The DIY thread - DIYourself

Norm said:
The local HW store is about 1/2 mile from here. It's not as cheap as HD but it has a soul and the people there give a shit. So I go there. A lot.
Click to expand...
Same for me. The HD is closer. The local spot is a True Value store. Not getting a screen repaired at HD. Jalousie window pane replacements cut to size. And the employees actually give you personalized service.
 
My local ACE is an old school one that's downtown on main street, wooden floors and all.

I'm pretty sure there's one of every part needed for everything in a house ever and the guys working there probably know where every single one is. And if you use the app or signed up for their rewards programs they routinely have pretty crazy pricing deals.

Sadly closing this month as they built a larger one on the other side of town and it's too much running two locations.
 
Before the vulture capitalists killed it, my local was a Sears Hardware and Appliance shop about 3/4 mi down the street. And it somehow skirted Bergen Co blue laws and was open on Sundays.
Man I miss that
Employees were always super helpful, some actually landed at the nearest HD.
 
jmanic said:
Before the vulture capitalists killed it, my local was a Sears Hardware and Appliance shop about 3/4 mi down the street. And it somehow skirted Bergen Co blue laws and was open on Sundays.
Man I miss that
Employees were always super helpful, some actually landed at the nearest HD.
Click to expand...
If you go to the Harbor Freight in Bergen County on a Sunday you'll see how the law allows them to sell tools as they are essentials but not work gloves because those are clothing.
 
Santapez said:
My local ACE is an old school one that's downtown on main street, wooden floors and all.

I'm pretty sure there's one of every part needed for everything in a house ever and the guys working there probably know where every single one is. And if you use the app or signed up for their rewards programs they routinely have pretty crazy pricing deals.

Sadly closing this month as they built a larger one on the other side of town and it's too much running two locations.
Click to expand...
The local True Value I mentioned literally has trap doors in the wooden floor aisles that they will pull up and go to the basement for items not on the shelf. And the second floor that is not open to the public.
1768327158281.png
 
FitmanNJ said:
As is probably pretty obvious at this point, I really love listening to recorded music. Over the last couple of years, I've begun installing acoustic panels with the hope of improving the sound quality in my modest living room. The layout/construction of the room gives you every reason to assume that, "as is," it leaves a lot to be desired.

Microphone measurements have proved this to be true, particularly with regard to bass frequencies. So called "spectrogram" graphs measure the length of time it takes for tones across the frequency spectrum to dissipate. Although there's no totally agreed upon definition of ideal, many audiophiles would suggest that a spectrogram showing a roughly horizontal line at between 200-300 milliseconds would typically be desirable -- not echoey, and not too "dry"/lifeless. Although sounding subjectively quite good, my room measured as follows at the start of this latest "journey" -- pretty flat down to ~100Hz, but a little ragged below 100Hz (the far left in the graph):

View attachment 273988

About three month's ago, I read about a new commercial bass trap product that was being touted as bigger and better at bass control than others previously available. While investing in a whole new set of these panels would have been prohibitively expensive, I wondered if I could possibly modify what I already had at a much more affordable price but with similar impact on the room acoustics. AND...about that same time, Walt (@qclabrat) generously offered a spare table saw for free to anyone willing to pick it up. Feeling a sense of karma,🙂 I reached out to Walt.

Modeling after the "super" bass traps that had just been advertised, I planned to take my existing 6" deep bass traps and essentially double their depth. Additionally, I replaced the absorptive material in these expanded bass traps with a combination of acoustic insulation and pink fiberglass (6" of each) touted to be a superior design per an online acoustic modeling application. The final enhancement was to mount these monsters with a 6" air gap between the panel and the wall, another "trick" for improving bass control.

The following photos illustrate how I implemented this plan. First, the materials -- Rockwool Comfortbatt insulation, Owens Corning Pink Fiberglass, and rectangular wooden frames to "extend" the depth of the existing panels:

View attachment 273992

View attachment 273990

Steps 1 & 2: Build out the existing bass trap with the rectangular wooden frame and replace the old acoustic insulation material with the Comfortbatt:

View attachment 273993

Add the pink fiberglass:

View attachment 273994

Add some wooden strips across the back of the assembly to help hold in the absorptive materials (not shown), then cover the back with landscaping fabric:

View attachment 273995

I then repeated that something like 15 times, including two panels that I built from scratch. I mounted them with 6" air gaps using ~6" long wooden spacers (see panels on the side walls). The panels straddling the ceiling were not modified:

View attachment 273997

View attachment 273998

View attachment 273999

The panels and couch/listening position all face the stereo equipment:

View attachment 274001

I've hit the limit on attachments, so see the next post for the latest spectrogram. It's NOT perfect, which just illustrates how difficult it is to impact low-end acoustics in a small room. But, there has been a noticeable improvement.

Of course, the bottom line is, "How does it sound?" For that, I can say that the lows are crisp and the imaging of the sound stage is improved. I've been truly delighted with the result! I couldn't have done this without that table saw -- thanks so much, Walt!
Click to expand...
Thought of your setup.

Image 3.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom