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Room Acoustics With Vaulted Ceiling

Hey Goners--I did a search and did not see a thread sufficiently similar to my situation. About to move in a few weeks. Right now my system http://https//systems.audiogon.com/systems/3224 is in a small, rectangular room (11.7 W X 17.3 L X 7.5 H). Speakers are on the short wall spaced nearly 8 feet apart and I am sitting around 10 feet away. The sound is surprisingly good for such a tight space. The new room is larger (13.6 W X 23.5 L X 8 H) with a vaulted ceiling that rises to at least 14 feet at the center of the room. I'm going to set up on the short wall again (no choice on this one) and am wondering what I can expect in terms of room acoustics. For those who have experience with a similar room, what blessings and curses would you anticipate? I'll circle back after the move with an update but any suggestions for room treatments etc. are welcome.
128x128dodgealum
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,965 posts
 
Actually for those of us who can do math, the vault is a free swarm of sorts Eric, but you already knew that.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,965 posts
 
Back to the OP, some of the best rooms in have been in ( recording and playback ) feature vaulted ceilings. Tell us more about surfaces, materials and furnishings before we launch into the treatment war...
jriggy's avatar
jriggy
564 posts
 
Will the vaulted ceiling go L to R (with the system) with the high point in the middle or will it go front to back with the high point in the middle of the longer length? I’ll assume the latter.  If so, you will want absorption on that angle that will send reflections back down right to the back/top of your head.
Also with that width, you may want to try diffusion rather than absorption at first and/or second reflection on side walls. 
Off topic, dodgealum, do you have the VTSP-360 yet? But maybe we could PM to chat about it... 


dodgealum's avatar
dodgealum OP
1,405 posts
 
Thanks, @jriggy Not the best at describing these things but the high point is at the middle of the longer dimension with the peak roughly directly above my listening position. Happy to PM about the 360.
cal3713's avatar
cal3713
1,421 posts
 
I'm in the corner so that my two-story tall vaulted ceilings are higher on one side (~23') of the system than the other (~13') and this forces me to use balance control to even out the imaging. Just something to keep in mind as you do setup. Hopefully not a problem if you're symmetrical.

And while I do believe the room helps with imaging due to the elimination of many traditional reflection points, I have many bass modes that cause very troublesome drop outs across the space (open to the rest of the house on both the first and second stories).

I hesitate to mention it given @erik_squires unprovoked attack, but the only solution I could find is a distributed bass array and even setting that up in conjunction with my full range speakers has been a substantial challenge. REW (free) and a calibrated usb mic (~$120) have been very useful for understanding and addressing these issues.

@erik_squires Please refrain from your efforts to turn every thread on this site negative.

Lots of good advice here from others, hope the new room is a great improvement. Good luck!
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