Room Acoustics and Speaker Placement


Hey guys,

I’m moving to a new condo next month. It’s going to be a living room setup and I have two options:

 

1) speakers will be positioned such that it will only have 1 side wall. The other side will be open (dining area).

2) speakers will have both side walls (not equidistant) but no rear wall (my back will be towards the dining area). 
 

I know that neither setup is ideal but if you were to pick one, which one would it be and why? 
 

let me know if you need more info. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

dcp20124
Post removed 

OP,

Thanks. Speaking of pictures worth a thousand words... really worth it. 

 

Well, that is challenging. Where are you going to sit? That will be a challenge. Where you have put the speakers is the obvious placement. You can do a corner bass trap and acoustic panels behind the speakers. Moving the rack over next to the TV would help. This would probably sound really good. Can you find a way to put a listening chair that make a triangle with the speakers?

Are those mirrors on th ceiling? Those are probably acoustically bad. 

@ghdprentice thank you so much for the prompt response. 

the 2 wall art hanging behind the speakers are acoustic panels. Are you recommending adding more? 
 

the glass above the speaker is a little window of sorts because the living room doesn’t get any direct sun light.  Not ideal for music but I don’t have much of a choice.

when you say move the rack next to the TV, any reasons for it? Also, would it help if I moved it to the side instead of between the speakers? The reason I’m asking is that I have an 18 month old toddler at home. And hence the cage in front of the system. 
 

I may be able to get away with a bass trap so long as it’s shorter than the speaker height. Will be sort of hidden in the corner next the right speaker. I don’t feel the bass is boomy, what exactly will a bass trap do? 

Also. I sit on the lengthy part of the couch for now. Plan is to move it to the other side and put another chair right in front of the speaker creating that L shaped sofa. If that makes sense? Let’s just say the sitting position will likely be where the long leg of the couch is at the moment. Once I get the chair, I should be able to move it forward or backward while listening to crest that triangle 

OP,

Thanks for the feedback. The glass above the system looked like mirrors at an angle. I get it now. 

You would move the rack  to prevent it from interfering with the imaging. You could cage the rack over to the side, like you have the whole system now. Then just protect each speaker. 

Once this is done and you are able to sit at the apex of a roughly equilateral triangle with the speakers (you can just move a chair there when you listen). You will want to dial in the speakers. I think you can move the left speaker a bit further out since there is no adjacent side wall... Actually what is the speaker to speaker distance? I can’t tell. You would want 6’ to 7’... but it can be smaller... it determines where the listener position it. 

You will want to slowly vary the toe in on the speakers between beams crossed behind your head and straight out. Take your time. I typically try one extreme and then the other, very slowly converging on the one with the best central image and widest sound stage. You can work on this for a week... Drop it and work on other things... pick it up again next year. Over time you will learn the sound of your system and optimize the toe in. 

You can determine how effective acoustic panels are by simulating them. I have used couch cushions (wrap in heavy blankets if they are leather), pillows and rolled up blankets... anything like that. The height of the imaging will be determined by the acoustic treatments. The treatments that you have only do not extend to the floor. So they will restrict the imagine height. Look at my main system, notice the pillows along the floor. The soundstage on my system goes from outside the speakers, above the speakers and into the wall.