Room Questionaire

[purite audio]

Just a quick question, how many AOS members have a room dedicated purely to audio,
a room where you can place equipment anywhere you choose to maximise SQ.
For those that have to 'share' ,how many actual positions are there available for you to position your loudspeakers.
I expect you all have doors, fireplaces ,thoroughfares etc ,so how many places can you site your equipment.
Thanks in advance,
Keith.

[Yomanze]

Well, I suppose my living room is my dedicated music room, with HiFi positioning taking priority over everything else, so there are the following important bits:

- The HiFi is not in between the speakers, the rack sites to the right in an alcove behind the speakers
- The TV is wall-mounted in-between the speakers a bit higher than usual to stop it interfering with the sound
- I have covered the in-wall fireplace with acoustic tiles
- There is only one optimal position for the speakers, which is against the long wall where the fireplace sits

[purite audio]

Have you been able to try the loudspeakers in other positions, did you measure or just use your ears?
Kr Keith.

[Clive]

I have my study which is also my listening room so it's my room to lay out as I wish. It's a square room (bad) but thankfully with a bay window to reduce the squareness. The ceiling is low at about 7ft. I've tried several speaker positions but the best is with the speakers (OBs) in front of the bay window with my listening position 3ft clear of the rear wall. I have the equipment along a side wall as I find 2 decks, computer, amps etc impinge on the soundstage, with a simpler system I expect there'd be less of an issue.

There are more foam panels/room treatments than are in this pic:
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/cmeakins/CTM_0495.jpg (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/cmeakins/media/CTM_0495.jpg.html)

[Yomanze]

Have you been able to try the loudspeakers in other positions, did you measure or just use your ears?
Kr Keith.

As per Gromit's method I place them right into the corners and move them out and together until the soundstage and imaging snap into focus with no perception of a gap in between the speakers. He mentioned a musicians trick of tuning instruments by playing them in a room corner, and like them, I do it by ear.

[purite audio]

But you don't know what the room is doing to the FR of the loudspeakers?
Keith.

[Yomanze]

But you don't know what the room is doing to the FR of the loudspeakers?
Keith.

Hi Keith, no I don't, do you recommend any software to try it out?

[Clive]

I should have added to my contribution that I have measured my room using the XTZ Room Analyzer. Mostly I've used this for the bass as I DSP it because my room dimensions are far from ideal, I measure for FR and decay. The foam panels I position more by ear. Measuring at least convinced me I'm not totally mad, it proved what I thought - namely that bass is better in my room with the door shut.


I have my study which is also my listening room so it's my room to lay out as I wish. It's a square room (bad) but thankfully with a bay window to reduce the squareness. The ceiling is low at about 7ft. I've tried several speaker positions but the best is with the speakers (OBs) in front of the bay window with my listening position 3ft clear of the rear wall. I have the equipment along a side wall as I find 2 decks, computer, amps etc impinge on the soundstage, with a simpler system I expect there'd be less of an issue.

There are more foam panels/room treatments than are in this pic:
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/cmeakins/CTM_0495.jpg (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/cmeakins/media/CTM_0495.jpg.html)

[purite audio]

The XTZ analyser that Clive mentions in his post, perhaps if you ask nicely he may lend you it?
Keith.

[MikeMusic]

I almost have a dedicated room
Been thinking of moving the Isobariks to the sort wall ever since they went on the long wall !
Caling could be an issue though and we also lose the view into the back garden.
Only have 2 walls to sensibly choose from due to windows, radiators and French doors

[synsei]

For various reasons my listening room is our bedroom (which is around 16ft square), not ideal admittedly but it has to be that way. Due to my girlfriends hobby and the layout of the room I am stuck with only one location to place my speakers, which are under the bedroom window and placed about 7ft apart. They face the bed. I do my listening sat on the bed, again not ideal but needs must. The system is located on the wall to the right of the window and about a foot and a half downwind of the right hand speaker. Over time I have carefully tuned the system to iron out all the bug bears induced by the room and the systems location, to the point where it now sounds very good indeed. For some reason unknown to me, rear ported speakers really suffer in this room. I have owned several pairs over the years and all have suffered from severe bass suckout. The DM2's work very well in this environment however ;)

[chelsea]

Shared square room approx 5m x 5m.

[YNWaN]

I have a separate room dedicated to the hi-fi.

I have measured the room and speakers a few times and experimented with various speaker positions.

[Richard Kimber]

I have a study about 10ft x 20ft that I can arrange as I wish, though there's really only one practical way of doing it because of where the doors and windows are. There's a bay that's large enough for my desk, so nothing obstructs the speakers.

- Richard.

[Macca]

My main priority when I bought the house I currently live in was the hi-fi. The room is near to golden ratio - 29 x 11.5 x 9 feet with concrete floor.

[MikeMusic]

Speakers on the short or long wall ?

[purite audio]

Try inputing your rooms dimensions into here,
http://www.hunecke.de/en/calculators/room-eigenmodes.html

It will give you a rough idea of where the high pressure areas are at various frequencies.
Keith.

[Macca]

Speakers on the short or long wall ?

On the short wall. Ideally they should be a bit further back, maybe 2 or 3 feet than they are but it isn't practical. Also my listening position is a bit too close to the opposite wall, again an enforced compromise. I've always been of the opinion that large multi-way speakers should be a good distance from the listener to let the sound 'coagulate' a bit. You don't want to hear the individual drivers.

[MikeMusic]

I've got the space not sure I have the time and will power to test out the short wall !
My Isos are as close to the wall as possible, as recommended by everyone I believe

[Macca]

Mike I would guess that the Isobariks would be better firing down the length of the room, the only way would be to try it and I can appreciate that would mean a hell of a lot of shifting about. Plus a lot of shifting back again if it doesn't work.

[MikeMusic]

Mike I would guess that the Isobariks would be better firing down the length of the room, the only way would be to try it and I can appreciate that would mean a hell of a lot of shifting about. Plus a lot of shifting back again if it doesn't work.

That's what most Isobarik savvy think so it keeps surfacing as an idea in my head
The main barrier is the sheer amount of time it would take just to test
If I can get very long speaker cables for testing so only the speakers move (and to suit Naim and Isos), took away the Isobarik Mana stands just for testing, to aid moving, listened, moved, listened. If better enough then it would be worth looking at doing permanently.
I'd like some muscle around to help so moving back and forth a few times if necessary would be fairly easy
Another thought/barrier occurs. ....
What if sound was better because the room was less worse with that layout but some bass traps and similar there would be no difference - or I moved to a worse set up !
Aaargh
Am I over thinking this ?

[purite audio]

I use my Trinnov to measure the speakers in various positions,you can store the results and then compare the graphs, you still have to move the speakers around though!
Then you can use the device to gauge the contribution of any room treatment.
Keith.

[MikeMusic]

It's the work involved in moving the speakers that stops me !

Just thought they will almost certainly need levelling each time they are moved :doh:

[purite audio]

In terms of measurement it won't make too much difference , are they on stands?
Keith.

[MikeMusic]

Yes. Late style Iso with crossovers in the base/stands, another reason to have to move them with the stands
I think I tried them once on the floor and the sound was not good at all so I think that would get in the way of comparison - working out which was least horrid maybe
I might be able to work out a way of using a spare set of stands though.......... needs some thought, then all I need is some long speaker cables and a willing volunteer to help hump the lumps
Yes, could be a goer

[StanleyB]

Just thought they will almost certainly need levelling each time they are moved :doh:
I designed a speaker stand that can be adjusted for height and levelled with relative ease. It is for my NS1000M. But I am so scared of it getting copied and others making money from it that I have hidden it away.

[MikeMusic]

Worth going for a patent ?

My levelling problem is the floor is very uneven and Murphy's law say it will be different in each place
I'm working on the 2nd set of stands and logistics. May even be able to do it on my own !

[synsei]

I designed a speaker stand that can be adjusted for height and levelled with relative ease. It is for my NS1000M. But I am so scared of it getting copied and others making money from it that I have hidden it away.

It's the nature of the beast Stan. All good ideas, whether patented or not, get copied in some form or another. Take Dyson vacuum cleaners for example, there are countless variations on his theme for sale these days, some better at the job than others. All the while your idea is tucked away in a cupboard it ain't earning you a crust buddy...

[MikeMusic]

It's the nature of the beast Stan. All good ideas, whether patented or not, get copied in some form or another. Take Dyson vacuum cleaners for example, there are countless variations on his theme for sale these days, some better at the job than others. All the while your idea is tucked away in a cupboard it ain't earning you a crust buddy...

I found out recently that another printer had copied our method of finishing NCR sets. Nicely set up by the rep who had sold us the kit, looking for more sales :(

[pjdowns]

I haven't currently got a dedicated room, although the Hifi kind of takes priority in terms of location within our lounge.

One of my priorities when we next move is to have a dedicated Hifi room, well bedroom or something similar where I can do what I like :)