Different listning room layouts

Posted by: Anders on 30 October 2000

Hi,

I'm considering a build out of my listning room and would need some opinions/advice on the topic.

Currently, my dedicated listning room has the following dimensions (feet): 12.5 (width) * 15.0 (length) * 8.0 (height). My speakers (active Isobariks) are placed at one of the short wall and the Naim electronics on the opposite short wall. The distance between the speakers is 8 feet and there is nothing placed between them. I live in a new house with the walls made of plaster. Therefore, I have placed stone(leca)blocks behind the speakers to get a better support.

The sound (and music!) I get from this set-up most of the time is excellent. However, I feel the speakers would benefit from a larger room volume, especially when listning to large orchestral music.

The solution I currently consider is to tear down the wall to the next room (the room is very little used and the excersize is relatively easy) thereby increasing the length from 15 feet to 24 feet. I will then move the speakers down to the next short wall (which also is a little stiffer).

On the negative side, the speakers will now be sharing the short wall with a 4.5 (width)* 7.0 (height)convertible bed cabinet which for practical purposes can not be moved. The speakers will be placed 8 inches from the cabinet and 24 inches from the room corners.

Question: Will the benefit of the larger room outweight the downside of having the cabinet between the speakers? I have seen others placing their speakers on each side of fireplaces as well as book shelves. Is this considered a satisfactory solution? What do you loose by having something placed between the speakers?

Looking forward to any comments

Regards

Ander

Posted on: 30 October 2000 by Dev B
Anders,

It is abit hard to comment without seing your room, but your description is pretty clear.

I think it is a good idea to make the room bigger, but keep the Isobariks where they are but move your listening seat/position further way to your taste (say, 12ft)

You could build another wall behind the Isobariks, you'd have to work out what materials are best when you calculated the resonant frequency of the wall.

Also treat the side walls near the Isobariks with diffusers (bookcases, etc). I would avoid having anything between the speakers.

Dev