Post photos of your PROBLEM systems/rooms here!

I think showing the bad or not so good things about listening rooms will be more helpful that than the super-long thread already going...


feel free to draw an arrow to the problem(s)

 

You go first.

 

Mine's pretty simple. Very narrow (9') with low ceilings (6'5"). It is extremely wide at 32', thankfully... as I have a lot of gear.

Still, there's no way to escape it, unless I'd be OK with throwing about 50K at the problem which would only eliminate the low ceiling issue but would not fix the width anyway.

This is the first time I have a dedicated listening room which also allows me to crank it as loud as I want. In spite of the aforementioned issues, I consider myself extremely lucky to have this room in the first place and, regardless of its limitations, does sound much better than one might imagine.

The only way to permanently fix the issues would be to move. Depending on what life has in store for me in the next decade, we might need to eventually. If that happens, I plan on specifically ensuring I have a better bigger listening room available to me. This was unfortunately, the very best that we could afford and after visiting about 50 houses (no joke) prior to purchasing this one, they all had ceilings far lower than this, believe it or not.

 

My room is a perfect 12x12 square. It's a spare bedroom so I had full authority on speaker placement and treatment. I now feel it's the best sound I've had in any small room.

 

my problem is room asymmetry, and those big windows I mentioned - one side of the Maggie 3.7i pair should be getting a lot more glare

I have it placed where the tweeter points back at the wall next to the window right now, but may add a fake Ficus tree as diffusor too.

I need a bigger rug too...

 

That’s my room. Eight foot ceilings. So far I’ve used GIK Acoustics panels at first reflection sides as well as corner bass traps.

 

Same here. Have GIK tri traps stacked in corner behind listening chair and a GIK large bass trap in another corner. Also have a few ATS Acoustic absorption panels spread around. The biggest improvement was going to the diagonal speaker configuration. If you haven't tried it in your square room, if possible, do yourself a favor and try it.

 

I meant to respond and just searched for this conversation to see if I had. Lol

I’m gong to try this! I currentlyhave the GIK tritraps in my front corners. When I rearrange, I’ll utilize them behind the two speakers and behind my chair when I give it a go. How far off the back corner is your chair? I’m assuming I’ll be listening near field equal to the distance between the speakers?

 

My ears are approximately 3 feet from the tritraps. I move the chair up and back a bit depending on what I'm listening to and also which speakers I'm using. Right now I have a pair of KEF LS50s I'm swapping in for the Revels. With the LS50s, I find they sound better if I can get 8 feet from ear to speaker. With the Revels, I can go equilateral triangle (6 feet) and they sound fantastic with the right music. My normal distance with the Revels though, is 7 feet.

Here's a pic from between the speakers. It's a tad messy as Keb Mo was sounding really good last night.


If you try it, please let us know how it works.

 

Holy moly Timind, your room is almost exactly like mine. Your door is located better than mine as mine is right to the corner and opens inward. I’ll have to use hanging base traps behind my chair as opposed to the tritrap or.....screw it and just move a single standing tritrap to the side each time I leave the room. Not TOO big a deal. Hmm

Standing in the room, I can see where that set up has tons of potential. I’m on it later today.

 

Actually, I have a better solution. Choosing the other two corners. I’ll post pics when all is said and done.

 

The door in the pic is a closet door as this is an extra bedroom. The entry door to the room is in a corner to the right of my chair. It's recessed the depth of the closet which makes the dimension 12x14 for a few feet. I have a bass trap hanging on the door which I hope also provides a bit of noise isolation outside the room.

 

It probably doesn't, but it will make the music inside the room sound a bit more punchy. I have a music room that I adorned with 1" acoustic foam, corner bass traps and hung instruments. It sounds great inside the room, but no discernible noise drop outside of the room occurred.

 

one of those socks to stop drafts will help with noise transmission

for much more $$$, a door that seals like in a recording studio, and redo all the walls with offset studs, goo, & acoustically absorbing batts


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BTW, for 2018 I have added a fake ficus behind the Maggie by the window in the pic above...

also, a lower Magnavox vintage stereo cabinet replaces that table with the components
- Oppo-205 added (will replace Cal Audio HDCD & CD unit, BluRay player, and the DAC)

 

Hello ralf11, I hope this doesn't hurt too much...you need some clear space between those lovely Maggies, like a whole lot more. How long is that wall to the left? 32'? Windows or not, that's where they should be. Does this come down to how the person you share your life and home with? Meaning, having that TV in the middle with the gear too? I don't compromise, I found someone who could care less about how far into the room my Summits are, they need air and no side walls to do the magic trick. Some semi sheer curtains over the windows in my place works fine for the back wave, I've had to tweek some things, the best was nothing in the middle. My TV is on the far wall, I can set up a quick surround set up for friends coming over for a movie night. I didn't buy very expensive, beautiful speakers to listen to special effects from a movie.

I got them to play music, 2 channel all the way baby!! Enjoy those Maggies, very nice stuff!!

 

Thanks for your ideas, but...

No can do - that wall is indeed very long but one would have to sit in the fireplace to hear the Maggies

I like having a TV there - it is a plasma type and sticks out from the wall about 6" and may get replaced with a flatter model - I don't think it makes much difference in the sound, but may toss a blanket over it to check...
- the speakers are a foot or so ahead of the plane of the TV also

I have some heavy drapes which could go over the windows BUT asthma/allergies preclude using them (and is the reason I got rid of the carpet in the living room too).

Besides the Ficus tree (fake), a larger rug may be added (something that will extend past the Maggies, side to side).

 

Gotcha! I guess I fibbed a bit on compromising, any planar/di-pole/'stat speaker knows you need a big room, and that just is not possible in the real world, I'd love to blow out the wall behind my couch into the dining room, just 5 more feet! The damn 1' thick adobe wall is load bearing . How much power are ya throwing at the Maggies in a bliss sound level? I'm just curious, I know they like some juice.

I wouldn't put something heavy material wise over it, try something like I have over my windows, an open weave sheer cloth, it makes a nice break up in the back wave, pleasant to look at and probably won't cause asthma/allergy issues if you take them down every 6 months and have them cleaned. Same for over your nice windows! I'm jealous, I bet you have quite the view out of them up there in Ory!!

I had a similar narrow wall set up in my last house with the ML Sequels I had then, I can tell you a nice wide rug that extended 2 feet past each speaker did wonders for the sound...why do you think most bands have their stage set up with those rugs too? Don't get carried away, divorce is no fun, keep her happy!!

Great thread idea, hope more chime in

 

Yes, it's an xlnt view out over a creek valley (city park) with houses on either side of the valley - neighbor let a tree grow up to block some of it unfortunately

My room is very long and I have 10-15 ft. behind my head. It's a bit narrow but I have an open floor plan so no bass resonances.

The compromise is between the view out 3 big picture windows and better SQ....