The long wall test

[OldiesButGoodies]

After visiting Scott in Irwin and listening to his setup,  I have decided to try setting up the music system along the "long wall"  of the room in my basement and see how that affects the bass.  The testing Macgeek did back when I had the Infinitys with the RTA revealed the usual crazy peaks in my listening position,  but it was bearable (specially after adjusting with EQ).  With the Amazings set along the short wall and next to the Polk RTi12s (which become huge acoustic walls to the Amazings) music becomes boring to listen to. So I am thinking of leaving the home theater in the short wall and have music on the long side (assuming it sounds good there).  Just rotate 90 degrees to listen to music.  Will let you all know if it works after shifting a few hundred pounds of stuff around.

OBG

[bmwr75]

Looking forward to you upcoming report.

[schwarcw]

The long wall is usually better for the soundstage in most rooms.  Stay away from the corners and bring the amazings at least three ft into the room.

[Jim Pittsburgh]

interesting experiment... I look forward to hearing the results..... can't visualize the swivel thing to hear music vs HT.

have fun!

[MacGeek]

I have always been a fan of long wall placement for stereo and am set up that way.  For Theater, it doesn't seem to matter much

[OldiesButGoodies]

MacGeek - just remembered your music configuration and you also set up along the long wall. 

The progress report so far is this:  one positive side effect of this rearrangement is that I spent three hours sorting my LPs.  Ended up classifying them into classical, jazz, rock, latin, other, and bad-ass recordings that I listen to repeatedly. Still a mess on the floor,  but somewhat sorted:



The long side setup is taking shape, though I will probably not test the music today as I need more/longer cables.  In this picture the Amazings about three feet out but the right one is to close to the side wall,  so I need to move the whole thing left-ward eventually. My wife already  commented that it would look weird because on speaker would be in front of the wet bar - I told her to leave the basement and let me be in my cave. 



It will be painful if all these moves result in no improvement, but at least I got a good work out and the LPs are sorted. 

[StephenWVU]

I absolutely love your man cave. You should make a list of your amazing recordings. Can't wait to see your observations.  In general I have found the long wall + room treatments make the largest sound stage.

[MacGeek]

The long wall works best for my current rig, but my seating position is closer to the rear wall than I prefer.   Room dimensions, especially ceiling height seem to matter most.  Your peaks may be more a function of listening position relative to the speakers and room boundaries, than which wall you use for placement.

At least you don't seem to need to deal with domestic harmony.

[schwarcw]

Looking good Pepe!

I like to see my Sonoma units on the wall.  They look right at home!

[OldiesButGoodies]

Being impatient, I went ahead and bought some cheap (by our standards) cable and connected them up in their new location.  Initial reaction:  the bass issues are still there to a degree  (but it is better) - the room is cursed in that sense so I need to think through what else can be done to address it (bass traps?).  But the imaging and depth of sound-stage are excellent with the panels being far from the back wall.  SO looks like a winner setup.  That was with a quickie position tweaking exercise,  I expect it to improved as I adjust over time. 

OBG

[schwarcw]

That's great news Pepe!

GIK Acoustics makes some real nice sound treatments.  They have a great sellection of colors.  You can also have pictures on them.  I'm thinking a pair of velvet Elvis portraits in the corners would be a winner!      

They have some great product videos on their website:  http://www.gikacoustics.com/

If you send them a sketch, maybe a few pictures of your listening room, they will make some recommendations for you.  Very reasonable prices.  I am a very satisfied customer.

[schwarcw]

There website indicates they will be at the Capitol Audiofest at the end of July (July 25, 26, 27) in Bethesda, MD.  I've been there a couple of times, you can make it a day trip!  Check out the Capitol Audiofest website: http://www.capitalaudiofest.com/

I plan to be there Saturday, July 26

[MasterBlaster]

Interestingly, they have a long wall vs short wall article on their site.

http://gikacoustics.com/positioning-listening-spot/

[OldiesButGoodies]

Thanks Carl.  I will finish tweaking the position of the Amazings and remove a few things from the walls behind them,  and then send these guys a schematic of the room and pics,  see what they come back with.

[AdamG]

Normally, large overstuffed couches act as bass-traps in rooms. From what I've looked at, you get the most bang-for-your-buck by treating the corners of the room with traps, floor to ceiling. As a cheap check, you can steal some couch cushions and stack them up, see if you can measure any difference by placing them in different areas and corners relative to the room.

To absorb a significant amount of low-bass energy, your foam/treatment needs to be quite thick. 2" egg crate isn't going to tame any bass issues. Generally if you can treat 1/4 wavelength of any trouble frequencies you can tame them very effectively. Raggedness between 150-400 is where treatment is normally the most dramatic.

If I were to treat my room, I'd do 45degree bass traps in the front corners, and also treat between the speakers on the front wall as well first, and then fill in from there if that didn't take care of the bulk of the issue.