Over the years I've worked on refining the sound in my listening room by both upgrading/changing components and adding room treatments. Not sure why, but the whole room treatment project always seemed like a separate component of the system. Corner treatments, absorptive panels, diffusers, and Argent Room Lenses, in addition to the occasional component and accessory upgrades, have graced my room, some with great success and others not so much. Room treatments can be some of the most rewarding, but also frustrating and mystifying part of the audio experience. Placing the current treatments in my room was a combination of research, advice, listening, measurement, and experimentation. I did it slowly, savoring each incremental improvement while sometimes rejecting some candidates. Hopefully I learned a little. As the room evolved, I realized that a truly satisfying musical experience absolutely had to include a well-treated room. No amount of megabuck components will make up for a bad room.
Currently on the front wall I have quite a few absorptive treatments in the corners and both right and left of center, but the seven feet where the center image sits behind the component rack has been bare drywall for many years. With that bare wall I heard some minor irregularities in voices and instruments, although the rest of the soundstage was performing (I thought) admirably. Different absorbers have resided where the center image sits, and even some really heavy wooden skyline diffusers (which ended up as wall art above the fireplace in the living room), but to my ears the unadorned wall produced better sound than any treatment I tried to date.
Although I knew there were a few issues with the sound that the bare wall facilitated, they weren't prominent enough to keep me from enjoying excellent music. You know how it is. Not enough to keep me awake at night, but always in the background, tucked in the paranoid audio recesses of the brain. When I decided to finally address this issue, I thought I'd like to try to match the look of the GIK Spot Panels already resident in the room. Since I was happy with the other products I had from GIK, I tried looking on their site first. The Q7D Diffuser caught my eye, and they were similar to the other panels in size and shape. I got in touch with Nick Hepfer at GIK and he arraigned for a review sample.
After sending pics of the room and speaking with Paul Bishop at GIK, we both agreed the spot for the Q7Ds was on the front wall, the bare spot directly in back of the centered component rack. Were my suspicions regarding the type of treatment—diffusers—and their placement confirmed? Maybe not confirmed, but I felt a lot better about trying the Q7Ds in my room with my dipole speakers.
According to GIK, the Q7D Diffusers are made "using high quality wood laminates which are cut using CNC machines allowing for extremely tight and repeatable tolerances for an excellent fit and finish at an extremely competitive price." They come in White, Black, and Blonde (sand) and Walnut. I chose Walnut. The Q7D, according to GIK, is a "7-root well design scattering from approx 350Hz and offering effective and even diffusion up through 3kHz, with additional scattering to the upper limit of approximately 7kHz. The Q7D offers a wide variety of placement options from rear wall, reflection points, or behind dipole/bipole speakers to address specific situations. It can also be used in more general places behind the listening position or on larger, empty wall surfaces to minimize slap echo." This type of diffuser looks like an open-faced box with channels or furrows in different depths to break up or diffuse the waves. These panels measure 19.7" x 45.9" (6.22" deep) at 39 lbs. each. Construction is veneer over MDF with a nice fit and finish that will be at home in a listening room or recording studio.
I started with the two panels placed together, dead center, sitting on top of the 24 x 48 x 6 bass trap that leaned against the wall at a slight angle in back of the component rack. I'd originally hoped I could just set the diffusers on the bass trap and be done with it. But when I understood how heavy the Q7Ds are, I realized this would not work. Maybe they would have balanced on top of the leaning bass trap for a while, but I didn't trust the stability, and after looking at the setup from the listening position, I didn't think the height would work either. And 39 lbs. of wood crashing down on my VPI turntable? I had to come up with a way of placing the heavy diffusers at the right height, but also I had a feeling I'd need to move them in the horizontal axis as well. After a few days I came up with what became a workable (but temporary) solution. A couch table. This is a narrow 7" depth table that at about 31" high (the height I calculated for the vertical position of the diffusers) and 70" wide gave me something I could place next to the wall (but not interfere with the rack or the rest of the system). The goal being to support the two panels while I tried different horizontal positions starting with both centered together and moving out in equal increments. After some lengthy listening sessions with a valued second opinion by audio buddy Scott, I ended up with the panels room-centered 35" off the floor (very close to where the existing GIK spot panels were mounted) with about 7.5" of space in between. This seemed to be the best position for soundstage width and spatial dimensionality. I also decided to put a bubble level on both main speakers—both were slightly off—this not only smoothed out the high frequencies from the ribbons and also seemed to support playback at higher SPLs without strain.
It did take some work on my part to bring out the best in the Q7Ds. Kind of analogous to getting a new pair of speakers that needed careful positioning to bring out their best. I found that placing them in a mirror image configuration (one GIK logo on the top, one on the bottom) worked best in my room. Once I settled on the best position I started listening seriously. After a while the two major improvements became obvious.
The center image, which was my main goal for improvement, was enhanced dramatically. The anomalies I'd been experiencing were mitigated. Midrange bumps and dips were smoothed. Vocals became more lifelike. I felt more like the image was present in the room with me. This effect was consistent and mattered not whether the image was a male or female vocal, a solo instrument, or a combination of vocals and/or instruments. The area that was formerly bare wall had come alive.
Although fixing the center image issue was my main motivation for seeking out the diffusers, the benefits I heard in spatial dimensionality across the rest of the soundstage were not only welcome, but almost amazing. Before the Q7Ds were installed, the system was performing great in the Y and Y axis, and producing what I thought was a decent depth in the Z axis. The diffusers changed all this and brought the Z axis of depth to life. Most unexpected but very welcome. The depth of virtually every recording I listened to expanded with a lovely sense of air around each instrument and voice. It became much easier to pick out individual instruments and voices. Background vocals and other off-center musical cues were a delight, and in some cases gave the music a new meaning. What does all this really mean? For the first time in my room, my system was now producing a really superior holographic 3-D imaging. This was not subtle.
When I got the panels set up to my satisfaction, I ended up loving the Q7Ds. Not only because of the center image and the spatial dimensionality. What really had me excited was that I had stopped counting the times I'd listen to a recording that had one or two outstanding cuts (you know what I mean) and then I'd actually listen to the rest of the album, thinking how did the former throw-a ways on the record start sounding so good?
I don't really have anything to compare the Q7Ds to other than the old 18" square Skyline diffusers I had years ago, which were good at improving the definition of the center image but did little else. In my room the Q7Ds were in a much higher class. Did they fix my midrange issues? Yes. More importantly they opened up a new world of holographic spatial dimension. This is something I believe most audiophiles would be thrilled to hear in their room. The Q7Ds went a long way towards creating the 3-D illusion that 2 channel stereo is supposed to construct. I can't say that you'll get the same results in your room with your system, but GIK gives you a 30-day window to try them and return if they don't work for you. The Q7Ds—with a little attention to positioning—did wonders for my system, and at about $1k for a pair make a great investment in your room, your system, an ultimately your musical pleasure.
Q7Ds Diffusers
Retail: $449.99 - $499.99
GIK
