keep up the good work!"
Thanks, will do!
Amen. Don't apologize for being able to do what many can't. Full steam ahead.
Heck yeah!
i want to get into really treating my room as best i can, so really looking forward to this series
I came for a heart-wrenching revelation of a debilitating disease diagnosis, but stayed for the acoustics stuff. 😛
I love what you are doing with the sound shed and I applaud you for your efforts!! I WANT to watch a reviewer that actually cares about what they do and how they do it. I have always been impressed with the detail and level of professionalism you exhibit on your channel. Keep up the good work!
Wow, thank you!
Bald and/or gray hair is a sign of wisdom. It looks great, Ron.
Ron love your videos. In my eyes you’ve created the ultimate goal, it’s a bit like a fisherman owning his own lake or river. And if you’re going to be critical of equipment the best listening room has got to be the ultimate
Hey man; thanks!
Hey man. You are way cool. I follow you religiously - along with Steve Guttenberg, Steve Huff, Jay's Iagy, etc. You have your own unique approach that no one else offers. Keep the faith.
This is crazy. You are such a devoted guy. I think the users comment was complete absurd. Don't mind that at all. Like - are you supposed to apologise for having a great room??? Great gear??? Great ears?? What next? Apologise for existing?? 😮😮😮
This is crazy. This dude was off the charts. Keep up the good work, it's a pleasure!!
I thought you were Michael Stipe for a second 😀
I wish!
I think that for a reviewer and content provider for audiophiles a dedicated listening room is really important. I think if you spend hundreds of thousands on your audio equipment a dedicated listening room is very important. And I'm looking forward to watching these videos because I'm interested in the topic.
But here is the reality: Most of us, even those of us with pretty serious high end gear, listen in rooms that serve multiple purposes and in which there is very little we can do about placement, etc.
I've got two "high end" systems. Both reside in typical rooms with all the problems typical rooms have for audio. That's just the way it is.
So if we all buy into the idea that the room is important, and we should, then the most critical info that we can be given is how to deal with sub-optimal rooms since a blank-slate fully optimized listening room is never going to be a reality. And for it to be meaningful that info is going to have to take into account both the multipurpose nature of the room AND its decor. In other words "cover up this window with a giant ugly acoustic panel" is not helpful. At all.
Would this require a one-on-one consultant? Maybe. But a series of videos on how to deal with typical room inadequacies would be great. I could see each video addressing a single different types of room: long and narrow, too many windows, too much furniture, etc etc.
Or reviews of speakers that work in suboptimal rooms.
That don't need to be 5ft into the room etc
I just built a listening shed a 19x20 spray foam insulation top to bottom. Wired it myself. Have one dedicated receptacle on its own breaker just for my amp and preamp. Grounded my line filter/surge protector to my grounding rod outside and I can tell you i noticed a big difference in sound especially how clean the sound is with a pitch black background. Zero line noise. I also am in love with my new Q-Acoustic 50’s that your review made me pull the trigger on them and everything you said about them you were 100percent correct. The guy completely missed the point of your sound shed. Keep up the good work my friend, you are my number one reviewer by far.
Hey Ron. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming vids. I believe the room is the biggest influence on sound quality. If the acoustics are bad the sound suffers terribly. Throwing money at better gear will not fix the problem. I think what you have built is tremendously important to your channel and its subscribers, especially when comparing products. You are reviewing products, comparing them. It wouldn’t be fair to the manufacturers or us viewers if your reviews were based on the sound you experienced in a room with high decay times and frequency suck outs, peaks etc.
Good job mate, delighted to see more vids popping up and that you are covering and demonstrating such an important topic.
Regards from Perth, Western Australia.
I love your channel I absolutely relate to your videos and use them to improve my room. I’m a guitarist too and they are a part of my room as well.
Ron, you’re a great guy and I’ve been watching you since before the pandemic. I wouldn’t unsubscribe for any reason. The reason the fellow unsubscribed has nothing to do with you or a feeling that you think you’re better than the other guys on RUclips. It has to do with your room and its advantages that most of us don’t and won’t have. For example, my listening room is my great (living room). My wife tolerates all my components in the room. But, she wouldn’t want to replace or wall art or family pictures with treatments. So, I’ll never be able to change the room’s acoustics.
Thank you so much Steve!
Ron, keep up the good work. The Sound Shed is awesome. Keep educating folks on the importance of the room, which is at least 50% of how speakers sound. People should really think about this if they care how about audio content.
Happy New Year Ron.
For me you have spotlighted the issue with all reviews and all recommendations from every channel.
What I take from your review of a product really needs to be taken together with my own listening. This is difficult if not impossible for many with limited brick and mortar dealers - in their country maybe. This is particularly so when it comes to the synergy that comes with some combinations... There is no easy way round this. Greetings to you and yours.
Hey Ron, Happy New Year!! I watched the video and am moved by the sincerity that I hear in your voice regarding the viewers' comments. Keep your head up and know that I love the direction that you and your channel are headed. I can remember three years ago while watching an interview that Steve Guttenberg did of a sound engineer, and his words ring in my ear to this day. He was speaking about the upgrading ones speakers and equipment, and what he said struck me as profound, and that was, "it made no sense to upgrade your gear if your room was treated. He elaborated by saying, "If your room isn't treated, you haven't heard your system." I was like 😮🤔😔, wow. Since then, I have seen quite a few reviewers address their room(not to the extent you're going outside of Gene from Audioholics, or Erin), but I definitely understand and aspire to get there as well. My question is, once the room is ready, are there any plans to revisit any products? Are there some that you feel maybe might warrant a listen in the new space. I see an entire segment or channel you could dedicate to that, kind of like Take 2 on Soundstage, but better. Anyway, God bless you and your family, and keep up the good work.
1/2 a century ago when I was in college after 4 years in the military, I shaved the beard I had grown as a symbol of a new freedom. My wife and I thought it would be a shock to our daughters so we set them up on the counter to watch. Oh how I wish today that I had a video with the hilarious commentaries of “put it back”.
I think this whole room build is so educational and can take what I'm learning from you into my "regular living room". I'm looking forward to coming up to Dallas (from Houston) and hearing it for myself - ha ha! Maybe in March?! Will you be attending the show there?
That’s great to hear and you are more than welcome to stop by. Yup - I am planning on that show!
The sound shed is like pulling out that primer. Game time!
Oh.. and thank you for this series. forget people who want something more relatable. If they don't want to step up to another level of this hobbie, it is unfortunately their loss. Keep going please.
Ron, I just came here to say I'm looking forward to the series and nice haircut, I know a guy with one just like it!
Thanks Matt! Guys! Subscribe to Matt’s channel! He’s great! youtube.com/@MattCoykendall1?si=9lNdLtvAHGHZVtt3
Great new look !!!
This series couldn’t have come at a better time for me Ron. I recently moved into a new house and my supposed “listening room” has a huge and I mean HUGE 100-300hz suck out. It’s truly untreatable. So now I’m refinishing a basement and building my own space. Thank you for paving the way.
That's interesting. Would you mind explaining a little more about what you mean or what's causing that?
I do not understand that guys logic at all I would much rather get an idea of what a speaker sounds like in a good room then what a speaker sounds like in a flawed room. Also, no one is doing what you do in terms of recordings. I find your channel very informative and unbiased and will be sticking with this format. Thank you.
Similar. Nice haircut. Looking good, feeling good!.
It’s worth it, keep going. Some of us want advice on room treatment or at least hear experience’s
I think this will be an interesting series to follow. I want to put in some sound treatment this year. Probably start with one of the first reflections, then bass traps and might get to the back wall too (art prints might be something my wife will tolerate there). Our living room opens up to the rest of the 'open concept' living space on one side (back corner) so I know there will be a little bit of work trying to balance out left and right. Should be a fun project. 😁
Ron!!! Excellent I look forward to it !!! HI-FI myths die hard if they ever die @ ALL.
All love to the James Brown of RUclips (hardest working man)
You are on the right path we look forward to others seeing it.
Great video! (You look so much better with less hair👍)
You ain’t wrong, Ron. Stay on your path, and hurry with the next chapter.
What can I say that the others haven't? You da man! 🤙
In my best "Joker" impersonation concerning your hair shave "you remind of my father, I hated my father" 👀🤪😂😂😂 I am holding the line and will NOT shave my head!, yet 😬
World's First GRANITE Open Baffle Speakers from MACO Acoustic !
LIVE IN CONCERT ! 😇😍🤩
For what it's worth I fully agree with your path. Looking forward to these videos. Strange comment that, I'm not interested in what the kit really sounds like (which I can then interpret for my own room), I'd prefer to know what kit + room sounds like in someone else's room...
There is a much cheaper alternative to extensive acoustic room treatment which works superbly. Install your system out in the garden in a large tent located well away from your house.
Ron, i think you're spot on. i see soo many reviews / views on you tube of high end systems in completely untreated rooms. That would sound soo much better in my room 😊😊. But if you would break it down into levels because not everyone can provide or WAF approved properly treated rooms.
The best listening space is a Room where you can belt out tunes while not annoying your family or neighbors. So for me that is my car. Acoustically compromised yes but over all I enjoy the experience. I like bass. I want to feel bass pressure. So optimize whatever is your preferred listening space and if you are lucky enough to have a room to dedicate and understanding family then do that, many do not.
I had like 30+ years ago, as a student (lived by parents) a really great acoustically treated room, but it was very hard to live and sleep in it, especially in the summer. Friends were bringing to me their amps and speakers to listen to because they could not believe the sound transformation of any system played in this room.And this was not some hi-end gear, but mostly ordinary/budget stereo - hi-fi speakers and amps of that time. But in this room everything sounded just sooo much better than in other environments.But then one summer day I striped down most of the treatment and... my audio soul is still missing such a magical audio room. My late uncle was a guitar player, tenore singer at octet and a sound and studio technician at national television and he helped me with advices...But this year I am going to invest some money and time and try to make another audio magic room.And yes finally as you have said Ron ... first proper damping treatment, "fancy" diffusion comes later.
Keep it coming!!!!
Ron, you look like Jason Statham in an audiophile's world! enjoy your weekend Sir.
Looking forward to it
Treating my room stopped my need of upgrading components.
Listening rooms are not dumb. Best thing I did when building a new house is redesign a bonus room to follow the audio golden ration dimensions and then acoustically treat it..
I’m ready to join you on this journey. I joined you when you were putting tape on the floor to place your speakers, binaural microphones, Sapphire open baffle, etc. But the topic of room acoustics really has me stumped. I have the ability to measure my room (REW + USB microphone), but I’m not able to make sense of the data I gather. I’ve followed experts who detail how they’ve designed their rooms and why, but their rooms aren’t my rooms. So, again, I’m stuck. I very much want to free myself, gain an understanding both of how the various treatments work, but how to implement them. It’s pretty damn important! If the speakers are half the cost of the system, room treatment should be a significant part of the remainder, because the speakers are interacting with the room far more than they are interacting with the equipment, and, more importantly, the room greatly affects what you hear from your speakers.
Hang in there! Keep me posted if what I’m saying and measuring helps make sense of it!
I’ll definitely keep you posted. I’m also with you on the receding hairline front (or lack of it!). I definitely like it better than the hat, which obscures your face, at times. In my case, I’ve decided that, contrary to the wisdom of the Lord only made a few perfect heads, and the rest he covered with hair; mine needs all the cover it can get, but I’m losing the battle. 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂
I guess what I don't understand is how I distinctly remember hearing what the shed sounded like before treatment, and you had a baseline, recorded for us, Ron. I'm stunned that you've removed all the room treatment to go and show us again from beginning to end what the improvements did. Feel like I've been here last year and I don't need to revisit it. But you do you. I still respect your content.
I believe you remember hearing the treatment in the shed only after it was foamed… not after framing and room within the shed was complete.
I burst out laughing as soon as I saw the buzz cut. Not laughing at you but laughing that you would have the guts to just...go for it. I bet you use less shampoo! 🤣
Hi Ron and I wish you well with your listening room acoustic treatment. I'm sure you will do a good job and achieve superb results. My listening room is far smaller than yours being about 13 by 11 feet and an 8 foot high ceiling. Despite it's small size I ended up using 17 large broadband bass traps and 17 large tuned limp membrane traps. I used the design equations to design and build the membrane traps and tune them to the frequencies that were causing standing waves in the listening room. Took me ages to build all the traps but it was worth it in the end. I used neoprene rubber sheet for the membranes which is available in many different thicknesses and works well. Diffusion isn't really effective in such a small room so I haven't used any. I now have a lovely balanced sound with no noticeable humps or dips in response and a wide three dimensional sound stage. I feel certain that what I have done is far better than mucking about with DSP electronic room treatment. In fact I have proved that if you treat the room correctly you don't need electronic room treatment.
.
Man that is awesome! I’d love to work on some membrane traps at some point as well!
@@Newrecordday2013 Hi Ron, In order to design your membrane traps you will need the following equations.
For a sealed trap with no acoustic wadding inside, F=170/Root MxD. Where M is the mass of the membrane in LBs/square foot, D is the depth of the trap in inches and F is the canter frequency in Hz.
For a sealed trap with internal acoustic wadding F=143/Root MxD. Traps with internal acoustic wadding will have a wider band width but a lower coefficient of absorption. Broadband non-membrane traps about 8 inches deep will work well down to around 150Hz, However below that frequency you will need a range of membrane traps.
hi ron, i don't see the need to repeat everything that has been said here, but I want to say that the very fact that you are promoting the concept of proper acoustic treatment in your room and therefore the conclusions
you reach will be more correctly reflected in the client's home strengthens me as an acoustician!🙏
In addition, I am working on a research project for rooms that are already acoustically treated correctly, how to maximize the acoustics of the room for a specific person, mainly related to phrtf (personal head related transfer function)😎
Thank you so much!
Steve Huff needs to watch these videos but I know he won't!
Maybe after I pass he can summon my ghost and we can chat about room treatment.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Hi Ron,
I think you’re in AZ.
You mentioned coming over to hear your listening shed.
I’ve been in the A/V business for fifty years. I’m still in it!
I’d LOVE to see and hear your shed.
Fritz
I was in AZ but we are in Texas now.
admirable you buzzed the hairs. i need to as well; still in denial on it tho
what is going on.. when you have to defend that you upgrade your listening room?
Thanks!
Welcome! And thank you!
Will you be covering framing out of your room in anymore detail in your next video(s)? We are breaking ground right now, so I am watching your videos very closely.
No, I wasn’t planning on talking about the construction anymore than I already have. Did you have some questions I can help with? Feel free to call if you need some help!
looking forward to exploring / testing diffusion. treatments / acoustics is such a nebulous world often, without before n after resting at least. it’s also a great field for scammery. all the weird companies selling crazy expensive bass traps etc that don’t do much below 500 hz if anything.
RON ,WE WERE THERE FROM “The beginning 😁, your hair won’t interfere with the sound anymore😅
That’s a bonus isn’t it?!
🤗😁👍
People like that are more looking for attention. I believe most viewers are here for entertainment as much or more than someone just looking for a new piece of gear. We watch your posts because we like you, your style and your content
Ron, interesting episide. I have been watching your episodes since the AZ Times, and they were fantastic and realistic. I have purchased some stuff you recommended. What you do now with the shed has evolved for you as a reviewer, but as a subscriber, I can completely identify with the commenter you mention. I am left with the impression that this journey started for you with the Danny episode, where you guys criticized everyone else who does reviews in realistic settings. Anyway, I will never unsubscribe, as I have been a fan of NRD for a long time. Thanks for all you do.
Thanks for taking the time to share. For the record, that video was a mistake for me to participate in. It was my goal to temper the way Danny was going to unpack his thoughts and unfortunately, I wasn’t as successful at that as I had hoped. I lost a lot of subscribers for that mistake and I certainly took some time off to reflect and learn. I’m sorry it happened and hope for restoration. As for the shed, it was actually decided and even discussed long before that video was aired. We planned on making this dedicated studio for RUclips work and listening shortly after moving to Texas a few years ago.
Thanks for being a part of NRD.
I agree with this videos content. Everyone should realize not only are listening rooms different but also so is everyone's hearing. The simplist appraoch for me to listening to music is the reproduction quality as close to the live performance. The listening room might need modification based on music content. Which is another big can of worms.
Love these videos '
My rooms are 🔥Atleast you don't have to pay for haircuts !
Thanks Ron it's OK F.F. is back in full attack !! You notice me video quality now ? 😊
Don't Tempt me to a BQ !!
You going to hang up accustic clouds ⛅️?
The room is a HUGE part of what our systems sound like. You throwing away your money on gear and speakers if you don't give some love to your rooms. Ron is right use absorption to get rid of echo slap, sound bouncing all around the room, you cannot throw up panels say diffusers, and expect good results, they liven the room so they are the last thing to add. Front wall bass traps and absorption, reflection points from both speakers absorption, then mix in some diffusers. You have to educate yourself as you go along place listen and learn what their impact is. No stands between the speakers or TVs, furniture placed right by the speakers, make it your audio room and not a general family room. You spent good money and now reap the rewards of money spent and musical enjoyment.
Nice open invite to the sound shed. Let me do the same. If you ever have a reason to be in central Florida come hang out
Yes, they are.
Shaved head or comb over?
Looking forward to the next videos and I agree with your approach to best yourself.
You seem to be overpromising though: a viewer who buys the same speakers after your review can still have a totally different experience. Boomy or nonexistent bass (however room modes and ear/speaker position mix up) , messed up soundstage (esp. with a reflective environment) etc...
A very general issue with Hifi.
3:15 Don’t know why I’m doing this gesture … this is weird…😂
I think it’s obvious to say that you need a neutral backdrop in order to accurately gauge, measure and listen to audio gear.
Otherwise, it’s just talking about flavors and colors with no pretense at objectiveness.
And for a guy that listens to a lot of music I would love to have a music room.
If people are knocking that they might be wee bit jealous.
@Ron - Got it - Shaving down the hairs around your ears provides better ambiance with less diffusion. Makes sense to me and it was probably less expensive than the shed. Kidding aside - there is some science to this from JVC's research on binaural recordings. Thanks
Hoping you demonstrate sonic changes as you go and not all at once after the listening space is completed.
That’s the exact plan, it will be one step at a time.
No No No Kermit, listening rooms are not DUMB!
This is why i don't throw money at gear.
Until i have a dedicated room I'd just be wasting my time and money trying to solve unsolvable problems and getting frustrated.
Im always interested in speakers that sound good in bad or "normal" rooms
I totally understand.
The benefits of a better Room, Most people have systems Between 7 to 15 thousand dollars. I've heard some 50 to $100,000 systems they sound good, but not worth The slight Improvement
👍😎👍
I was getting some SERIOUS Woody Harrelson vibes.
Re: that guy that wrote that he's leaving. You could have told him "Don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out"...but acoustically it would make a really cool sound. I think he might be the same guy who gave a swan song notice to a headphone reviewer on his channel, after the reviewer reviewed a pair of headphones with a bigger driver diaphram, and felt he could no longer relate. Interesting fellow?
Adding diffusion and absorption is not a difficult thing and it can look in place in a room,
It is all about placement is the important factor here,
It can be a simple as putting up shelves bookcases having lined thick curtains where you have big windows or solid brick wall hanging rugs on the wall that only works down to about 100k though. You can make a quadratic diffuser there's a calculator tells you what distances you need to the given room and frequencies you want to isolate, can use old pallets and make a diffuser from that using the calculator none of this has to be expensive.
You want to look at three strategic places maybe four places, where you want diffusion absorption both of these can be used in the same object as well not one or the other it's better to use both together, always make sure when you're using diffusion that it's not repeating so you don't have a base diffuser with a bass diffuser next to each other or the same across the room, you don't want symmetry that's the secret. you have to adjusts its frequencies but the calculator will do that for you. Try and use REW its free you don't need a special mic necessarily a karaoke mic would do.
Concentrate on the corners two and a half feet across you can use shelving the bottom use absorption middle and top used books toys magazines records.
First reflection point keep it below the tweeter about 6 inches you can go above the tweeter but you need that 6 inch gap, if your speakers are no more than three and a half feet away from the wall. again use absorption thick as possible at the bottom at least two feet up and the rest can be diffuser of some sort bookshelves again would work well shelving just make sure the shelving is not uniformed thick at the bottom and narrower sections at the top and partition in the odd places. At the back of the room use absorption mainly keep it wide as possible again shelving filled with soft items just make sure it's deep you could always use some 4" foam behind the items 4" minimum you want it about 6 in deep minimum, the shelving Keep it away from the back wall and without a backing an inch and you're about done you can put a thin diffuser in the middle between your speakers and play around with that a bit Keep them vertical at this point and can be protruding past the speakers that is a good thing
You could use office partitions they work well they usually freestanding about up to neck level they are a paper field felt lined board could be placed against the sidewall first reflection and in the corners