Optimizing your own room acoustically requires knowledge and planning. To save time and achieve an ideal result, you can enlist the help of professional acousticians. You can achieve optimum room acoustics in four easy steps.
Step 1: Room sketch and photos
For a meaningful room acoustics plan, an acoustician needs a floor plan and photos of your room. The floor plan does not have to be drawn up by an architect – it is sufficient if you send a sketch showing the following details:
- Room dimensions
- Room height
- Position and size of windows and doors
- Furniture whose position you do not want to change
- Your desired listening position (we are also happy to make recommendations)
- Other special features in your room
As professional room acoustics planning also includes calculating the expected reverberation time RT60, information on the materials of the walls, ceiling and floor is also required..
By the way: professional room acoustics planning doesn’t have to be expensive. At HOFA, acoustic planning including 3D visualization and RT60 calculation is really affordable for everyone. The costs are even credited to you when you place an order.
Step 2: Information & Budget
Next, we will contact you by email or phone to discuss further details. This will allow us to find out where the priorities lie in your room. We will also discuss your budget for the room acoustics measures. If you have a smaller budget, room acoustics planning still makes sense. You can tackle the optimization measures step by step and will notice a significant improvement in the room acoustics even with just a few acoustic modules.
Step 3: Room acoustics and 3D planning
Once we have all the information, we start with the 3D planning of your room. Here we use a ray tracing technique that helps us to localize sound reflection points of the speakers in order to take appropriate room acoustics measures there. In particular, the initial reflection points on the side walls and ceiling should be treated with absorbers in order to create a low-reflection zone.
With the help of our self-developed reverberation time calculator, we can calculate the current reverberation time RT60 in the room and say exactly how many acoustic modules the room needs to achieve a certain reverberation time. We have continuously improved our formula over the years with the help of comparative measurements.
When optimizing your room, we then work with different acoustic modules:
Bass traps: Bass absorbers reduce the reverberation evenly and are particularly effective at lower frequencies and against room modes. They should be positioned in the corners of the room, as this is where the so-called pressure maxima are formed.
Absorbers or acoustic sails: Positioned on the ceiling and walls, they absorb reflections and reduce the reverberation time.
Diffusers: Compared to absorptive materials, these modules have hardly any effect on the reverberation time, but instead ensure a non-uniform but calculated dispersion of the sound. This allows you to achieve a pleasant, lively surround sound and avoid flutter echoes.
Acoustic curtains: If there are unwanted reflections from glass surfaces or if passages need to be closed off, special multi-layer acoustic curtains are the ideal and cost-effective solution.
Step 4: Advice and support
Once you have received your plans, we will of course be happy to answer any questions you may have. If required, we can also take over the installation of the modules or offer an acoustic measurement of the room using high-quality measurement technology.
Book your personal room acoustics planning from HOFA-Akustik now – you can find more information here ‘
Would you like to find out more about our acoustic modules or do you have any questions? We look forward to your call or email.
