Pole between me and system?

As I noted in another thread, I am thinking about finishing my basement into a listening room. Smack dab in the middle of the basement is a pole perhaps 8 inches in diameter that my contractor tells me cannot be moved. To optimize the speaker placement in the room (I think I will want them fairly far from the back wall), and to optimize the distance of the listening chair from the speakers, I suspect I will need to have my listening chair behind the pole. Aside from the fact that it will look weird, how much effect will the pole have on the acoustics/listening?

 

Zero affect. I had a pole in my old TV room - I do not recall any problems with sound - only problem was running into it.

 

Yup, sound is the same. My problem is where to put my chair, only place is close to the pole. Limited space, small rom in basement. Don't worry about the pole, unless there's a beautiful woman swinging naked on it )

 

8" is to thick for most pole dancers.

 

Hahahahaha. I'll let someone else reply to this....................

I am fairly new, and don't know everyone's personalities, so I'll just plead the fifth here....

 

That would make the cost of the redoing the basement prohibitive.

 

PS Thanks for the feedback. My chair will likely literally be right behind the pole.

 

You mean you're going to be staring right at the pole? Or the pole will be be behind your seat?

 

The former, though I tend to close my eyes when I listen. Obviously, if I am watching a DVD, I will have to move the chair.

 

I think staring at the pole will drive you nuts. Only solution is a dancer who likes her poles 8 inches think. Seriously you need to rethink this. Maybe a different orientation or shorter room so the pole is behind you. I know it would drive me nuts if I were to stare right past a pole when listening, unless you do this in the dark that is.

You can remove the pole but it would not be cheap. Anything is possible, but sometimes prohibitively expensive. Re-lay out that room. If I remember it was a very large room.

 

Personally I'd shift things a bit to the right or left so the pole wasn't directly in front of me. You may want to do that anyway to mix up the room dimensions.

 

My pole sits next to me. I don't like it when I have poles behind me, I tend to clinch the **** tighter.

I am literally sitting next to the steel pole. Boy oh boy, this thread is a glutton for creativeness

 

You could put a margarita machine in it.

 

Nobody gets between me and my system. Especially not some Polish twerp!

 

Search "Speaker Placement" and do some of the calculations to see if you can get the chair in front of or at least beside the pole. Then hang a light on it so you can read the LP or jewel cases. This thread has some good suggestions:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/quick-start-guide-to-speaker-placement.463834/

 

On a serious note you can likely remove the pole and run a steel I-Beam across the room supported at either end then box it in. If the span is not to great a laminated beam my suffice but you would have to have either ok'd by a structural specialist.

 

I think that might get too expensive. I might be able to shift the system right or left a few feet, but part of the objective is to get the speakers into space more.

 

I'm not a contractor but that was the first thing I thought of also. I assume it's load bearing and wouldn't doing this still support but distribute the load. That would drive me crazy.

 

Hire an artist to paint a mural on the pole of scene exactly behind the pole, what would be blocked out from your seated position.
You will then create the illusion that the pole is not there, an elaborate camouflage if you will .

 

Can you post a simple plan of the room showing the pole and the washer/dryer, doors, and any other equipment such as a heater that is in the room. If you do this to scale with some overall dimensions people could better give suggestions on how to arrange the room best.

 

How about a nearfield setup with your chair equidistant from the speakers.

 

If it is load bearing, why don't you places two poles equidistant from the room boundaries? Then tou can get rid of the center one.

 

Well, I have only talked to my contractor about this once. He was unenthusiastic about moving the pole, saying it sat on a "footer," but I could look into it further. It would be nice to open up the middle of the room.

 

He is correct. If you are going to make structural changes by removing this post then you will need two additional posts, plus footings for them and a sizable beam going from one post to the other. The beam will carry the load that the single post was carrying back to each new post which will then transfer the load to the new footings. The new beam may end up being rather deep. This will depend on the span and the load it will be required to carry. You will therefore need headroom and a structural engineer to provide a design, construction details, and provide calculations and a stamped drawing for your contractor to build from and receive permits. You should realize that instead of a post there will be a beam going across the room between your sitting position and the system. You may then have to treat the face of this beam, that faces the speakers, with a soffit style bass trap. The resolution of one issue usually creates others that need to be dealt with. I however prefer this option, if you can afford it monetarily and have the headroom for the new beam.

 

mds is right. Treat the pole so that it doesn't reflect any soud and forget about it. No big deal.