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Loft floorplan / listening area - please critique

Need some advice on positioning and speaker styles for creation of listening area in the living room area of loft apartment.

I have uploaded a piece of the floorplan with the proposed speaker positioning (approximate of course) at this link. Note that the ceiling heights are 12.5ft:

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff163/gmolinari/room.jpg

I would like to use my system when friends are over and for the whole family to enjoy and that is why i would like it positioned as shown in the attached. The other option was to use what is shown as 'Bedroom 2' as the listening room/den but i thought this room was a little small and again would not be able to project the music into the main living area. The problem of course is that there are a lot of large windows in the living room and it is also quite a large area. We will probably have blinds of some sort installed on the windows, but unlikely to have curtains.

I would appreciate any suggestions on speakers or room treatments to look into. My wife is sensitive to having too much audio treatment hanging on walls or on floor so i need to integrate everything in a way that is aesthetically pleasing. I am fascinated by the MBL 101E and plan to go demo these soon, although I have read that they are very sensitive to the room and positioning. On the positive side I think this type of speaker might have the capability to really fill the large volume of the living areas with luscious music.

Would love to hear critiques and comments about how you would go about setting up a 'livable' listening area in this type of space. In my previous home I had a more traditional room so I am new to the loft environment.
superquant
superquant OP
3 posts
 
Thanks newbee - that makes sense. I think my main concern is are all the windows in the area. If there are blinds on these and we draw them then I think we could reduce a lot of the reflections and bass loss. Does anyone know of 'audiophile window blinds'? Might be something that is both aesthetically pleasing and very helpful.

I guess another issue is that it will be very difficult to evaluate the speaker directly in my environment pre-purchase, especially if i go with something pre-owned from audiogon, which would be my preference. So I feel like I am doing a bit of a crapshoot.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Well, I don't know of 'audiophile' grade blinds, but if I were to get some I would chose some with soft surfaces as opposed to plastic or hard wood, and I would absolutely select vertical blinds unless you are going to operate with them fully closed during listening sessions. Cloth vertical blinds I would think would not only work but could easily gain decorator approval.

BTW, its not really that much of a crap shoot if you do some reasearh on the radiation patterns of the various speaker types you might choose from. They all create different sound fields and set up problems as well as sonic differences. Take your time! IMHO, though, and most generally speaking, the easiest speakers to set up are dynamic/cone based speakers. Panels and electrostats are the hardest and you have fewer options to get them to their optimum set up/sound.
geared4me's avatar
geared4me
219 posts
 
Your loft layout looks exactly like the one I use to live in. I put heavy roman shades on the windows and then a heavy curtain. It turned out beautifully and worked great.

I tried the angled in the corner thing but had too many problems with bass that way. Your layout is what worked best for me. The sound easily fills the whole loft this way. A couple nice tapestries, thick rugs or carpet, and some cloth furniture and you will be good to go.

I agree that direct radiating(cone) speakers will be the easiest to arrange in this space but with some additional planning I'm sure you could make most any speaker work for you.
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
I would not put the equipment in between the speakers and agree about crossing the speakers unless they are dipoles or bipolar. But you will still have to experiment.
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