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My Home Speakers, My Car, and Me...The Ballad of What's Going Wrong?

Okay, so tell me what's going wrong.

My new dedicated room is 13x12x8. It's small. Bare walls. Hard tile floor. Windows on the front wall.

I have some loaner speakers in there at the moment while my other speakers are on order. Right now I have Dynaudio Focus 340s. They are 7ft apart from one another, 29" from the side walls, and 19" from the front wall. I am sitting 9.5ft from the speakers with a glorious center image.

I have ran room correction via my Linn KDS/3, called "Space Optimization." It works very well.

Yet, here I am listening, and verything I put on gives me anxiety. Literally a vibratory feeling that sucks.It's maybe half of a song in and I'm feeling this way.

And I think to myself, "When I'm in my car, cranking my music, why don't I feel the same?" I feel fine in the car. Perfect, even.

So, why would I be feeling this way in my room?

I question if I naturally need to sit further back from the speakers (which I can't do: I'm out of space/room). It seems my best speaker experiences are when I'm at a friend's house and either I'm a really good distance away from the speakers, or the room is very large and/or the speakers are much further apart. All of this, of course, is contrary to what I experience in my car.

Then I think, well, let me try some near field listening with my speakers, and I end up with the same anxious feeling. 

There's really only one more thing I can try, and that is to move all of my gear into the parlor, which is a much bigger room. I couldn't leave my stuff there, because the wife wouldn't want it, but at least I could experiment to see if a greater distance from the speakers will be better. However, that doesn't answer my question of why I feel fine in my auto with the music blaring in such a confined space.

Could it be that a sealed up listening space, full of soft stuff, is optimal?

Here is a diagram of my room (if it matters).

http://imgur.com/PC8LyVX


Thanks for nay thoughts. It's driving me batty.
evolvist
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,653 posts
 
That room is too small for the speakers you are using. What are the new speakers you plan on using? Keep away from rear ported type speakers. You would be better off using a LS3/5A (sealed 2 way) type of speaker for a small room like you have!
evolvist OP
167 posts
 
Hmmm...thank for the thoughts.

So, even with room correction running in software, it's still could not be defeating real, physical room problems?

You're right. The room is very hard and bare.

My body associates music with relaxation, no matter the style or genre; it's been conditioned over the years to let everything else melt away and escape via sound.

So, it could be a form of shock?

Perhaps I put too much stock in the room correction. One would think that being 9.5ft away from the speakers would be great, especially having a nice even image in the room, despite the speakers, themselves, being less than optimal.

I'll see if I can get some blankets and such up on the walls today and see how that does.

Thanks, again! Any other thoughts are always welcome.
evolvist OP
167 posts
 
@yogiboy  - But, if one is expecting to get full range speaker quality, with a small room like that, just forget the concept that you'll ever reach the highest of highs and the lowest of lows?

These aren't very big speakers. In fact, once could argue that they are a bit bass shy.

I could be wrong, but with acoustic room treatment and/or correction, with 9.5ft away (which wouldn't be considered near field), and 7ft apart, from speaker to speaker, by all measures isn't that still considered optimal?

Now, we're talking about what, some small floorstanders, and maybe a sub to fill out the rest? 
falconquest's avatar
falconquest
1,108 posts
 
Have you ever been in a busy restaurant that has hard surface walls and ceiling with no sound absorption? The voices from everyone talking bounce all over the room and make for an uncomfortable cacophony, at least to me. It's hard to relax with all that sound bouncing around. Maybe I'm more aware of acoustics due to this crazy hobby we all share but hard surface rooms with lots of people talking makes me want to leave. Perhaps you're experiencing the same issue in your room despite the room correction. I would echo what others have said, get some room treatment on the walls, floor and windows.    
wlutke
724 posts
 
evolvist -

If you're stuck in the small room, some stand mounted monitors may work better than the floor standers.
I used my old Vandersteen 3A's in a similar situation, without the glass and tile, and the ear fatigue (anxiety) was enormous at any bump of the volume.  I messed with the cables, speaker positioning, curtains and room treatments and that helped some. Not much.  I moved them to a larger room and the only wife acceptable solution was to place them at either ends of the listening couch.  The tone, fidelity,  overall command and Fun of the music so improved that I could not move them back to the small room.  I sacrificed soundstaging for good sound. Definitely give your parlor a try.  
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