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Long Wall Speaker Placement: Pros and Cons?

There have been a few threads on tweaking speaker placement for imaging etc, but (at least for Magneplanars) it seems most people position them on the short wall firing down the longest dimension of the room.

Decorating and architectural considerations will now be moving my Tympanis to the LONG wall of my rectangular room (approx 18 x 25) where they will be firing across the 18' dimension of the room.

I am imagining - just a guess - that the bass response will suffer in this move which is a concern. Also, this will make it trickier to bring them out 3 feet or more from the new "rear" wall.

However, I suppose this might make it easier to move the speakers farther apart which could enhance the width of the image?

Or offer some other benefits from sitting several feet closer to the panels?

I really hope I can get them to work well this way and would appreciate any insights or advice.
cwlondon
unsound
7,327 posts
 
While I have never owned planars, I prefer long wall placement. I suspect that your bass resonse will actualy improve. Having greater distance from side wall reflections may improve clarity. My only suggestion is to place some foam padding to aborb refletions from the wall behind the listening position. You can hide the foam with a decorative wool covering. Be generous with this room treatment and you may be able to sit further back and maintain a nice distance between speakers and the wall behind them. Good luck, you may be in for a pleasant surprise.
jfrech's avatar
jfrech
1,816 posts
 
They'll work. You may need something behind those speakers to damp the rear wave of them. I had maggies years ago with this placement. Check my system pics, my Wilson's are on the long wall now. My audio buddies say it sounds pretty darn good, in fact one, with a much more (and frankly better) expensive system loves my bass.

Just play with it. Good luck !
honest1
586 posts
 
Audio Physic always used to be a big proponent of long wall placement (and prob'ly still is). They had a very detailed mathematical procedure for optimizing sound in a long wall placement. Check out their website, they may still have info on how to set this up properly. I have heard their Virgos set up like this, and it is truly spectacular, some of the best sound I have ever heard. I heard home theater in another shop that had a very modest system set up on a long wall, with a large space between the speekers and the side walls. It presented one of the most spectacular (in a subtle realistic way, rather than in an obvious, overdone way, which is waht made it so spectacular) sense of spaciousness I have ever heard. I envy you, as my room dictates a short wall placement, and my sound stage suffers for it. I think you are in for a pl;easant surprise!!!
pbb
1,140 posts
 
Con: looks weird.
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