mrchipster
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I'd be interested in an update on this as well. Nice listening space.
I can speak to my experience with GIK products. I'll start by saying that if you can treat your room, do it. It will make a big difference. No matter which products you go with, it's worth putting as much as feasible.
Obviously the GIK products are not Acoustic Fields quality (like GroovySauce and others have) or the DIY excellence of RedPillSanctuary (aka Paul) but it does the job in my small, dedicated room (12x14x10). I have a combination of GIK and Acoustimac products. I have both absorption and diffusion panels as well as some corner traps. The quality is good from both companies, but prices have risen about 25% since I bought some of my first panels. I have over 20 panels of various sizes and depths and the room is still very much alive.
If you can do what Paul did with DIY, you can save a lot. There was a lot of effort there and a lot of expertise involved. If you can afford the Acoustic Fields products, then you're going with the top of the line, but you need to dedicate a lot of space in your room to them. In my smallish room I couldn't afford to give up that much space. The pre-fab'd panels were my next best option.
I have a combination of absorption, diffusion, and some wall art panels from GIK and I'm happy with them. I'm also happy with the Acoustimac absorption panels I have. I'd recommend putting in as many panels as you can since I don't think you can overdo it to any great extent. (I mean within reason for the room). The result I achieved was well worth it. I balanced my approach with aesthetics in mind as well. The sound is now crisp and clean without any unwanted artifacts and really lets the soundstage and the Decware equipment shine. Of course, everything else matters, like speaker placement, quality source, etc.
The only issue I couldn't go after was the extreme low frequencies. This really should be addressed because it is the foundation for everything else, but I just didn't have the space for such deep panels. I would have needed panels that were at least 6" to 12" deep. Even without the low absorption panels I still achieved a very nice sounding room. It works well since I don't listen at very loud levels (max 82db roughly and not often) so the lows are not a big problem (although on some tracks it could really help). Still, I'd like to address the lows anyway, maybe in the future in another room.
I look forward hearing any updates from Tony if he has time.
Happy listening and good luck with your room treatments.
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