Change of room acoustics

[Ferretfancy]

I listen in a sizeable living room to a five speaker surround system that allows me to listen to Dolby sound by way of DVD, and also has a sophisticated digital processor that handles CD and LP, synthesising rear channel ambience when I choose it. All outputs are digital to the loudspeakers, which have their own DACs. Although I boast, it is high end stuff.
One thing that is quite critical is the calibration of the five speakers in terms of distance and level, and on music the settings on the centre front speaker are critical. Too much level and the separation suffers. I've spent a good deal of time getting it right.

Sitting on a glass table above my centre speaker until recently was a massive Loewe TV, quite an old CRT with a 32" screen, and we have now replaced it with a large HD flat screen model which sits in roughly the same position but further back in the space between the speakers. Naturally I was anxious in case the balance need a lot of adjustment, although I did not anticipate too much difference.

The results have been spectacular, with a deeper sound stage and better imaging all round. Voices in opera are no longer quite so upfront, and it all seems a lot more comfortable.

After years of listening this really underlines for me the importance of room acoustic and speaker placing, even if, as I did, you thought it sounded good!

[Ariosto]

Your room setup sounds wonderful. I took out our TV for a couple of years and realised that the sound from my more modest setup sounded noticably better.

Unfortunately we have the TV back (a large flatscreen) but I'm working on it. (And hoping they come to get me 'cause they think I do not have a TV licence - which I don't ... but my wife does ... and they haven't cottoned on yet ... due to us changing it into her name and her account ... and they don't realise - so I'm not telling 'em. They will have to get a court order to inspect!! I'm really enjoying messing up the Gestapo's peace of mind and costing the bastards money).

[Serial_Apologist]

When I moved into this, my very first flat, 8 years ago, getting the positioning of my hi-fi right assumed highest priority, above everything else with regards to furniture placement. I was just glad my existing system and the new acoustics were compatible - in fact it sounds better with the wall-to-wall carpetting that was already here.

Details of this kind baffle non-musical people.

[gradus]

Ferretfancy, may I ask the dimensions of your listening room? I have a pair of electrostatics (63) and have been put off trying anything more complicated than 2 speakers in a 23'x12' room - my wife already complains about the looming presence of the Quads.

[johnb]

For most people it is always a compromise between what is visually pleasant to live with and the ideal as far as speaker placement, etc. Then there is the problem of bass resonances, etc, etc.

I only have a two speaker system with the Squeezebox Touch as my main source (rather than a CD player). My listening room (i.e. living room) is roughly 17' x 15' x 11' with polished floorboards and large rugs, no curtains (the windows with their surrounds and shutters look much better without) but I have two wall hangings to help dampen the room somewhat. Less than ideal to say the least.

Anyway, I have been seriously considering installing Digital Room Correction on the Logitech Media Server (which feeds the Touch). When I began to think about this last year I got a (not too expensive) calibrated measurement microphone and did some tests of the arrangement 'as is' using the free REW (Room EQ Wizard) software. It certainly certainly confirmed the deep valleys and peaks below ~250 kHz.

I ran a trial version of the software that generates the correction filters and the short corrected file it generated certainly sounded much better - so it is now a matter of justifying the cost of the full version.

[Ariosto]

For most people it is always a compromise between what is visually pleasant to live with and the ideal as far as speaker placement, etc.

That is why it is so important to spend time training your partner and making sure he/she has the same priorities.

I always remember the shock on my first wife's face when I turned up with two very large speakers. Her mother who happened to be staying at the time said "he obviously wants to have the same effect as sitting in the middle of an orchestra." Not too far from the truth either.

My wife now, being a musician herself, takes it for granted that we have good equipment and doesn't mind when I turn a room into a recording studio with mic stands and leads everywhere.

But with most wives who are not musically trained you have to convert them. It's a bit like training a dog really, only dogs often get it a bit sooner!!

[Ferretfancy]

Ferretfancy, may I ask the dimensions of your listening room? I have a pair of electrostatics (63) and have been put off trying anything more complicated than 2 speakers in a 23'x12' room - my wife already complains about the looming presence of the Quads.

gradus
We live on the first and top floors of an old terrace house with the living room on the first floor and windows front and back. It's 30ft long and 14ft wide, with the speakers at one narrow end about 9ft apart and about 4 ft into the room with space at the sides, so they present a similar position away from walls as your Quads require. The rear speakers are about 8 ft behind my listening position on the sofa. Thicker carpet would be nice, but re-fitting would mean an upheaval. The the floor is also sitting on old fashioned wooden joists, which is not ideal, but needs must.

There are all sorts of extra tweeks you can do to the set-up, but over a long time I've discovered that it's very easy to go round in circles.

I should say that this a male occupied pad, which perhaps makes life easier!

[Ferretfancy]

Ferretfancy, may I ask the dimensions of your listening room? I have a pair of electrostatics (63) and have been put off trying anything more complicated than 2 speakers in a 23'x12' room - my wife already complains about the looming presence of the Quads.

gradus
We are in a first floor maisonette, with the living room approx. 30 ft long and about 14ft wide with a 9ft ceiling. Fitted floor tile carpet with a window at each narrow end

The speakers are at one narrow end, about 9 ft apart with a centre speaker, and about 4ft from the wall behind with space at the sides. The rear speakers are about the same distance apart and 8ft behind my head. All except the centre speaker are floor standing, and the space behind them has the door to the room, dining table etc.

[Ferretfancy]

Sorry about the repeat! Finger trouble!

[Flosshilde]

gradus
We live on the first and top floors of an old terrace house with the living room on the first floor and windows front and back. It's 30ft long and 14ft wide, with the speakers at one narrow end about 9ft apart and about 4 ft into the room with space at the sides, so they present a similar position away from walls as your Quads require. The rear speakers are about 8 ft behind my listening position on the sofa. Thicker carpet would be nice, but re-fitting would mean an upheaval. The the floor is also sitting on old fashioned wooden joists, which is not ideal, but needs must.

How do you get on with the neighbours downstairs?

I should say that this a male occupied pad, which perhaps makes life easier!

Not sure that I understand this comment?


When I read descriptions like the ones in the posts here I wonder - I enjoy listening to music at home, but it's never going to be like hearing it in a concert hall, so why try? I also like to have a living room that looks like a living room, not a speaker sales room, with pictures, plants, books, my small collection of ceramics, the dog, the cat, & my partner (last but not least). If it's very cold the curtains are closed, for most of the time they are open. I'd rather relax than worry about how all these things might affect the acoustics. Especially when the dog, for example, is sometimes there & sometimes not, & when he is he frequently moves around.