Martin Logan and other Dipole speakers-Acoustics Forum-Acoustic Fields Forum

Here is a partial post off of the Martin Logan owners site from a well respected member of the “club”. He seems to mirror you thoughts that either absorption or diffusion can be used on the front wall, depending upon how far the stats are from the back wall. . . . .

“I have used both absorption and diffusion behind my panels at different times. Here are my thoughts. If you can’t get the panels more than three feet away from the wall, absorption is the way to go. If you can get them four to five feet away, then diffusion is the way to go. Absorption will give you an increase in clarity and precise imaging but flatten the soundstage. Diffusion will give you a wider and deeper soundstage, but imaging won’t be as pinpoint precise. Neither is inherently “better.” They are just different. The acoustic space sounds more natural with diffusion but the crystal clarity and pinpoint imaging with absorption is pretty cool.

Here’s the thing, though. You have to absorb or diffuse the entire back wave of the speaker panel. So you need a panel that is as tall as the speaker panel and is directly behind it on the wall. You also need a panel that can absorb the entire frequency range of the speaker panel, down to about 500 hz., and not just the higher frequencies, for it to be truly effective. This generally means a panel that is about three to four inches in thickness. ” R.

I am trying to “absorb” (pun intended) a lot of the information/videos on your site before I make any decisions/purchases. I have two potential rooms for my two channel system, both have more bad than good, which is another reason why I have hesitated sending in any room measurements for analysis. Are there any products that you can suggest that would be useful in any room size? Would the ACDA -10 and ACDA -12 be used in all situations regardless of room size?