- The software works with rooms of all shapes and sizes
- Helps identify the correct location for speakers and acoustic panels
- Free for one room, but furniture analysis requires payment
If speakers are sonic superheroes, then their archenemies are the rooms we put them in: poorly placed speakers or oddly shaped housings can ruin stereo and surround sound setups by delivering ill-placed, boomy or otherwise unfortunate sound. But now a new website offers to help you find the perfect place to place your speakers and any acoustic panels to compensate for any irregularities in the room.
The website is Roomtreatment.diy and it uses several methods to predict how the sound will bounce around your room. It can then identify what treatment is needed and where to place it.
How does Roomtreatment.diy analyze your sound?
Posting on Reddit’s r/acoustics, the site’s creator FerencS explains that the analysis is based on splitting low and high frequencies and then identifying the “excitability” of each part of the room. The simulation can also identify how much sound will be reflected or absorbed by other things in the room. The models have been tested against a dozen real measured rooms to ensure they are as lifelike as possible.
There’s no doubt that room and location change what you hear; I just had to redo a bunch of mixes because I hadn’t compensated for my monitors being too close to the wall and making the bass more prominent. And while this website is a work in progress—for example, it doesn’t model soundbars yet—it’s already very impressive.
The site is clearly made for people who aren’t necessarily audio experts: when you first set up your room, you’re asked what problem you’re trying to deal with, whether it’s boomy, uneven bass, an off-center stereo image, muddy or smeared detail, or “it just feels off.” There is a lot more detail if you want it, so when you e.g. select a particular speaker setup, it will tell you what frequencies to listen for in the form of mid-bass “honk”, as well as tell you about 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 paneling or furniture into account, and you can’t use the sound preview feature to hear how the room would sound with the chosen setup. Paid users can choose from $19 to unlock everything for one room, $29 for two, or $49 per room. month for unlimited rooms. The last one is for professional use rather than home use.
Are you considering buying a new TV?
Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we’ll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from picture quality experts, and we’ll recommend our top three TVs in that size at different prices.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds.
