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Room Acoustics and Speaker interaction.

I would like to have a secondary system in my small den which is only 11.5ft by 11.5ft with only a 7.5ft ceiling. Very small and very square...yikes!

So, because the room is so small, the speakers need to be close to the wall that resides behind them.

So this got me thinking about speaker types: sealed/front ported/rear ported, etc as I want to avoid a booming bass. But then I was thinking.....is it really the ports that are problematic or is it just certain low frequencies that are reacting to the room modes? Any thoughts?

How does one determine what frequencies to watch out for in your particular room?
no_regrets
chayro
2,982 posts
 
Unfortunately, my experience has been that you just have to try different speakers and hope that the response clicks with the acoustic properties in your room. When you don't have placement options within the room, you just have to hope you find something that works. OTOH, Harbeths are designed to be used in actual control rooms and for nearfield listening situations, so you're on the right track, IMO.
orpheus10
8,668 posts
 
I have the same situation in a bed room, and in regard to speaker placement, I discovered diagonal works best with the phantom center channel in the corner.
nvp
317 posts
 
No-regrets, if the wife is ok with he Tannoys then I would try them again only this time stuck something into their ports, e.g. some foam or sponge, rolled socks will also do.

Keep in mind that the density of the thing you put into the ports will significantly affect the bass output of the speaker, i.e. the denser the material the less bass output the speaker will produce.
no_regrets OP
507 posts
 
Hi Nvp,

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually did try this with foam a while back. Although it did reduce the bass output, it also messed with the rest of the sound. It just didn't sound right. It lost its naturalness, it's intimacy, and to my ears, I didn't like it.

Maybe I need to experiment more with different materials, etc. I still think its a good suggestion and me be helpful with other speakers or with different materials.
nvp
317 posts
 
It just didn't sound right. It lost its naturalness, it's intimacy, and to my ears, I didn't like it.

I know what you mean No_regrets. You should try to use something softer, also do not stuff the speaker ports. The speakers need to "breathe" a little beat.

Of course, I am not trying to stop you to buy new speakers. That is always fun!
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