Room Acoustics101 with Anthony Grimani 

Would love to see a video using pictures of people's home theater rooms, dedicated or not and tell us how you would address treatment. Thank you for all the good info 👍

I've heard Anthony at CEDIA several times years ago. Anthony is a practical "get it done" kind of guy and he does not dwell on ideas and applications that make little difference. His knowledge and experience make for a very capable audio engineer. In addition, he is an awfully fun person to talk with. Anthony has many other interest in life, including flying light aircraft, which is also a passion of mine. Thanks, Gene and Anthony for such an informative discussion. I look forward to many more.

Tony is the real deal, very respected in the industry. I’ve known him a long time and I’m a very happy owner of his absorbers and diffusers. He greatly improved my old listening room and he’s helping me right now improve my new room. His products are great and very reasonably priced.

Great guest. This channel is just another level. Thanks Gene

Love the topic. Deeper dive would be great. Anthony is a great guest. He's in good company with you and Mathew poes.

Love Anthony. He has redesigned my theater and flew out to personally tune my theater twice! Great with work with. Now I need Atmos. I'll be reaching out to Anthony soon.

Awesome video.learnt so much from Anthony. Can’t wait for the next one!

Thank u Mr. Grimani and Gene. Very enlightening.

Grimani is a priceless resource. We need more of what he has to say. This video should have 41 million views instead of 41,000.

Absolutely one of the most eye opening presentations I've seen concerning acoustics. Thank-you very much Gene and Anthony. Really looking forward to seeing more of these videos. Anthony - I will be contacting you for recommendations.

One of the best audio-educational videos I ever seen... keep this type of videos coming! Thanks Gene!!

This channel is such a gem

PowerPoint slides are nice for the "broad strokes." I'd like to see some photographs of HT rooms Anthony has treated when he discusses the "nitty gritty."

Amazeballs show!!!! Bring this gentleman back! He knows too much 🙌

Gene, the content you bring to this community is unsurpassed and continues to guide me on my journey through the life of an A/V nerd.

I only needed the introduction of Anthony, to give the video a 👍 What an amazing and interesting career!

All ears for Anthony Grimmani 😁👍

Fantastic knowledge and insights! Thank you so much for making this series of videos on room acoustics! There are so many opinions and controversy regarding this topic; AG is like the room treatment that just cleaned up all the ‘noise’ for me. I think I’m going to get in touch with your company for a bit of consultation to see how I can improve the sound of my two-channel through room treatment. Thanks again for a very constructive session and RU-vid channel - you just gained a new Patreon :)

What a great talk, I was just starting to threat one room and this talks provided more in-depth details on how to actually threat the room to get good results.

Great topic. My interest for future videos would lie in DIY projects for building your own acoustical panels. Proper dimensions and materials, etc.

I have been to the Concertgebouw many times, beautiful sound

A true wealth of knowledge here. Great video!

Excellent video! It's nice to hear a slight contrast in acoustic design theory from another legend. I frequently only hear about the studies from Floyd Toole, which are a priceless commodity in the audio world, but without contrast from other leaders it leaves a lot to question. Not that either model or theory is wrong but the audiophile community clearly has some things that are not scientific law just yet. I also thought it was interesting that he said there are times when cables can make a difference, with that being a highly contested topic I would like to know when he feels they would make a difference. Side note, your channel just keeps improving and I'm glad you continue to find ways to educate. I'm on travel for a while and have been learning as much as I can to properly treat my HT. I even purchased a copy of Acoustic Absorbers and Diffusers (college reference manual) for my hotel-room reading to attempt to properly plan my treatments when I get back home. Your video was in-line with everything I've learned in 25 years of acoustic engineering and still taught me a few things.

Great video. Contracted with PMI for my theater (hopefully to complete by Thanksgiving). Amazing wealth of information from Anthony and the team. I was blown away by the initial consult and subsequent first detailed design review. Looking forward to the process. Also leveraged a lot from Gene's Audioholics videos as well as the Storm Audio processor I'll also implement. Great content Gene!

Great timing I am just starting to built a home cinéma/music room now . I like you guys Attitude and great teaching from Anthony Many thanks and please keep it up. It’s not to technical and easy to understand.

Great information! Thank you

Great webinar! Love the humor, too! Thanks! 🤓

Tony's panels did an amazing job in my room and they look great.

anything is a pure power house!!! gene thanks for making audioholics my final stop when researching gear & acoustics.

Thanks guys!

Gene - great video with Anthony. With the various rules of thumb around small room acoustics can be a steep and at times confusing learning curve. Would love to hear more regarding optimizing speaker/listener position within the room prior to determining treatment. Would also like to hear about how the size of the room impacts the approach one should take towards positioning and treatment.

Thanks for your time

Forever people told me to put absorption on my side walls/first reflection. I say "It degrades the sound" They say "No it 100% makes it sound better, you just have to get use to it" Ha, In my space dont need front speaker first reflection treatment

It’s usual Anthony’s signal that drops... ah and there it is 🤣, great show guys !

Thanks for the video. I really enjoyed it. Anthony mentioned the Concertgebouw orchestra hall in Amsterdam and being transported to that venue. That is impossible for a 2-channel stereo since hall acoustic reverberation would have to come from many directions and the hall can't be replicated in that way. A multi-channel system could bring you closer. But one point is how the sound recording was made. In "The New Stereo Soundbook" by Everest and Streicher, the authors contend that musical recordings can be made to have either a "you are there" sound or a "they are here" sound. Further, the sound can be made either "creative" or "re-creative". If we just look at the "you are there" vs. "they are here" dimension, we might want something close to a small ensemble of jazz musicians, for example, in our room or conversely, a large orchestra including the concert hall in the same room. Each situation would require a different room treatment. But I believe with good acoustics, we might be able to approximate either of these scenarios. Note that especially with the orchestra, a lot of the reverberant sound would be captured in the recording allowing some simulation of the hall effect. The jazz ensemble, on the other hand, might be a very dry recording allowing the musicians to "play in your room" simulating a "they are here" effect.

How anyone can give this video a thumbs down is beyond me. This is great knowledge shared for free from the best minds who have enough real life experience in audio and video to know what they are talking about. Hats off to you Anthony and Gene. P.S. Matt and James are also walking audio technical libraries and brilliant to watch, listen and learn from. Keep up the great work. 👍👍

Top notch show!

Very cool video. A lot of useful info packaged in there. 2 topics that is would find useful that I believe was only briefly mentioned are: bass traps, how many, how big, position of subs and relation to the number is subs. Secondly, alternatives to the usual absorbers and difusores. Thank you Gene and Anthony

Great segment all saved in all my audio categories and enjoyed the entire segment I precede this time frame as I just turned 65 and have been an audiophile since the 60's I tricked out the family TV and added a tape section an 8 track to my TV set up. I added a headphone jack and had these god-awful-looking monster Koss headphones I looked like Snoopy!!!! I did not travel with those headphones. LOL Thanks to both Gene and Anthony or "Tony" for this segment it is important to realize As did in my early days I experimented with broadlooms and I covered the ceiling floor joist with fabric and it made such a difference in my sound it has stuck to me. Anyone who came over for beers in the CAVE had never heard such a system. I had a Pioneer reel to reel with the best sound anyone in my town had heard!!!! Most did not understand anything as this was pure feedback a double-blind study of the foundation of science. As a sports med chiropractor I deal with MDs all the time that are colleges until they found out that I have my a chiro. cheers to this segment and Tony has it nailed and I will pass this on gladly to anyone who wants to improve their sound!!!! I have done almost everything Tony has done. building my own electronics, Heath kit back in the day. I had a bud who was a radio operator. or his dad was! I have applied these principles to all my sound rooms. I will post my renovation when I am done with the cheap ways to improve my new 25' x25 foot sound room studio. Keep up the great work Men. It is appreciated and like Tony Italian engineers in Europe have been at the forefront along with the french and English on this field and on the perfection of sound. Cheer to all. Good job editing on the fly Gene. Ethernet your router's new sound rooms with Bluetooth are flaky. and keep the people or devices on your network to a minimum and do not have anyone turn on the microwave. LOL.

@Audioholics | Great video, cant wait for more, will apricate if there will be an agenda with all of the topics so will know where are we headed and what to expect next :)

Anthony Rocks!!

Your best video ever!

You should como to Portugal. Every movie has subtitles and we love it! Thank you for this video.

If only I had a room that I could acoustically treat to my hearts desire. For most of us, we do not have that luxury . We have to use the same room for multiple purposes, so we have to try and sit in the sweet spot and live with less than perfect acoustics. Fortunately my DAC has a built in parametric EQ and used with a mic, I have been able to reduce the offending standing waves and improve the quality of sound from my sweet spot. As much as I hate any processed audio, it actually made a difference in the overall audio quality in the room.

I love this discussion. I would love to see a demo of how to put this together. Where to put fuzz and reflection. What materials to use.

Great presentation! I would like to hear more about ceiling treatment and more about sound diffusers. Also, I see a lot of rooms with 3D diffusers on the front wall (behind the speakers and equipment). Is that recommended?

great stuff

A fantastic show! It’s the stuff of legends with Mr. Grimani! His love for chocolate (and yours) is equal to my love for a good coffee☕️.

Anthony is always fun! I’d like to know how he is dealing with the bass, multiple subs and what kind of eq or room correction is he using if any. Thanks fo sharing.

This guy is a gem I can listen to him for hours great find by the way Gene is all ok with last years illness? Thxs for the Vids

I'd like to hear his take on room correction and correcting frequencies above and below Shroeder.

Yeah, would really love to have the off axis frequency response topic really flushed out in a dedicated video. Maybe add some stuff about omni directional speakers (I have some).

Very helpful how he cleared up my biggest question about speaker placement near side walls and how to approach treatment. When he talks of 15%, should all of that be placed at ear level. For those of us with the linacoustic sandwich front walls can we add reflection or diffusion on top to keep the ratios, in the form of msg panels perforated or not?

@Audioholics Would a REW fairly flat decay of 270 (highs) to 430ms (lows) from the mains indicate that the room has a pretty good acoustical setup? Or are there other characteristics to look at in REW?

I'd LOVE to see a "this old house" type series where you and Anthony start the process and conclude the process. You'd show different materials, visit a factory, show the selection process, show the installation, show the end result....and juxtapose it with the "before" video (if at all possible) if not, then maybe just take a side room, record a selection of music before treatment, treat it, reorder the impact, then remove that treatment since it was just a demo. That's my 2 cents on what I'd like to see.

Awesome

Is there a way to test for the proper locations to add absorption and diffusion? I have a glass faced electric fireplace and fuse box in my first reflections along with speakers that are close to the walls.

Thank you so much for this great presentation. Looking forward to more great information. Subwoofers and bass traps? My subwoofers are to the left and right of the center channel (using the 1/4 and 3/4 placement rule). So many people do it this way. What is Anthony's solution for this?

On the sonitus website, it makes a suggestion of how many units of any given product you should buy based on your room’s size. 10 absorbers for a 300 sqft room, for example. But in the video, you say we should split between absorbers and defusers. If that is the case, then should I split the site’s estimates in half?

@28:50, constant directivity speakers like horns, compression waveguides, line arrays, or omnidirectional speakers have "tonally consonant" reflections, while cone & dome speakers have "dissonant" reflections. Cone & dome speakers "beam" near the top of their driver's range, so the reflections aren't tonally consonant with the direct sound. In theory, a horn or line array can fit in a corner and virtually eliminate sidewall reflections as the wave front extends from the corner 90 degrees horizontally along the wall. In general, controlled dispersion speakers are a better acoustic "fit" in most rooms where sidewall reflections are an issue (most rooms), while "cone & dome" speakers works best far from sidewalls in wide rooms, as described by Mr. Grimani. I set my stereo diagonally in my bedroom, namely to make the "sidewalls" the corners, and hence to virtually eliminate the issue of sidewall reflections from my life.

I'm curious how to compensate if a room has large windows on one side, right where you would want to place absorbers and diffusers. I guess the typical advise is to hang heavy drapes.

Are ceiling acoustic panels necessary on the ceiling? I live in an apartment with a 5.1 setup, and heavy curtains on the left side, a heavy sectional fabric couch in the middle, and on the right half untreated wall that opens into a open dinning area space. Nothing on ceiling, and nothing at back of room except a desk and PC stuff.

Sound and video is fine

Love the presentation. Thanks for your time and awesome bits of wisdom! The one point that I find myself disagreeing with is leaving 80% of the room reflections untreated. My background is different however, as my critical listening is done in my purpose built studio which I also use for mixing and mastering work. That being said, I think differentiating between the audiophile vs studio world is a foolish dispute. The end goal as far as I am concerned is accuracy for both. Reflections = distortion of the original signal. Humans do expect reflections, but I can tell you as mix engineer that we spend hours on every recording creating that very spatial illusion through the use of reverb, delays, etc. The reason a concert hall sounds "good" is due to natural reverb created by the acoustic design of that space. The instruments are organic, and don't have any natural reverb of their own outside of such a space. In mixing, we use digital (sometimes analog) tools to help us achieve this same effect. If you then play this through your 20% treated room, you are now hearing both the reverb used in the recording process and your own room response. I know it's not practical in spaces that are not purpose built rooms to achieve high levels of treatment. My point is that while treating 20% of surfaces will certainly improve sound, it is quite far from accurate sound. I can guarantee the most accurate indoor sound you will find is in recording studios, all of which are heavily treated. Wouldn't you want to hear music/movies in the most comparable space in which it was mixed? Just my 2 cents.

Next time please include time stamps! Great video,Gene!

Great listen. Wanted to support with a like and comment. Interesting that Anthony didn't seem overly concerned with the front wall whereas many of the "forum experts" advocate having it dead. Also seems like you have to use thick panels for bass or it's not worth it. Does that change if you're using dual subs? I'd be most interested in more discussion on treating rooms with furniture like couches, chairs, open walls, doors, etc.

It was touched on very briefly, but I would love to hear more about how his views differ from the research done by Floyd Toole, and why he believes his approach is superior.

I love the analogy of A1 sauce on steak.

Fantastic presentation! His comment on the ratio of absorptive to reflective to non-treated wall is eye opening. I would like to hear more about what makes a good absorber, and what makes a good reflector. Also what is a real bass trap? What I see online is laughable. Just a thin layer of foam in a corner. Thank you!

Generally speaking, is it better to have your home theater situation have carpeting or, conversely, a hard surface floor ?

I mentioned this in your community post but I want to learn more about how different diffusers work and when you should use them. Primarily what a Binary Amplitude Diffuser would be useful for. As a DIY enthusiast I want to know what the most practical diffusers are to build.

His speakers have horns.. NICE!

Gene. I think your mic is a little too soft. Anthony's audio is fine. Great video. I enjoyed it a lot. Looking forward to more.

The real question is, Will acoustic treatment help to silent my kids who are yelling, whining and making noise in the background? That would be a million dollar invention! I'm sorry but for someone with a family like mine, subtitles are quite necessary!

I'm curious of Gene's mic; why he's usuing it as a "side-address" mic. I suspect it's not a side-address, and the polar pattern of that mic it aimed straight up vs. toward him. That would certainly affect the level of his voice.

You never said what on ceiling ? Same absorb and diffuser too? Or only absorption thanks.

Hi, Tony! Long time no talk. Lonny Jennings :)

Please, enable RU-vid auto subtitles on this video too. Thanks a lot. Cheers from Italy \m/

To me it is about the journey (e.g. the 50 years of tweaking and adding and improving). And it is about the music (and other content too, I suppose, but for me music is king). Most certainly not about the money, LOL.

Gene have Anthony discuss multi sub. I know he has designed 4 subs in the corners rooms. I’d love to hear his ideas about how good they need to be... are 4 good 10s enough? Thinking about dual svs pb2000 pros but would 4 1000’s or something similar work better?

This channel is like an 15 inch absorber!

I know this is a "Loaded question"...Is there an "Average cost" to do a 15X16X10 room?

I think the sentiment about digital correction fixes everything is a little over stated. To my knowledge no one says we can fix everything in the digital domain. If they do then they should not be trusted and its certainly not Trinnov''s standpoint. As Anthony said you cant correct everything in the digital domain and passive acoustic treatment is essential to get the best results. However there are also things like; eq, time alignment, impulse and phase response that can only be corrected in the digital domain. So an intuitive blend of both passive acoustic treatment and digital speaker/room correction makes for the best solutions.

Is it possible to hide the acustical treatments? I dont want to have a cinema room lokking lika recording studio.

How to will equal engagement to your channel

If you want to keep 70% of the reflected sound and your only covering 30% of the surfaces, doesn't that only work if 100% of the energy is absorbed at every sound absorbing/diffusing surface?

This video really needs practical examples. Figures and talking isn’t really getting into my head as to how to improve my system. Show a video of someone’s theater room with sound panels at the normal places like first reflection point, and then his recommendations showing how the room changes by removing some reflection panels for scattering panels etc. in a real house is much better than drawn pictures.

A little confusing, but makes perfect sense. I think I have a pretty good flat digital EQ, but the small problem that I have, is that the shape of my room is adding a lot of more bass ( that I don't need) in the room. I guess the more is better than the least 🤔 But when I finally get the curve right it sounds pretty strong and somewhat balanced. I have a set of 5' Tower's, and they are turned slightly on a inwards angle....for some reason when I turn them that way, it relieves stress off the lower bass end which I find strange 🤔 I've owned many speakers, but these have a strange way of being. But sounds damn good though, but these always want to be spoiled (meaning) that when my AC/Heating themostat is set on 75° my speakers sounds on point, but if the room temperature is around 69° I find that I have to re-angle the speakers outward about 1/16 to the right. And 1/16 of a inch is very small. These are the only pair of speakers that I owned that does this. Weird! 🤔 but sounds so good though but is spoiled on how you percussion them. Wish I had a room correction built in unit like Legacy does.

What i want to hear about is the ratio of electronics, electro-acoustics and acoustics when it comes to "sound quality". I give my rough estimation: 99% speakers and room, 1% electronics. 1% of that is cables. Cause what i feel is the biggest problem is that people do not understand the scale of things.

I know you guys will go over more treatment topics. But how about HVAC options? Like a tech talked Paul McGowan into mini split for his room. But those generic wall mounted head units are noisy. I can't stand those baseboard heaters rattling either.

Awesome video. I look forward to future videos. I don’t know how this fits into your videos, but why are so many “audiophile” dedicated/critical listening rooms with zero treatments? $20,000+ worth of gear in rooms with hard surfaces all around. Is this just another case of your typical audiophile being 25 years behind in the science, except in power cords. 😉

Talk about DIY

The reality is that perfection not only of sense and perception but of everything ELSE, is ONLY in the realm of God, of the Divine ...and that doesn't mean we shouldn't seek it, and go after it, but rather that we should do so with that in mind, remembering that all we have is today's Psycho physics acoustic science, that as told by Grimani isn't what it was 20 years ago, and most likely won't be the same in the next 20 . So enjoy life and all it offers NOW, like GOOD music (your heart and whole body will let you know which that is)without that much added fuzz and complication ,just and justly remembering what Alan Parson said of audiophiles and auditive Psycho physics for that matter...Shema, no pun intended, of course..

In this video, along with the next couple, Gene's mic is much quieter than the others. Either the other guy(s) are too loud so I can hear Gene, or he's too quiet to hear.

Off the subject. I was just wondering what happened to Hugo Rivera? You guys were great together!

59:26 omg

Gene´s second name after this is Patience.

I would have liked if he started at step 5.. This channel is not for avarage music listeners that never heard of acoustics.

Mega OT. Who is the typical audiophile. 1. Mostly male. 2. Mostly middle age or aged. 3.His musical interest goes beyond one genre. 4. Insatiable curiosity about hi fi components. 5.His best speaker his the next one. 6 Dedicates at least one hour of pure musical listening daily. 7.He's happy with background music while doing other things. 9. While watching movies pays a lot of attention to the sound effects and considers a real torture having no other option but incorporated TV speakers. 10. His audiophile's best friend rig sounds better even though it is cheaper then his. Did I forget anything. Open for suggestions

Use a good mic and record music played in a bare room. It will show you how much acoustic correction the room needs.