SMT room at Audio Limits

[Audiolimits]

"Our new showroom is absolutely incredible, never have we heard music sound so real and live. There is no attention to a sound system at all. It sounds as though the artist are in the room with you and it transports you where the event took place. It captures all of the natural decay times as well and does so with such accuracy. The sound is transparent with layers of depth and width well beyond the walls. The music becomes an experience translating to a state of euphoria. We truly believe they have the absolute best available room designs by a long shot. I would strongly recommend these products for anyone who is looking to improve there system with ultimate sound. Thank you so much SMT for such a world class showroom.", Darrin O'Neill Audio Limits www.audiolimits.com

 

[DaveC]

Looks great!

I've enjoyed hearing Thrax demos at RMAF, including the full setup with woofer cab in '17 I believe. It was very impressive!

 

[Audiolimits]

Looks great!

I've enjoyed hearing Thrax demos at RMAF, including the full setup with woofer cab in '17 I believe. It was very impressive!

Thank you very much! Yes we have shown at RMAF quite a few times with Thrax Audio products. We've been able to get great sound there, However the SMT room acoustic treatment in our showroom takes things to a whole new level.

 

[DaveC]

Yup, I found a pic... Congrats on the showroom, it does look nice... wish I were closer!

 

[Folsom]

Thrax, I can't figure out why people aren't way more into it on the forum.

 

[Audiolimits]

Yup, I found a pic... Congrats on the showroom, it does look nice... wish I were closer!

Oh yeah. I have many pics in that room. Good show for us. We had fun. We played both the Mono blocs and the Enyo integrated amplifier on them.

 

[Audiolimits]

Thrax, I can't figure out why people aren't way more into it on the forum.

I don't think enough people have heard it. Specially setup correctly. Once they hear it they want it! Atleast that's been our experience in our showroom. We have replaced some very Top brands out there with Thrax Audio. Some far more expensive as well.

 

[Marcus]

Impressive room! Congratulations. Are these SMT diffusors made of real wood? If so, which one? Can you also explain other wood treatments plese? Thanks.

 

[Audiolimits]

Impressive room! Congratulations. Are these SMT diffusors made of real wood? If so, which one? Can you also explain other wood treatments plese? Thanks.

Hello, Thank you very much. Yes they are real wood made of Maple ply.
The other wood treatment that the wings/difussors are sitting on top of are tunable bass traps made by SMT. They are incredible. So tunable that even the torque of one of the screws can be heard and seen on the graph of a Cleo system in the bass region.

 

[flyer]

...The other wood treatment that the wings/difussors are sitting on top of are tunable bass traps made by SMT. They are incredible. So tunable that even the torque of one of the screws can be heard and seen on the graph of a Cleo system in the bass region.

Allow me to correct and highlight a frequent misconception. The Varitunes (commercial SMT name for the boxes with the opening) are not bass traps but helmholtz resonators.

What is the difference? I will try a very simplistic explanation (probably sending the lightning down from acoustic experts )

Bass traps do exactly what they are called; trap (some) low frequency soundwaves and absorbs them, they are not returned to the room. In doing so, they reduce the energy of the frequency they absorb, thus making the remainder of the spectrum to be less clouded by this reduced frequency. The effect is that it may be just right, very hard to achieve in low frequency, or just not enough or worse too much, often leading to the surrounding frequencies to be experienced themselves to have become too dominant. The effect is that the following round of absorption treatment has to be started...

Helmholtz resonators, like the Varitunes, do not absorb bass. They are effectively tuned so that only the desired frequency is 'allowed in', not necessarily the frequency that is too dominant (for example as a result of a standing wave between ceiling and floor) but based on a real-time spectrum analysis. Anyway, the energy of the frequency is effectively for a very brief moment (following its frequency) kind of swallowed inside but of course it cannot stay there as the volume of the resonator is limited, what comes in has to come out. So that frequency wave is 'spit out' again but just a fraction of a second later, causing a phase shift of that frequency causing the energy still to be there but brought in line with the other frequencies that are not too dominant.
Beware, many brands selling helmholtz resonators stuff them with absorbant material. In doing this, they make a hybrid solution that is neither as effective as a bass trap nor as a true resonator. Not so with SMT whose Varitunes are completely empty, to act as a pure resonator making their effect maximized as a resonator but causing them to be picky in tuning though this should only be done once after installation.

Hope this helps!

 

[spiritofmusic]

I'm loving what's on the ceiling. I think I had a vivid dream once w that treatment featuring LOL.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Flyer, the only Helmholtz I'm familiar with are the ones from Acustica Applicata.

The Profliermo, Halifax and Volcano.

 

[Audiolimits]

Allow me to correct and highlight a frequent misconception. The Varitunes (commercial SMT name for the boxes with the opening) are not bass traps but helmholtz resonators.

What is the difference? I will try a very simplistic explanation (probably sending the lightning down from acoustic experts )

Bass traps do exactly what they are called; trap (some) low frequency soundwaves and absorbs them, they are not returned to the room. In doing so, they reduce the energy of the frequency they absorb, thus making the remainder of the spectrum to be less clouded by this reduced frequency. The effect is that it may be just right, very hard to achieve in low frequency, or just not enough or worse, often leading to the surrounding frequencies to be experienced themselves to have become too dominant. The effect is that the following round of absorption treatment has to be started...

Helmholtz resonators, like the Varitunes, do not absorb bass. They are effectively tuned so that only the desired frequency is 'allowed in', not necessarily the frequency that is too dominant (for example as a result of a standing wave between ceiling and floor) but based on a real-time spectrum analysis. Anyway, the energy of the frequency is effectively for a very brief moment (following its frequency) kind of swallowed inside but of course it cannot stay there as the volume of the resonator is limited, what comes in has to come out. So that frequency wave is 'spit out' again but just a fraction of a second later, causing a phase shift of that frequency causing the energy still to be there but brought in line with the other frequencies that are not too dominant.
Beware, many brands selling helmholtz resonators stuff them with absorbant material. In doing this, they make a hybrid solution that is neither as effective as a bass trap nor as a true resonator. Not so with SMT whose Varitunes are completely empty, to act as a pure resonator making their effect maximized as a resonator but causing them to be picky in tuning though this should only be done once after installation.

Hope this helps!

Thank you flyer for the clarification and explanation.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Hello Darrin,

Welcome to WBF!

What an amazing room and acoustic treatment set-up! Congratulations to you and to Matts!

What are the dimensions of the listening room?

What are the tall, grey pieces in the front corners of the room?

Are the untreated wall sections (i.e., the areas with no SMT products) maple plywood or solid maple hardwood?

Why did you or Matts choose not to add the square SMT (the ones that look like square flower blossoms or square air vents) diffusers on top of the V wings?

PS: I have been considering the tallest (67") V wings in wood for my side walls. I am also considering the Vari-Qs underneath for a total height of 85".

 

[flyer]

Flyer, the only Helmholtz I'm familiar with are the ones from Acustica Applicata.

The Profliermo, Halifax and Volcano.

Yes, those are HH resonators. Good thing about them is that they are movable and tunable, so you can easily test and move them to the place and frequency where they have most impact.
OTOH, they are limited in volume, so will be their effect. But I would take them home any time if i hadn't a (much cheaper) solution via SMT.

 

[flyer]

I'm loving what's on the ceiling. I think I had a vivid dream once w that treatment featuring LOL.

Like this


This customer of mine is actually very happy with the effect, and is now thinking of expanding this to cover 2/3rds of his ceiling as the rest of the ceiling is covered with pyramid shaped foam that is absorbing the high frequency. The back of his room looks like this now:



The huge V6 Varitunes in the back corners made a huge difference for his bass control. Whereas before, having an almost perfect cube room, the bass was really overwhelming, it was tamed down to a very good level. Actually, while tuning the Varitunes I actually hardly needed a spectrum analyzer, I could physically feel the huge low frequency energy kind of blend into the rest of the spectrum.

 

[Mctwins]

Looks great. Enjoy!!!

 

[Audiolimits]

Hello Darrin,

Welcome to WBF!

What an amazing room and acoustic treatment set-up! Congratulations to you and to Matts!

What are the dimensions of the listening room?

What are the tall, grey pieces in the front corners of the room?

Are the untreated wall sections (i.e., the areas with no SMT products) maple plywood or solid maple hardwood?

Why did you or Matts choose not to add the square SMT (the ones that look like square flower blossoms or square air vents) diffusers on top of the V wings?

PS: I have been considering the tallest (67") V wings in wood for my side walls. I am also considering the Vari-Qs underneath for a total height of 85".

Hi Ron, thank you very much.
Our room dimensions are 23 x40 with 10ft ceilings

The grey vertical pillars behind the system hide the special Helmholtz trapps that SMT have designed just for our room How they are designed is a company secret.

All the wood including the flat panels are made of Maple plywood.

Matts suggested the grey flower pots however they didn't fit our budget at the time, they can be added at a later time.

Sounds like you are pretty much ready to have your room done. You won't regret it! Having SMT do our room was the best investment you can make in a high end audio or theater system.

 

[Bodhi]

I love SMT's work & rate them in the top 3 room acoustics compaies, well all except those ugly ceiling panels. Seriously they look like a bad case of acne or a plaster mould of the Elephant man! Hopefully they've got alternatives which look more aesthetically pleasing!!

 

[Audiolimits]

I love SMT's work & rate them in the top 3 room acoustics compaies, well all except those ugly ceiling panels. Seriously they look like a bad case of acne or a plaster mould of the Elephant man! Hopefully they've got alternatives which look more aesthetically pleasing!!

I too was concerned at first about the look of the bubbles but once painted and installed we love them.
Most of the people that enter our showroom love the bubbles on the ceiling.
They comment on them all the time. We even get people that want to buy just those. They look better in person as well