ROOM SIZE QUESTION

I strongly recommend your buying F. Alton Everest, "Sound Studio Construction on a Budget", which covers all types of audio rooms including home listening rooms, or his "Master Handbook of Acoustics, 4th Edition". You'll get all the answers to your questions, and a whole lot more. This book should be a Bible for audiophiles who care, as all should, about the room they put their components in. Among other things, you'll learn why smaller rooms pose more problems than larger ones, for resonant modes, and also how to choose dimensions to minimize those problems. Good luck!

Tom's advice is very good. We use and recommend the "Master Handbook of Acoustics" regularly. However, you will quickly find out from this book that there is a lot to it. The room resonant modes are one problem, but there are many others, such as reverberation times. The book does give you methods to do these calculations, but you may also consider some of the software packages available such as the CARA 2.1, which can make figuring out some of these parameters much easier.

Jim:

The question you raise must be considered in light of at least two factors (though other factors may also be relevant):
1. whether the smaller (16' x 14') room will be as good as a larger (20' x 16') room for your audio/video needs;
2. the resources (i.e., money and time) you have to invest.

The answer to the first issue can be partially resolved by consulting the "Master Handbook" referenced above. However, all other things being equal, the somewhat larger room will provide a better environment for a full audio/video system. The 16' x 14' room is small enough that it will confine you in your choices of speakers and video playback. As an example, my system is installed in a 17' x 13' room which serves as the combo living room / home entertainment area, and it would definitely benefit from being larger. If I were able at this time to remodel, I'd want a room that is -- at minimum -- 20' x 15', with a ceiling height of about 10'.

The other half of the equation is time and money. No matter which room size you choose, you will probably need to do some "optimizing" with appropriate acoustic treatment (such as carpeting/padding, "Room Tunes", etc.). Some of this you can do for yourself. If you build a custom home, or buy a new home that allows some modifications being moving in, you may want to have a professional home audio/video installer assist you. Again, however, all things being equal, the somewhat larger room will normally allow you to assemble a better home theater / audio system than the smaller room. At the very least, the larger room will accommodate more people/viewers comfortably -- it's not much fun to build a good HT system and then have to stuff people into an inadequate viewing/listening area.