- Software works with parts of all shapes and sizes
- Help identify the right place for speakers and acoustic panels
- Free for a room, but the furniture analysis is chargeable
If speakers are sonic superheroes, then their arch-nemesis is the rooms we place them in: poorly positioned speakers or oddly shaped housings can ruin stereo and spatial audio setups by delivering poorly located, boomy, or unfortunate sound. But now, a new website offers to help you find the ideal place to place your speakers and any acoustic panels in order to compensate for any irregularities in the room.
The website is called Roomtreatment.diy and uses several methods to predict how sound will bounce around your space. It can then identify what treatment is needed and where it should be positioned.
How does Roomtreatment.diy analyze your audio?
Posting on Reddit’s r/acoustics, the site’s creator, FerencS, explains that the analysis is based on separating low and high frequencies, 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 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 just had to redo a lot of mixing because I hadn’t compensated for the fact that my speakers were too close to the wall and put the bass more forward. And while this website is a work in progress (for example, it doesn’t model soundbars yet), it’s already very impressive.
The site was clearly designed 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-center stereo image, muddy or smudged details, or “it just hurts.” There’s a lot more detail if you want it, so for example, when you select a particular speaker configuration it will tell you which frequencies to listen for in terms of mid-bass ‘honk’, as well as potential soundstage issues and other unwanted effects.
Room creation in the app is free, but you’re limited to one room, it doesn’t take into account panels or furniture, and you can’t use the audio preview feature to hear the sound of the room with the selected configuration. Paid users can choose from $19 to unlock everything for one room, $29 for two, or $49 per month for unlimited rooms. The latter is intended for professional use rather than domestic use.
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