Home Theater Diffusion: How to Maximize Your Sound When Your Back Is Against The Wall

Most often when discussing home theater applications, the solutions proposed are for small and medium room. As home theater owners treat their dedicated spaces with bass traps and first reflections points, they begin to wonder if diffusion is a good option when faced with seating that is forced into the back wall. There are ways to maximize the sound quality of a smaller home theater space when seating space is limited.
• Battling the back row blues. Regardless of the type of sound system installed in a home theater, it is possible to generate less than desirable results with the seating arrangement in the room. For those viewers who are destined to dwell in the back row of the room, there is a greater need for treating the back wall to improve the overall sound quality. Adding panels to the corners, ceiling, and the front and side walls will do little to prevent the gloom and doom of the back wall blahs. Without creating a complete dead zone, the hanging of diffusion on the back wall will create a better home theater experience for all viewers regardless of their seat location.
• Boot the bass boost. Not all home theater seating includes the dreaded back-wall blunder. But, the smaller the room the greater the likelihood that such an arrangement is unavoidable, and the unsuspecting viewers are subjected to a behemoth of a bass boost. Diffusion is rarely the best answer for smaller rooms; therefore, whenever possible, it is best to strive for a slightly bigger room that has a greater chance for plenty of absorption, making diffusion not only possible but also practical.
• Rules of thumb. When deciding upon sound treatments, often times the homeowner simply uses his or her own judgment and makes adjustments accordingly. However, there are some ways that calculations may be made in order to generate a fairly accurate educated guess. As a general rule, for a 12-foot wide x 14-foot long room with an 8-foot high ceiling being used as a small home theater, the best course is stick to broad band absorption panels.
Although diffusion is a popular solution to sound difficulties in larger rooms, it is important to point out that the addition of diffusion panels to treat a home theater space depends on the specifics of the room. Only after other options are exhausted should diffusion for small rooms be considered, particularly because the process itself is fairly expensive.