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question about speaker placement. dead end room?

sorry for what may seem like a stupid question but here it is anyway. my "hi-fi mentor" came over yesterday to give a listen to my new system upgrades and tweeks. recently upgraded my power lines and cords along with IC's and speaker cable (still waiting for one final IC and power cord but i'm 90% there).

he stated that regardless of what i upgrade and how good i think it sounds, my speaker placement is too close to the rear wall. he said i shouldn't bother upgrading anymore until this can be resolved (waste of money until i get the speaker position right in his opinion) my aerial 7b's are about 14 inches off the wall measuring from the rear port and 28 inches if measuring from the front woofer. the room is such that even testing the aerial's at a "good distance" off given wall is impossible. my listening position would be way too close.

i use a velodyne dd12 which comes with a very useful/in depth tuning kit. spent many hours with this kit and finally got a pretty flat curve in the end (which also happened to sound right/good to my ears). it did take alot of work to get rid of a few huge base peaks, but i did get them hammered out eventually.

there is no way to put the aerial's in a postion that meets the general guidelines of speaker placement...per the cardas web site and other resources. would need to relocate the entire system to a different room and install a new dedicated ac line. neither of which is something i want to do.

my question is....

do i really have a "dead end room" where i've basically gone as far as i can go?. am i wasting my money on these IC and power source upgrades when such a glaring "sin" is present in my system.

like i said before....i think my system sounds pretty good. just wondering if i'm spinning my wheels (and tossing money away) by pushing forward with small, incremental upgrades and tweeks.
levy03
gsm18439
895 posts
 
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=65908.0

It is a discussion of Master Set - also called the Sumiko method.
levy03 OP
442 posts
 
Br3098, i totally agree. my concern isn't really about how good my system sounds. like you said...i like it and am enjoying it. no problem there. the issue is with my obsession to improve and "make it better". seems a few folks have the same problem around here =)

the best analogy i can use is this. putting a tricked out suspension into a car with all season tires (upgrading IC's, speaker wire, power supply on a system with non-optimal speaker placement). even though the suspension will help the cars handling (new upgrades did sound better to me), would it be smarter to address the tire's instead or first? (speaker placement)

it does seem like a silly question though (and i say so right off the bat). should i stop trying to improve my systems various "connections" due to room constraints and speaker position. am i wasting my effort/money here and should i focus on the room and placement first.

Larry's reply hit it spot on. the room in question is not just a listening room. it's my family room where we watch TV, play games and just hang out. i do not want to/can't make it a place where only i go to hear music. the room must be comfortable and inviting while still sounding "good". i have no plans to dedicate the room to hi-fi. once i get the speakers into a decent location, window treatments and some additional carpet is all i plan/am willing to do.

Rich was also spot on by pointing out that if music is a priority, it needs to treated as such. that's why his suggestion of adding a set a speakers really appealed to me (and my budget since i already have an extra set of decent speakers). it will still be a family room but can become a good listening room too (by sitting somewhere else in the room to listen).

my life has always been one big compromise lol!. finding the right balance, as opposed to perfection has become my calling card. this is just another example.

i'm back on course for now. thanks to all for the great advice/input!
kevinzoe
167 posts
 
From the looks of your picture the speakers are firing across the room width. I would bet that your seating position is right agains the wall - is this true?

Have you considered placing the speakers on either side of what looks like a fireplace and firing down the room length? This would allow many more speaker-listening position placement combinations and just importantly give you additional space behind your listening chair.

I too have read Dr. Floyd Toole's latest book and would highly recommend it.
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