the best type and shape of room for audio?

[Filterlab]

Guitar-shaped room, eh?... Not too difficult to acquire if you pull a few strings!...

Oh very droll Mike.

[The Grand Wazoo]

From The Grave

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

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

All speaker designed anechoically will fight with a live acoustic.

[MartinT]

Not that I've had my system in that many different rooms to compare, but I have landed on two things that I definitely prefer when setting up a room:

- In any given rectangular space, fire across the room if you can (i.e. across the short side). This avoids side reflections, which destroy clarity.

- Use room treatment, including your own furnishings. Get to the point where a finger snap in the middle of the quiet room won't create flutter echo (you'll know it when you hear it). A near-dead room is a much better starting point for setting up a system.


Oh, and who said in an earlier post "a room that I can have to myself"? Spot-on, mate!

[Peter Stockwell]

Non parallel walls ?

[jandl100]

- In any given rectangular space, fire across the room if you can (i.e. across the short side). This avoids side reflections, which destroy clarity.

Yup, I agree with that.

I've moved home a few times over the years. I've always found in a rectangular room that it sounds best to me when the speakers are against the long wall, firing across the narrower width.
Yes, you do tend to end up in a 'near-field' type of listening, but as Martin says, that's no bad thing as it significantly reduces room reflection effects, ime.

Use room treatment, including your own furnishings.

Mmmm ... depends on the speakers. When I got my omni MBLs I had to take down some absorbing panels behind them as they were definitely spoiling the sound. I still have an absorbent panel behind the listening chair, as this helps a lot with the chair quite close to the rear wall.

Oh, and who said in an earlier post "a room that I can have to myself"? Spot-on, mate!

Yep, I've got me one of those.

[Effem]

My listening is approximately 16' x 9' and has no less than 2 huge windows, a large glass door plus a full height side panel of glass, an "internal" patio door which divides my listening room from the lounge, so there is very little actual wall surface. To add to my woes I have a bouncy suspended wooden floor immediately above a huge void below, which has been converted into a shed which acts like an additional bass enhancement chamber

No wonder it has taken many changes of speakers to find a pair that don't clash with that lot

[MartinT]

Nasty, Frank. Have you tried decoupling your speakers from the floor (e.g. sorbothane) rather than coupling (such as spikes)?

[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.

[Alan]

Ive found over the last few years and house moves that I also prefer to listen nearfield, as the room interferes less. It isn't great sitting too close to the back wall so a little compromise is needed. I am lucky that my Royds were designed for near field and have worked in each new room they've been in so far. I hope they will also work after the next house move!

Joe ackroyd specifies my speakers ought to be away from the back wall, and ideally twice as far apart as the distance to the listener. They should toe in just behind the listener. I haven't come across many speakers with such unusual setup instructions.