Hello there,

I finally got a system up and running in my 13.88'x14.66'x8.27' listening room: Omega Super 8 XRS with a SEUFO2 and digital front end.

I have some curtains on one wall, but most of the room is pretty bare on the walls and the sound is rather harsh and needs some help. I'm looking to DIY room treatment and want to go with natural absorbing materials (instead of rockwool, fiberglass, foam, etc).

I ended up buying a box of 2'x4' acoustic wool panels from Havelock and a 30 lb bag of loose fill wool. My half-baked plan was to build 2'x4' frames, put a wool panel in front, pack the rest with the loose wool, and wrap everything in a breathable cotton fabric.

I signed up for a couple free consults from different acoustic companies and the feedback is to go heavy on the bass trapping.

Curious if anyone else has worked with natural wool for acoustic treatments, or knows any good resources to help with this project. From what I can tell, if I do make these frames, it sounds like the deeper the better (7-9" deep).

As always, thanks in advance for any help and advice.

Hi, Alex. I second JB’s recommendation on the Master Book of Acoustics. The Sabine equation described in that book can appear daunting but if you work through the example using your room’s dimensions and surfaces it will point you at exactly the problem areas in your space.

Another great resource is the Acoustic Fields YouTube channel. Their products are expensive but you will learn a lot from the extensive videos that Dennis has posted, and if you are DIY savvy you can build most of what he describes easily.

For the most part you are on the right track. You probably need to start with low frequency control and to address those frequencies you’re looking at 8 inches minimum thickness and 12 inches is better.

I use a free app called Housecurve too. It doesn’t use a calibrated mic like REW or have nearly the features, but it is free and a handy way of monitoring changes over time as you move things or try different treatments.

I’ve compared the general sweep with Housecurve on my iPhone 16 against REW and it’s actually pretty close. Not nearly as detailed as REW but definitely catches the general peaks and nulls pretty accurately.

Dennis knows his stuff.  But he’s also a salesman. If you check out Groovysauce’s setup on this site he has decked his listening space with AF’s products. I purchased some of his carbon and plans, and have built his BDA’s and diffusion from his plans. I have built better (broader spectrum) diffusion from online calculators. Not that his plans are bad- they are standard sizes that appeal to a broad community.

FYI- their carbon product is advertised as a custom product “treated” to resist moisture. I had a friend in the chemistry department of a state university analyze the carbon I purchased from AF with four other pelletized carbon products, and it is identical to the Royal Oak pelletized charcoal that Home Depot sells for $20 a bag (also moisture resistant). https://www.homedepot.com/p/Royal-Oak-20-lbs-100-Charcoal-Hardwood-Pellets-80000...

I’ve successfully made several BDAs from this that work great. I recently used it to treat the interior space of a custom wall, and I think that’s where things really shine. Figure out what frequencies you actually need to treat and then treat those frequencies specifically instead of buying a bunch of broadband treatment and over-treating everything else trying to hit the the frequencies that are actually troubling your space.

It sounds like you need a decibel meter app more than a room analyzer app. Hearing is something I deal with too as I get older. There’s a lot of science out there that says the sound we hear is most balanced around 85-89db. Not that I’m a measurement person but my experience is similar. The better your system gets, the more room becomes tamed, and the quieter your background is the more you’ll find yourself listening at lower volumes.

The online calculator I mentioned is for quadratic diffusion not bass traps. I wouldn’t touch diffusion until you get your room under control. If you are shooting for treating your upper frequency echos most two inch thick panels on the wall will address that. Start your first reflection point. Problem with that is you are missing all the low frequency. You really can’t touch low frequencies until you start getting close to a foot thick. And by treating the low frequencies you will also be addressing the harmonic overtones.

As I recall, Steve has a great white paper on room treatment somewhere on the main Decware page worth searching for.