Speaker Placement / Room Arrangement

[RnR]

Hey guys,


I just got a new pair of Klipsch Speakers and the horns are pretty directional, got me to thinking about my room arrangement..  Was wondering if I possibly had an undesirable set-up for my room.  Attached is a rough sketch of my set-up.  Anyone care to critique it and tell me if I have it set up right, wrong, close, what I could possibly change for better results?  Thanks

[treos33]

Hard to tell without a picture for scale but why not switch one of the couches with the equipment? That way you have one couch directly in front of the speakers to create a better listening position.

[bmwr75]

The best listening position for the current set up is sitting on the coffee table.

[RnR]

--- Thanx for the quick reply.  Believe it or not the picture is pretty close to scale.  As far as swapping equip with couch, that was my fist thought If I were going to re-arrange.  Seemed to me it would be better to switch it with the right hand couch, as it has a solid wall behind it where as the behind the left hand couch drops down to an open/echo-y stairwell.  Only problem i forsee with this set up is you are basically going to have your face pushed up against the front of the speakers (close!).    Also my speakers are currently about 1.5 ft off the wall, not towed in.  I don't know if that makes a difference.  Any other ideas?

[bmwr75]

Here are some useful links:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-00KNyCaDa9X/learn/learningcenter/home/nonHTspeak.html

http://www.stereophile.com/reference/1008speaks/

[bmwr75]

How about leaving the speakers where they are at and getting rid of one of the couches.  You could then move one couch to face the speakers and place the coffee table in front of the couch.

If getting rid of a couch is not an option, could you leave the couch on the right wall and move the other couch to form an L shape with the couch on the right wall?

Bottom-line, you need to get yourself sitting directly between the speakers about the same distance they are apart or farther.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

What Scott said.

[OldiesButGoodies]

Oouch.  This set up is not very good (Tom would say it sucks).  Thou ought to consider doing what Scott said.  And write up a contract with your significant other confirming that the couch position (and anything else in this room) will be determined by acoustics and the general need to seat at the corner of an equilateral triangle with the speakers in the other two corners. Everything else is secondary.   Have it notarized.

 

[MacGeek]

I suggest speakers on the long wall, tweeters as high as you can get them and a seat between.  After that, distance from the rear wall, toe in, etc is just playing around to suit your taste.

[bmwr75]

I suggest speakers on the long wall, tweeters as high as you can get them and a seat between.  After that, distance from the rear wall, toe in, etc is just playing around to suit your taste.

A couple of your recommendations are contrary to conventional wisdom.  Speakers on the short wall is generally recommended.  As is tweeters near ear level when seated at the listening position.

[Kingman]

The best listening position for the current set up is sitting on the coffee table.

Ditto...ditch the coffee table for a "KING" sized couch and we all can come over to listen to your set up!

[GraphicFX]

I would try making your couches into an "L" configuration  either left or right depending on the layout of your room.

See attached photo

[MacGeek]

Agreed on the conventional wisdom and I used to set up my rig that way.  Give a new approach a try. I rearranged all of my stuff a few years ago and haven't considered the old way since.  The sound stage improved significantly, since the side walls are now far enough away to largely eliminate the reflections they cause.  In my situation, I am still sitting a decent distance from the speakers to get some depth.  My tweeters are set up such that my ears are between them and the mid ranges (they are really just a few inches above my ears).  Not much difference with the lows, since they are largely controlled by the room dimensions anyway.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

I suggest speakers on the long wall, tweeters as high as you can get them and a seat between.  After that, distance from the rear wall, toe in, etc is just playing around to suit your taste.

A couple of your recommendations are contrary to conventional wisdom.  Speakers on the short wall is generally recommended.  As is tweeters near ear level when seated at the listening position.

Plus, the open space behind is preferable to sitting up against a wall.   Fewer phase cancellations.

[MacGeek]

I guess it comes down to what one likes.  It's tough to achieve true perfection and compromise is often required.  The good news it that it costs nothing to move things around and try new ideas. At the same time, I recognize it can take a fair amount of work and time to rearrange things (and put them back if the outcome is not satisfactory).

I agree open space behind the listening position is desirable.  In my room, placing speakers on the short wall negatively affected the sound stage and a change had minimal impact on the low frequencies.  I still have a problem with things being too "live", but that's not tied to the wall I am using for speaker placement (damn hardwood floors)