Smaller vs larger listening rooms?

I go into a lot of different rooms for demos as the ATC importer. Every small room (including studios) have problems because they are too small. Small rooms do not have enough length or width to allow a true deep bass wavelength to exist in the room properly. If a 40Hz wavelength is 28.3 feet, how does that work in 20 foot room? It doesnt!.

On top of that it can be near impossible to get the speakers far enough away from the side walls to avoid overpowering 1st reflection problems. (this one can be easy to fix with acoustic material). It is shocking to me how many high end speaker companies do not know the 1st reflection issue is critical

I’d much rather do a demo in a larger room than a smaller one. A hotel room is impossible; a big hotel meeting room it starts to get better. Knowing that, the same rules apply to both rooms: don’t get near side walls (for good imaging), stay away from corners (boundary effects boost bass), avoid reflective walls and floors (wood/stone/ceramic floors, plaster walls, ceilings), stay on axis and in the triangle.

I think its usually easier in a bigger space. A good test of this is take your speakers outside in your driveway- WOW- do they sound different.
Brad

My sister was just reminding me of a relative we visited 50 yrs ago, with a big old house with huge living room -- it contained a grand piano and six couches scattered around, as well as the stereo. 10 ft ceilings.

I still remembered how sound from the stereo bloomed in that room.

Enjoy your room it is ok.

I currently have a 25x26x7’ dedicated room. I have everything setup a little out of center so I don’t sit in a bass null. It works well enough. 
I had the same system in a 13.5’x18x7’ room in my last house. 
The large room was harder to get the bass right which is the opposite of what I would think. Both rooms were carpeted and both ceilings were acoustic tiles with 8” of mineral wool behind them. 
Sound stage and imaging are much better in the big room as I am not by any walls really. This could really not be achieved in the smaller room. The small room needed a lot of toe in to not have side wall bounce and that would shrink the soundstage and make the speakers brighter. In the large room I point the speakers with much less toe in. 
I should point out that I actively cross over two subs in both rooms so I dial in the bass as needed. 
I still need to buy treatments for the walls but it is coming along.