Room friendly speakers

Thank you Eric. You are correct, I could make all the room changes like raising the roof and still be no further ahead.

I'm looking at things a little differently. I'm looking at the type of speaker that may work best. I notice a lot of manufacturers talk about this material and that material, but how many talk about how their speakers sound in rooms? Small? Big? I noticed that Harman corp pays close attention to these matters and the adjustability on the Revel speakers is admirable.

But I think point source Dipoles might be the best bet. Something like: http://www.spatialaudio.us/lumina

That being said, if I drive either of my speakers with tube amps - like my Cary's - that have moderate bass, things are damn close to perfect. (Yes Doug, tubes rule!). :)

I'm just talking....nothing serious. Just bouncing ideas around. It's all good.


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Mike,

Have your speaker builder friend make you a nice set of speakers :)
 
Mike said:
Thank you Eric. You are correct, I could make all the room changes like raising the roof and still be no further ahead.

I'm looking at things a little differently. I'm looking at the type of speaker that may work best. I notice a lot of manufacturers talk about this material and that material, but how many talk about how their speakers sound in rooms? Small? Big? I noticed that Harman corp pays close attention to these matters and the adjustability on the Revel speakers is admirable.

But I think point source Dipoles might be the best bet. Something like: Lumina ? SPATIAL AUDIO

That being said, if I drive either of my speakers with tube amps - like my Cary's - that have moderate bass, things are damn close to perfect. (Yes Doug, tubes rule!). :)

I'm just talking....nothing serious. Just bouncing ideas around. It's all good.


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It looks like a small room to me, correct? If it was a large room I'd say try some electrostatics. Although, they too have their upsides and downsides.
I don't know if speaker material has much to do with it in relation to how a speaker will consistently sound in a room? (I could be wrong). I mean for instance Beryllium tweeters tend to be much harsher than titanium tweeters just in their nature, no matter the room. The hard thing to keep in mind is our hearing and how it changes by itself. For instance, the ribbon tweeters used in the Golden Ear Tritons sound extremely harsh upon first listen almost to the point that you want to leave the room,, but after 15 minutes or so they sound different, more smooth and clear.
 
NorthStar said:
25' by 14' (+ 2") by 8' (center and 4' at the sides). ...I think. ...I'm pretty sure. ...I am. :)

* That's a mid-size room with roughly 2,200 cubic feet. ...Easy to drive.
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Correct!


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I have a hard time believing that the floor is the problem with carpet which will dampen things. If the sub floor is loose maybe. You could always try some heavy Granite plinths under the speakers. But I could be way off!

I have heard the Alexia's and I could see that a 14' wide room could be a problem with the bass. especially with the mid bass hump.
 
Mechnutt said:
I have a hard time believing that the floor is the problem with carpet which will dampen things. If the sub floor is loose maybe. You could always try some heavy Granite plinths under the speakers. But I could be way off!

I have heard the Alexia's and I could see that a 14' wide room could be a problem with the bass. especially with the mid bass hump.
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To be fair, it's not the Alexia's. I moved the D3's upstairs a few days ago. They sound AMAZING downstairs. Breathtaking. But upstairs, they are plagued with the same issues as every other speaker I've tried up there.

I spoke with Clayton Shaw and he suggested helmholtz resonators.

Thoughts?


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Hi Mike,

I would suggest Martin Logan CLX ART (provided they fit under the roof), supplemented with a pair of Martin Logan Descent subwoofers (with the dedicated crossover for the CLX).
I just set up such a system in a mean room - all drywall and resonating like a tubular bell - and the results were great. And once you hear "electrostatic bass" I guarantee everything else will sound muddy.
 

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Room friendly speakers? No
Speaker friendly rooms? Yes :-)

Seriously, I've always thought horns have a distinct advantage in difficult rooms, like hotel rooms.
 
Mike, I just took a look at the picture of your room. That vaulted ceiling and wood beams are an acoustic nightmare. Have you considered having a company come in a cover up the angled walls completely with sound absorbing material?

Dipoles like Magnepans might work on the short walls. I will trade you my 1.6's for the Wilson's straight up:)
 
CPP said:
Mike said:
Mike - no options for adjusting the roof line - that corresponds with the roof of the house. I could raise the roof (no pun intended)....but again - that's major expense.

Tried the long wall this morning...

View attachment 6260

Sounds better.


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After seeing a picture of your room, it looks a lot what my old room looked like. View attachment 6261 Well I hate to tell ya, we couldn't get the room to come to grips with sound no mater how we moved the speakers and chairs around, to include adding wall and ceiling treatments and adding soundboard to the floor. We (I) just took over the den and put my audio equipment in there. We turned the FROG (formal room over garage) into a "extra bedroom. The only speaker that I had that worked really good in that room was my J.M. Reynaud Offrande Supreme V2. But the wifey wanted the room for a "room", so to the den I went.
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+1

I have seen you change speaker's for over a while Mike and I always thought the way the room was built to be the problem. These low and unconventional ceiling are certainly a big problem. I would try to find some other place in the house to set up your systems and finally enjoy the fruit of your labor. Otherwise I could suggest you find a good speaker installer to set them up as optimally as possible. I have someone in mind when I say that, PM me as I would need to talk to him first if interested. . I can just say he set mine up recently and my jaw fell to the floor. Ain't moving 1 mm!
 
Mike, how about a pair of Martin Logan Summit Xs? You should come by to hear how great the bass response is! Everyone that heard them say it's just jaw dropping fantastic!
 
One thing you might want to consider (short of a new room, and the resultant expenses, both from the build out and possible increased tax assessment ), is to pull up the current floor. Than have your carpenter put in a new series of floor joists. Leave the current ones in place, but just add new ones between the current ones. So if your joists are now at the "standard" 16 inches apart, you will now have a joist every eight inches. Than put a new, two inch thick floor over all this. This should "tighten" up things considerably .
You also might want to explore speakers like the ones already mentioned (THE VANDYS) that have "bass management" capability ( some of our speakers also have this capability). With a built in bass amp, and parametric EQ available you will be able to probably tame your problem to a rather substantial degree. This bass management would only cover the low frequency's and you will still be using your main amps to drive the rest of the range. Could be an interesting option.
CHEERS...............T.
 
Question: Which rooms make better rooms for sound quality (acoustic); basement, main floor, or upper floor(s)?

Answer: Usually the ones with solid floors.

* It's the same when you go out at a music concert venue; like a hall, jazz club, disco club, hotel, condo, ....
 
Mike said:
. . . I could make all the room changes like raising the roof and still be no further ahead. . . .
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That is very unlikely.

Your low and severely angled ceiling on both sides of the room really is the problem. Also, you really do not want to have the speakers on the long wall and yourself sitting against the opposite wall.
 
NorthStar said:
I like that (just above); I thought of solidifying the floor before but was too shy of elaborating in fear of too much work (expense).
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We did our floor ourselves. The floor joist were correctly installed so we just added bulk to the weak floor. 3/4 plywood and 1/2 soundboard.

Don't expect a miracle fix. it did not correct the weak bass in the room or the reflections on the sloped walls but it did make the floor solid. The only way we could get any decent sound was positioning the speakers at the longest end not at the width. The speakers set facing the short sloped wall will create a bouncing effect from the forward wall to the rear sloped wall. Room measurements will show this. We treated the slopes and the ceilings but the " look" was odd not to mention the headroom was reduced.


Mike hope whatever you try works out.
 
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