Moving and Planning

R

RHinCT

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Jun 24, 2019
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Connecticut, USA
I am in the process of buying a new house, so am also in the process of deciding where the stereo goes and what will be necessary to get it sounding right. The larger candidate room is 14x24 feet, but the doorways and bay window could complicate the acoustics. I think the other smaller room will do better, but it does have complications of its own.

That room is 15x16. I am not sure which way is which, and the measurements are probably nominal anyway. I imagine placing the listening position at least three or four feet in from one end. Behind to the one side is the door to the garage, to the other an open doorway to the rest of the house, so that will be a busy path. (But not while I am listening, I live alone.) The wall at that end has three windows centered, with three feet or so to either side. The windows have Venetian blinds; curtains or drapes are possible. Except for those doorways behind me, the side walls are featureless. It is the far end where the speakers go that gets interesting.

The "wall" behind the speakers is mostly a centered glass door, flanked by two of the same except that they don't open. Again, to either side there is about three feet of blank wall. There is a drapery rod extending past the glass to either side. The door in the center leads to a sun room so it will be necessary to leave a path to it.

My speakers are Magnepan 1.7i's, so they will be out in the room, away from all the walls. With three feet behind them, and three or four behind the listener, that puts them roughly ten or eleven feet from the listener, and well away from the side walls.

My current thought is that I might need to come up with some heavy drapes to cover the glass door behind the speakers. I don't even know if there exists such a thing as acoustic drapes. Floors are hardwood, I should have mentioned. I can imagine an area rug covering most of the floor between listener and speakers. I've got a nice 8x10 that might do the job.

All thoughts solicited. In the long run I plan on buying some of Jim Smith's time with a Straight Talk session, but things are a bit preliminary for that now. (I have his book and the related DVD set.)

Thanks!

RH in CT, new to AudioShark (who has no idea what tags might be appropriate
 
Your 15x16 room sounds pretty good, considering it is so symmetrical along the axis of the speaker setup as you described it.

If you don't need the three windows on the rear wall, you could place acoustic panels over/inside the frames of those windows and cover them with curtains. You could also do the same to the two glass door panels on the front wall that don't move, but with Magnepan speakers that may be less of an issue as they'd be off-axis to the speaker, and the sound wave is so directional. But I can imagine the three rear windows are actually a first reflection point.

If you are limited to curtains, then there are ways to get sound absorption from it. A Google search will find some, and you'll want to look at the absorption / noise reduction coefficient graph or ask for it to compare effectiveness. DIY is also possible.
 
Interesting that the windows/wall behind me are so significant. Exactly the sort of thing I came here to learn. Thanks!
 
Sorry...

The 15 x 16 room is a bit problematic with it's dimensions re getting the smoothest bass, especially if you have an 8' ceiling.
 
Nothing is simple.

The other room available is the 14x26 living room. The long exterior wall is on the south side, with a bay window a bit left of center. The wall to the left (east) end has a fireplace with a mantle. At that end of the other long wall, in the corner, is an open doorway.

At the other end of the room, the long (south) wall has the front door in the corner. The short west wall has a double closet on the left, a stretch of open wall, and then the opening to the hallway at the right end. Opposite the front door on the long south wall is an opening to another room at the end of the long north wall. The NW corner simply isn't there, open along both walls.

Setting up with the bay window behind me and the speakers out from the long north wall would leave a minimum of side reflections to worry about. But not much room behind the listener, except what the bay window provides, which is I am sure problematic in itself.

Setting up with the listener facing the long way... the openings are more extensive at the west end, so I suspect the speakers would be toward the east end. But they could be well into the room. The bay window on the right would still complicate things. Might it complicate things less if the edge if the Magnepan on that side faced into the bay? Distance between speakers and listener could be short, long or in between.
 
The bigger rectangular room is better than the smaller nearly square one. You cannot change the size, but you can “fix” the other stuff with some room acoustical treatments or good digital room correction filters.
Btw, a picture can help better explain your concerns with the room.
 
Yes, I understand that a few pictures would be a great benefit. At the moment the only pictures I have are from the realtor listing, with other people's furnishings. If I posted one of them it would be child's play to track it back to the house. When I can take my own I will post. When I can get accurate measurements I will do a diagram.

Thanks!
 
We're all stuck with the rooms we have, and in my experience the difference in sound due to an asymmetrical room tends to get on my nerves and room treatments usually can't counteract the difference created by open areas in the walls. While you can move your speakers and listening seat around a bit in a less than ideal but still symmetric room. Could still be much less of a problem due because you're using Magnepans, but that would be my concern.
 
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