Troubleshooting Archives - Man Cave Retreat

If you have spent time in other peoples’ man caves or on YouTube looking for man cave ideas, chances are you have experienced this. Some rooms have an annoying echo. My guess is you are experiencing this echo right now! I’m not sure if it’s only me, but that echo bugs the crap out of me! In this article, I will describe what that echo is, how it can be reduced, and then give you some easy and practical solutions to solve this problem in your man cave. When something makes a noise, it is projecting all kinds of soundwaves. If uninterrupted, those soundwaves will bounce all around the room, this is what we hear as an echo. To get rid of the echo in your man cave, either add furniture/decorations with soft surfaces (rugs, blankets, or championship banners) or add decorations to reduce the amount of space in your room. What Is Echo? Before we look at how to fix it, it is important to know just what that echo is. My philosophy has always been that I need to understand something before I try to fix it. So what is echo? I like to think of echo as soundwaves that are bouncing all over the place. Whenever something makes a sound, it sends out soundwaves in all directions. When those soundwaves hit something hard, the waves bounce off and head back at the thing that projected them outward. When those soundwaves come back at us, we hear them again. If the echo is really bad, you might hear the same sound multiple times. All of this just because the sound is bouncing all over the place in the room. Why Do You Have An Echo in Your Man Cave? So that's what an echo is, just soundwaves bouncing off of all kinds of hard services. But you might be wondering why you have so much echo in your man cave. If you're sitting in there right now, I want you to take a second to look around and see what’s around you. Do you see a lot of hardwood? Do you see a lot of bare floors? Is there a lot of open room? If your echo is really bad, you might find yourself saying yes to all of these questions. During my trials and tribulations building a man cave, I found myself being drawn to rustic designs. The thing with rustic designs is they were usually incorporating a lot of hard surfaces. I keep finding myself always wanting to use hardwoods! This is doubly true if you are looking at an industrial design. You will have all kinds of hardwoods and metals exposed. As luck would have it, a lot of the designs that I (and most others) feel look good in a man cave end up contributing to the problem of echo. How To Reduce the Echo In A Room We've gone over what an echo is and what causes it, but how do we get rid of it? The solution is a lot easier than you may be thinking! We know that echoes are caused by soundwaves bouncing all over the place. All we need to do is figure out a way to stop those soundwaves from bouncing all over the place. I'm sure somewhere out there, there's a really impressive article that goes in-depth on how to scientifically best trap soundwaves. But let's be honest, you or I don’t care enough to go looking for it. Here is all you need to know. There are two strategies for getting rid of an echo. The first is using soft surfaces to absorb the sound. The other is to add furniture to the room so the space is less open. As you can probably imagine, there are quite a few possibilities for either one of these two solutions. Which is good because that means you can get creative with it. Easy And Practical Solutions For Your Echo Problem Even though the things that usually look great in a man cave do not help echo there are a lot of things that you can add to your space that will get rid of the issue. Like I mentioned earlier, you can either use soft surfaces to trap the sound waves, or you can add more furniture to break up the sound waves. Use Soft Surfaces To Trap the Echo-Causing Soundwaves The first trick I have for you is to include rugs or carpet in your space. The rugs and or carpet will provide that soft surface we have been talking about which will trap those pesky sound waves. When I suggest adding carpet to your man cave, I’m not suggesting you put wall to wall carpet down. Just adding a few space rugs would go a long way to cut down on your room’s echo. The other way to functionally cut down on your room’s echo is to just include things that happen to have a soft surface. When I say include soft things, I am not talking about hanging quilts on your walls. I’m talking about including things that have fabric on them. You can be creative with this. You would be surprised at what would work. Stuff that comes to mind is couches, sectionals, or even just putting a throw blanket on your couch. If you are aiming for a sports bar aesthetic, these suggestions may not be for you. For the sports bar astatic, I would suggest hanging up your team’s championship banners. If they don’t have any banner to display, you may want to pick a new team… The other option you have may not be for every man cave. Depending on the look you are going for, a great option is to include acoustic foam. This stuff is designed to tackle this very problem. It’s also pretty inexpensive, so that is a huge bonus. The downside of acoustic foam is its looks. If you are going for a certain aesthetic, the foam may look a little funky hanging out on your wall. Although, it’d look right at home in a home theater man cave or a music lounge/production man cave. They do come in different colors, but sometimes that isn’t enough. Add Stuff Into the Your Man Cave To Interrupt the Echo-Causing Sound Waves The second solution you have is not the most effective one. If you are hell-bent on not ruining your man cave’s perfectly planned aesthetic with rugs or foam, this is for you. I have talked at length in this article on how uncontrolled sound waves are the cause of your echoing issues. By adding obstacles in the paths of the sound, we can also break them up and limit how much they bounce around our room. With the option, the choice is completely yours. It is all up to you what you fill your space with. It could be extra seating, a table, some type of tabletop game? You have all the freedom. The important part is that you pay attention to the open spaces of your room. Be careful though! I am NOT saying to crowd your man cave to the point where there’s no room for guests! There is a fine line between adding obstructions for the sound waves and adding obstructions for humans. Final Thoughts Of all the problems you may have throughout your man cave’s lifespan, echo is going to be the easiest one to fix. Once you know that it is just sound waves bouncing all over the place, we realize how easy the solution is! Honestly, how you choose to get rid of your echo is totally up to you. It’s just another way you can personalize your man cave and make it authentically you. I hope this article was useful to you and gave you some easy solutions to eliminate that pesky echo. Until next time,