the best type and shape of room for audio?

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Originally Posted by Effem

Spikes just makes matters worse Martin, so at one time I had the standard granite slabs under the spikes which eased matters somewhat, then after Pete (Zanash) visited I popped some insulation pipe slices under the granite which was a marked improvement. I had to part with the granite chopping boards to sweeten the deal when a chap bought my Revel Performas, so I put large scrap 20mm thick MDF sheets under the speakers mainly because I couldn't be fussed to go and buy some more granite chopping boards and the bigger footprint has made the speakers more stable. I think this arrangement works better than the spikes/granite/pipe slices arrangement did.

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A mate of mine now uses 2 gel filled wrist rests under granite slabs to decouple his Celestion A3's. His listening room has a suspended floor directly over the cellar and the bass was a bit boomy but with the pads has definitely gained more clarity now. They can be picked up quite cheap, even Belkin do them.

I now have two dense standard concrete building blocks that are 440mm x 100m x 215mm and are available from any builders merchant and some DIY stores for about £1 each under each speaker, they have certainly tightened up the wooly bass caused by my suspended floor, a £4 mod and the wife hasn't noticed them yet

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Originally Posted by Jonboy

I now have two dense standard concrete building blocks that are 440mm x 100m x 215mm and are available from any builders merchant and some DIY stores for about £1 each under each speaker, they have certainly tightened up the wooly bass caused by my suspended floor, a £4 mod and the wife hasn't noticed them yet

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Your wife hasn't noticed two 440mm x 100m x 215mm builders blocks in the lounge yet :stalks: you're a lucky fella for sure ;)

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Originally Posted by GreatGig

Your wife hasn't noticed two 440mm x 100m x 215mm builders blocks in the lounge yet :stalks: you're a lucky fella for sure ;)

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I know, my variac is hiding one side and the base of the arm chair hides the other and she (the Wife ) can't move either because of thier weight, sorted :)

I find there are pros and cons to granite slabs under speakers.

Yes, the bass can tighten up. But in my experience of using them with several speakers, a kind of hollow colouration is often (usually, always?) imparted to the midrange .. a kind of slightly 'hollow' effect making the sound less substantial. I always end up taking the slabs away for this reason.

But I've never had issues with a large resonant space under the floor, so maybe the balance of virtues shifts in that case.

I've found the same thing Jerry. Granite under TT's and other components? Yes, sometimes it works well, but never under speakers for me. Like you, I think, I've often tried it and always ended up going back.

I'm new to the forum, but thought I'd just put in my 2 penneth! I really do think that rooms can make or break the sound, but not sure how the dimensions stuff works.

I recently went to audition some speakers locally, his listening room was a converted garage (modern house, so a very long thin room, about 22ft x 9ft, with ceilings about 8ft high, as I recall). The room was carpeted and had very little furniture in, having been used as an AV room. His system was quite simple, Dynavector pre, Denson power, Cairn fog CD. The sound was 3 dimensional with a great soundstage....very very different to my own sound.

The speakers fired down the long length of the room and they sounded awesome! They sounded so impressive I bought them straight away, leaving a deposit, to collect the next day.

When I returned, he'd set up a replacement set of speakers. He played a few tracks through those, smaller speakers, again awesome.

I got my NEW speakers home.....that sound had vanished, virtually no 3D effect and very flat.....I think that can only be down to my room, which has no carpet is about 15' x14' x 7.5' and very open plan! I'm thinking of moving into the garage now

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Originally Posted by Dr Bunsen Honeydew

Get speakers that are designed to work with the room and not fight it.

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I'm finding myself in agreement with this. It's been enlightening for me how some speakers have been problematic in my room and yet others have just worked. So while in an ideal world it would be nice to have the bespoke room, for normal domestic situations buying the speaker to "fit" the room seems sensible to me. YMMV etc;

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Originally Posted by Ducatiist

I'm new to the forum, but thought I'd just put in my 2 penneth! I really do think that rooms can make or break the sound, but not sure how the dimensions stuff works.

I recently went to audition some speakers locally, his listening room was a converted garage (modern house, so a very long thin room, about 22ft x 9ft, with ceilings about 8ft high, as I recall). The room was carpeted and had very little furniture in, having been used as an AV room. His system was quite simple, Dynavector pre, Denson power, Cairn fog CD. The sound was 3 dimensional with a great soundstage....very very different to my own sound.

The speakers fired down the long length of the room and they sounded awesome! They sounded so impressive I bought them straight away, leaving a deposit, to collect the next day.

When I returned, he'd set up a replacement set of speakers. He played a few tracks through those, smaller speakers, again awesome.

I got my NEW speakers home.....that sound had vanished, virtually no 3D effect and very flat.....I think that can only be down to my room, which has no carpet is about 15' x14' x 7.5' and very open plan! I'm thinking of moving into the garage now

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Interesting comments, Stuart.
... And you must have been seriously disappointed! :doh:

You (or at least, I) wouldn't have expected a long thin room like that to work at all well when it comes to soundstage - but you heard just the opposite. :scratch::

Hmmm ... I have a long thin one (listening room that is ;)) and I've only ever tried my omni-directional speakers firing across the narrow/width dimension ... Hmmm :hmm:

I have slightly wooly bass. Maybe I should explore decoupling from a suspended floor rather than coupling...:scratch:

My speakers are currently spiked and sit in cross head screws which are screwed into the floor.