We have received many inquiries lately from customers who purchased Dolby Atmos speakers for their home theater and complained of boomy sound. If you are in a similar situation we can help!
Root Cause = High Reverberation Time
After finding out more information about the home theater rooms it was discovered that the root cause of the problem was the rooms had a really high reverberation time!
Reverberation Time is the time it takes for a sound to decay by 60 dB and is sometimes abbreviated T60 or RT60. A T60 of less than 0.5 seconds is ideal for good speech clarity and an ideal home theater room.
To find the reverberation time (T60) of a room we use the equation:
T60 = 0.16V/A
- T60 represents the Reverberation Time
- V represents the total Volume of the room
- A represents the total Absorption of the room
The way we calculate reverberation time here is by using the total absorption of a room. This does not require any testing, microphones or speakers. You can find this by simply measuring the size of each surface in the room and finding the absorption coefficient of each material.
If you need help finding the reverb time in your room please fill out our free room analysis!
Our free reverberation time calculator is in the form of an excel spreadsheet. You can open this with Microsoft excel or in Google sheets.
Here is a video explaining how to use the FREE T60 CALCULATOR!
Solution = Acoustic Absorption
You can lower the reverb time in your home theater by adding acoustic absorption!
Some examples of acoustic absorption are:
How much acoustic absorption do you need?
Generally, larger rooms will need more treatment than small rooms. Also, other objects in the room play a role. If you have all flat surfaces, wood floors and wood furniture you will need more acoustic absorption than someone with the same size room but thick carpet, big soft couches and thick curtains over the windows.
To get a quick idea of how much treatment you need check out our acoustic foam room calculator. You can also fill out our free room analysis!
Acoustic Treatment In Action
Our friend That Home Theater Dude installed some acoustic absorption in his home theater with great results.
If you still have questions we are glad to help you! Please contact us anytime!
Read More:
Will Acoustic Foam Soundproof A Room ?
Acoustic Treatment For Home Recording Studios - Multiple Design Ideas
Home Theater Acoustic Treatment - DIY Video Instructions