Is My Room Large Enough?

One thought to play with, and I'd love to here opinions on this. I've heard of others with squarish rooms setting up on the diagonal. This breaks up all the reflection points and could reduce the "acoustical treatments" required. It also has the potential effect of lengthening the room. Any thoughts? J.D.

Hi Am; Yes your room is big enough, just continue on the course you're suggesting, follow the advice in the above posts and you could have a very nice set-up. I started out with a 12 X 14 room, put Vand. 2Ce speakers (pretty big) and 175 wpc amp in it. If I was a grown-up at the time (I was late 40's), I would do what you are proposing. All that said, I still really enjoyed my system. I just couldn't play it at more than low to low/moderate levels. The speakers and speaker location)s) will be really important. Good Luck. Craig

I have a friend that uses a similarly small room and listens to B&W 801s in the nearfield. The speakers are only a couple of feet out from the front wall (to the back of his speakers, and he sits into the room making a slightly elongated equilateral triangle with his speakers. He sits about six feet away and I have got to admit the listening experience is great - a bit like headphones but much more enjoyable. Good luck.

I have a friend with a small room/ hey that's me! I guess you can never be to rich/skinny/ or have to large a room. I go to friends houses or condos and drool at their rooms.They're always polite and offer me a napkin.I second Mr. Kiwi's suggestion for nearfield. I go back and forth,because there is something to putting them speakers exactly half way into the room.Then I go back where the bass is best / 57in.from the back wall.

These are all good posted suggestions. I heard a small room about this size with acoustic treatment at a dealer and it was amazing - probably one of the best overall systems that I've heard - including the room treatment and the equpiment together. It was a great room for jazz/classical/vocal. He had the small triangle echo busters in the ceiling/wall corners of the room, with a few panels on the walls and ceiling. The equpiment was a Audio Research tube amp, a passive preamp, and ProAc 1.5's, set up in a near-field configuration. It was an amazing space. The bass was deep and so perfectly defined. That listening session sticks in my mind more than any other. I think my tastes in music/movies overall makes me a bit more of a banger - where I like the large room, B&W N802's and a big solid state amp, but after hearing that system, it makes me want to start over in a small room and see what I could do with the right acoustic treatment and a pair of those ProAc's to listen to my jazz stuff.