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Stone fireplace wall effects on acoustics?

The living room (where my system is going) in my new house has a stone fireplace wall that is about 10 feet wide from floor to ceiling.  The rocks are uneven type river rock in a random pattern.  I prefer the layout of the room where this wall is to the right of the speakers (about 4.5 feet from the right speaker) so the speakers would be able to fire into the dining/kitchen/4 season room.  

I am almost 100% opposed to mounting a huge tv above a fireplace due to viewing angle and having to conduit cables instead of running them in the wall.

I have complete freedom over decorating so even installing full wall acoustic treatment is not out of the question.  There are actually some slat wall treatments that would probably end up looking pretty slick.

Is this type of stone wall going to trash my acoustics and if so what would you do to correct it?
yukispier
erik_squires
16,879 posts
 
I agree with the TV placement.  The diffusion from the stone wall could be very beneficial but  you may need to compensate for it if you end up with too much mid/treble energy in the room. To compensate for this you'd add more panels elsewhere.  Regardless of the fireplace another thing to keep in mind is your bass modes. Having a waterfall or flame graph of the room decay is going to help guide your need for bass traps.

Don't forget your ceiling when treating the room.
whart's avatar
whart
3,212 posts
 
@audioquest4life - not to derail the thread, but I'd like to talk to you offline about your Classic Audio T1.5. Perhaps we can do a call when you have the time. I'll send you a PM.
Thanks, 
Bill Hart
audioquest4life
778 posts
 
@whart , 

Got it. Look for my reply in a little while. Would love to share feedback about the T1.5's. 

Ciao, 

Audioquest4life 
yukispier OP
26 posts
 
Don't forget your ceiling when treating the room.
Something like studio clouds?  Like others have said I really won't know until I actually listen to the room.  First task will be continuing the hardwoods and getting rid of the carpeting in the great room - can't even comprehend why someone would install carpeting when the other connecting rooms are hardwoods...
sns
4,019 posts
 
Guarantee you won't like my solution. I had stone fireplace, in my case not flush to side walls, stuck out perhaps two feet from side wall so two pocket one on either side of fireplace. I tried long wall setup with speakers firing into fireplace, no go. Went to short wall, fireplace left of speakers, better, asymmetry proved too much, never could get balanced center image. I tried so many room treatment products, finally gave up, tore out fireplace. The things we do for audio!
I should add, my room, about 35' long, opens into kitchen, 13' wide. Relatively narrow room was my problem, a much wider room would likely mitigate many problems.
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