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New room problems?

I've recently moved my system to a new dedicated 2ch/HT room. In the old room (just your everyday living room) I had wide soundstage and deep bass. I had made no real attempt to optimize my speaker placement since I was building the new media room and knew I'd have to move everything soon. At my listening position in the new room, the soundstage is wide but strong bass response is hanging about 3 feet above my head. If I stand up the bass response is perfect as well as the soundstage. If I sit I have wide soundstage but little bass response.

New room: 18'x11.5x8' speakers on short wall with media cabinet and TV in between, room is carpeted, speakers are 8.5' apart, 16" from side walls, 28" out from front wall, 1" toe in to listening position which is 8' from speakers.

System (sorry nothing fancy): Jolida JD100 player into Rotel RSX-1056 surr processor, left and right signal sent to a Rotel RB-1080 amp for 2 channel listening into Von Schweikert VR4-jr speakers. Speakers are biwired. Interconnects are homemade using Chris Venhaus' method. Speaker wire is standard 12 guage braided.

None of the interconnects or cables were changed when I moved from one room to another. I've moved the speakers around quite a bit but have not been able to move the bass response down to my sitting ear level and I loose the nice wide soundstage if I push the speakers back into the corners or closer together.

I assume room treatments are in my future but which ones? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
wrekkah
wrekkah OP
2 posts
 
CKoffend: Thank you for the ideas. I've tried large towels in the ceiling corners, behind the speakers and between the wall corners. I couldn't honestly say I heard any improvements. I tried lifting the back of the speakers about an 1" with and without the towels I did not hear any improvement. Changing the toe-in to 4" with towels behind the speakers increased bass slightly but the bass I hear at standing head level is still much fuller and louder. I will continue to try other options.

Yes, the speakers are loaded with lead shot. My listening position is approximately 5'from the back wall.

Undertow: Our couch is pretty normal sized so no help there. I also have a problem of windows on one side of the room. I hope new blinds will help with that a little bit. What types of room treatments did you end up with in your room or did just the couch solve your problem.

It's very frustrating because I can hear the bass response I want, just not at my listening height.

undertow
1,033 posts
 
The Big puffy couch can help a lot, or added big chairs.. However for the best case from what you explain some really good Wood vertical or horizontal blinds for some diffusion, and maybe heavy drapes for the windows as a dressing would help quite a bit too.. As for real treatments, tons of options but most affordable are gonna stick out like a sore thumb of your standard Foam studio types etc... to hang from the ceiling to help drop your soundstage and clean up the echo and reflection your experiencing.. Not sure but you don't mention your floor, if its hardwood or tile, or anything but a pretty thick carpet you would have some room here to got and get a good roll of carpeting about 9 feet wide by 15 ft or 12 ft long to put between the listening position and the center of the speakers, Helps a lot too depending on the situation.
bnc
18 posts
 
Funny story, I used to have the same problem in a different house from where I now live. I noticed that when I stood up the music sounded better. So, being too lazy to stand and listen, I put my couch up on four kitchen chairs, hopped up and had a listen. I had to eat on the kitchen floor the rest of the time I lived in that house it sounded so good. Yes, I was single at the time so I didn't have to get approval from anyone and I didn't care that all my friends thought I was nuts. So if you have a dedicated room, the easy fix is prop up your couch and happy listening.
ryder
1,687 posts
 
My room dimensions are almost similiar to yours at 11'x17'x8'. With your speakers on the short wall, it would be worthwhile to do something about the side walls. Forget about cables, they won't help even a bit before you successfully address room issues. You would need absorption panels on the side walls. Front and back walls can be a mix of either absorption or diffusion. I personally feel towels won't help much as absorption levels would be extremely low to hear an audible effect. As for bass issues, the usual recommendation would be bass traps.
wrekkah OP
2 posts
 
Thanks everyone for your responses and ideas. I'll try to update with my progress.

Due to the high cost of room treatments I'm going to try the DIY route. There seems to be a lot of info out there. It'll take awhile to digest it all.
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