Two of the most common acoustical problems found in home theaters today are comb filtering and flutter echo. Comb filtering occurs when sound from a speaker first travels directly to your ears. Then, a few milliseconds later, reflections of that same sound arrive to your ears after they have bounced off the side walls and ceiling. This effect can significantly reduce the clarity of dialogue in a movie, which can make it very difficult at times to understand what is being said. Flutter echo is a similar problem caused by two opposing reflective surfaces of a room (parallel wall to parallel wall or floor to ceiling). These repetitive reflections can produce a perception of a pitch and a reduction in the speech intelligibility within the room.

Luckily both of these problems are easily fixed with acoustic panels. Simply placing panels at the first reflection points of the room will reduce the sound waves from bouncing around so you can focus on one clear copy of the sound. Our free online acoustical calculator can help you determine the amount of panels your room will need to sound its best.