Morgan’s system
- Thread starter MPW
- Start date
PierreB
Member
Wow, very nice place. :coolyeah:
UltraFast69
New member
MPW, I bet it sounds as nice as it looks!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Beautiful room. However, I'm awfully curious why you didn't locate the equipment at the opposing end where the walls are symetrical to allow for the opportunity for equal speaker reinforcement and have the listening chair at the base-of-the-stairs end of the room?
A far second is just from an aesthetics perspective of staring at symetrical walls. As the is now, every time I sat down, I would be distracted by the lack of symetry in front of me as well as always wondering what I might be missing from a playback perspective.
A far second is just from an aesthetics perspective of staring at symetrical walls. As the is now, every time I sat down, I would be distracted by the lack of symetry in front of me as well as always wondering what I might be missing from a playback perspective.
Pretty!
Randy Myers
Well-known member
Morgan, very nice indeed! Those KEF's are making me drool 
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...bluegrassphile
Member
Gorgeous system! I'll bet it sounds incredible. I spent seven great years in Iowa City. Wonderful town.
Jack
Active member
I had a friend from college that owned an audio store on Kirkwood Ave. in Iowa City for many years. His older brother owned it's sister store in Davenport.
jdandy
New member
Morgan.......What a beautiful room and sound system. Well done.
MPW
Member
- Thread Author
- #16
Great question! I initially had the room set up 180 degrees opposite to what you see in the photos. What you can't see in the photos is that there is a door to a bedroom and a door to a bathroom in the back corner of the room. Visually, it looks much better this way so I don't have to look at those doors. The visuals, however, weren't my major concern in the room setup - sound quality was. To that end I discussed my room with Jim Smith during a RoomPlay Reference session at his listening room in early 2019. I showed him photos and dimensions of the room including a dimensionalized drawing of where the listening seat and speakers were placed. He immediately suggested flipping the room. Effectively the staircase becomes a big bass trap as the low frequency energy has a mechanism to escape. From the speakers forward there is good symmetry in the room. Ultimately, the room measures better, sounds better, and looks better.
It is also important to understand more about why everything is placed in the room where it is. My first step was to determine the position of the listening seat. This is the most critical element in how the system will sound. The position was determined by finding the smoothest bass response possible. Bass is really the foundation, and in small rooms it is the most difficult to get right. I accomplished this through measurements (REW) and by listening. Once I had the listening seat determined, I worked on the speakers. I have always tried to pull my speakers out from the front wall if room allows. Jim Smith talks about this in his book Get Better Sound. Since I have a dedicated room, pulling the speakers out was not a problem. It also allows me to enter the room from the staircase without having to avoid a speaker (I do have to watch out for the speaker cable). I am still dialing in the position of the speakers by listening, but pulling them out (approx. 8' out from front wall) really provides incredible depth of soundstage. The sound is very open, natural, realistic, emotional.
Still a work in progress, but I thought it would be interesting to share my thought process as I set up this system.
