- The software works with rooms of all shapes and sizes.
- Helps identify the proper place for speakers and acoustic panels.
- Free for a room, but furniture analysis requires payment.
If speakers are sonic superheroes, then their archenemies are the rooms we place them in: Poorly placed speakers or oddly shaped speakers can ruin stereo and spatial audio setups by delivering misplaced, boomy, or unfortunate audio. But now a new website offers help finding the perfect place to place speakers and acoustic panels to compensate for unevenness in the room.
The website is Roomtreatment.diy and it uses multiple methods to predict how sound will bounce around your space. You can then identify what treatment is necessary and where it should be placed.
How does Roomtreatment.diy analyze your audio?
In a post on Reddit’s r/acoustics, the site’s creator, FerencS, explains that the analysis is based on dividing the low and high frequencies, and then identifying the “excitability” of each part of the room. The simulation can also identify how much audio will be reflected or absorbed by other elements in the room. The models have been tested in a dozen real measured rooms to ensure they are as realistic as possible.
There’s no doubt that rooms and location change what you hear; I had to redo a bunch of mixes because I hadn’t compensated for my monitors being too close to the wall and bringing out more bass. And while this website is a work in progress (for example, it doesn’t model soundbars yet), it’s already very impressive.
The site has clearly been created for people who aren’t necessarily audio experts: when you first create your room, it asks you what problem you’re trying to solve, whether it’s boomy, uneven bass, an off-kilter stereo image, fuzzy or fuzzy details, or “it just feels wrong.” There’s a lot more detail if you want, so, for example, when you select a particular speaker setting, it will tell you what frequencies to listen for in terms of mid-bass “honk”, as well as informing you of potential soundstage problems and other unwanted effects.
The app’s room creation is free to use, but you’re limited to a single room, it doesn’t take into account panels or furniture, and you can’t use the audio preview feature to hear what the room would sound like with the settings selected. Paid users can choose between $19 to unlock everything for one room, $29 for two, or $49 per month for unlimited rooms. The latter is for professional and not domestic use.
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