Using only barrel diffusers in a small room

Have not been here in a while. I used this site to help build my studio and it is fantastic! But I have a question. Because of the things I learned here I have an idea that I want to run by you people. This idea is only for an extreme beginner with almost no money. I repeat. Just for that! I know this is a serious forum and people don't mess around, but I just am curious if any one of the experienced people are going to heavily disagree with what I am thinking. So here goes: Because of what I learned here about putting up auralex and so called foam bass traps. I have an idea for an EXTREAM beginner who, for a hundred bucks or so, wants to get the most of an 8 x 10 or so, small room. From what I learned here it would be extremely easy and cheep to go to home depot and buy 10 or 15 8' and 10' concrete forms like in this picture: http://doitbest.com/Concrete+form+tubes-Quikrete-model-692201-doitbest-sku-287962.dib Cut them in half and mount them all over the room on the walls. What this will do, according to what I learned mostly here, is break the sound waves up into many particles. Thus, eliminating slap back and many other standing wave problems. Of course the room, even a small one will be a little live, but you won’t have the standing wave problems associated with hanging the auralex stuff. I am proposing to do this without and traps. Just diffuse only! As I understand that auralex type trapping kills the highs. So in other words it is better to break up the waves and be immersed in sound particles than it is to do the auralex thing and create those kinds of problems that it creates. Does this make sense?

My first though here is that diffusion on such a small room doesn't make much sense anyway. According to André, you need several meters of space for diffusion to avoid lobing issues, and you just don't have it in a small room. Second, 8" tubes aren't very big for diffusion in the low end, which is where you need it most, and those tubes aren't very thick or dense. Those won't have much effect at all below about 450 Hz. or so. Best case: You might get some minimal effect in the highs, but I doubt it would be worthwhile, especially if you have no absorption at all. IMHO - Stuart -

Why would you get lobing? So then why not use a combination of 8" 10" and some 12"?

eruss wrote:

an 8 x 10 or so, small room ... Cut them in half and mount them all over the room on the walls.

That type of diffusor is not great in a very small room. This video lets you hear a number of surface types close-up, as if you were right there in the room, including curved cement forms, real QRD diffusors, and of course the ubiquitous shelf of books: All About Diffusion --Ethan

Ethan Winer wrote:

eruss wrote:

an 8 x 10 or so, small room ... Cut them in half and mount them all over the room on the walls.

That type of diffusor is not great in a very small room. This video lets you hear a number of surface types close-up, as if you were right there in the room, including curved cement forms, real QRD diffusors, and of course the ubiquitous shelf of books: All About Diffusion --Ethan

THanks Ethan, All of those difussor types sounded better to me than the absorption. So would not your video support my idea? And for someone with no money, would not those sonotube things be a good idea as I am sure they are WAY less expensive than those other difusors. Home Deopt does not sell them in 12 foot lenths. Only 4 foot. So no need to cut them to get in the car. and I just cut them with my knife. I did not need that jig. I have filled a room about 30% with those things and it sounded way better to me than using any type of absorption on the wall. I would guess that for mixing in a room filled with sonotubes of 8" and some bigger ones too, putting the speakers more in the middle of the room and maybe haging some blankets over the wall duing mix would still be better than hanging tree or four auralex pads. You know what I'm talking about. Right? It seems like your video just confirms what I suggested, that for the bigginer who has no money to speak of, using sonotubes is a cheap way to get both a cool recording room and a better mixing room all in one. They will just need some thick blankets to adjust for deading when needed. No?

I'm sure sonotubes are better than a bare wall. --Ethan

Ethan Winer wrote:

I'm sure sonotubes are better than a bare wall.

Yes they are better than nothing, but as you (Ethan) already wrote, in that size room they are not a good choice. Andre