Opinions about Diffusers

Diffusion is a phenomenon where some energy expressed as a vector is spread out and dispersed into multiple vectors at lesser levels of energy.

I just made that up... you should probably check Wiki :-)

What frequencies are you hoping to diffuse?

Those are beautiful diffusers, but they are tuned to work with higher frequencies.

I'd buy as many as I can afford, but at that price I can afford none of them :-)

I have always wanted to make my own diffusers... it seems like a great idea to have a bunch of them.

The egg carton wall treatment is a familiar example of DIY diffusers.

It's my impression that you should get your bass trapping under control first then after that you can use diffusers to tune the higher frequencies if you feel that there is too many first reflections getting to you and confusing your impression of the direct sound.

If you try to tame the direct reflections with material used for bass trapping you will probably also deaden the room to a point where it seems unnatural. Foam works great for that. Fiberglass works even better.

So you can use diffusers to help keep the room lively but less aggressive than if the first reflections were coming straight off a smooth hard wall.

Ethan Winer writes about the benefits of diffusers on his Bass traps website.

Bass traps may have diffusers mounted over their surface and that was very common before the chunk of 703 in the corner revolution.

The thing about diffusers is that if you study up on them you will end up wishing you had a huge room... just to hold the diffusers that you really want. Smaller diffusers such as you are looking at just don't cover enough frequency range... but if you have the extra budget.... go for it.

BTW, Clever people will point out that a book shelf or CD rack serves as a similar diffuser to what you have linked to.

all the best,
mike

Thanks to both.
I'm actually considering these instead:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120522454816&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

They're a hell of a lot less, and look about the same.  I could fill in some of the holes at differing depths to make them work better.

I know there's lot of mathematical equations and figuring that goes into this stuff, but I figure anything that breaks up a flat wall surface has to be good.

I'm definitely considering the 703 in the corner thing as well.  Does that have to be solid, or can I just make panels out of 703 and put them kitty corner - perhaps filling up the void with rolled up moving blankets?  It could cost less than piling up triangles of 703 to fill the corner as I've seen.  It's not exactly cheap.

There is going to be a bookshelf in the control room, as well as a couch on the back wall facing the speakers eventually too.  I was figuring on putting a couple of those TRAYS on the back wall over the couch, and a few in the live room.

?

bitflipper


Instead of cutting triangles of 703, just put 4 inches across the corner and then fill the void with regular pink fluffy insulation.

+1

And the first diffusers posted looks like they could be built at home for $50.