When is a Listening Room Too Big


I've always considered the interaction of your choosen speaker and the size/type of listening room to be step one in getting the best sound possible. A speaker too big for your room will overload everything and ruin the sound, a small speaker in a really large room might only work well with nearfield listening.

Here's my question; when does a listening room become too large? Lets say you have a nice speaker like a Magnepan 20.7; my current room is 17.5 w x 26 L x 9 h. As I design and build my next dedicated listening room, what dimensions should I aim for? Is 21 w x 31 L x 10 h too big?

Paul Klipsch always said that the best measured rooms typically fall in a range where the width is around 67% of the length...
stickman451
Good point by John regarding how one may have a preference for a certain size room that has nothing to do with sound quality.

I have 3 rooms running speakers off my main rig using in-wall speaker wires that run from the room where my gear is located. That room is 12X12 with standard height ceiling.

Above it is the sunroom, similar size, but cathedral ceiling.

Then I have my "large room" which is ~ 20X30 but L shaped, so smaller in volume.

I listen a lot in both the main 12X12 room and the larger L shaped room. Each has their unique charms in terms of how the music is presented, like going to different size venues for a live performance. Which is best? Hard to say. Smaller room is cozy and intimate and sounds great. Good for getting intimately involved with the music. Larger room presents things on a larger scale and is good for being able to just sit back a bit and soak it all in and also sounds great. Hard to choose just one, but I could live with either if I had to.

Sunroom has its own appeal and belongs to my wife, so my options are limited there and the sound is quite good there as well, but I use it more for casual rather than critical listening.
Rooms with open floor plans and cathedral ceilings tend to less than optimal for serious listening.

Shakey
Stickman451,
why did you not look at the info provided by George Cardas on this subject? it's been on his website for a really long time. Or, should I assume you've already read this & still have questions??
here's a link: http://www.cardas.com/room_setup_faq_page1.php

there's a lot more info the Cardas website which should interest you.....
Thanks.