speaker placement in a small room

My listening room is approximately 14" x 10" (ie: small!). I'm using a 10wpc tube amp with a pair of Klipsch Heresy IIs.

Right now the speakers are in the corners of the short wall, slightly toed in, with the couch at the opposite end of the room.

Before I start moving things around, would I be better off with:

a.) the speakers further apart (in the corners of the 14" wall), with the listener closer to the speakers? (Presumably, the speakers would need to be toed in more than they are now.)

--or--

b.) the current arrangement, with the speakers closer together, with the listener further back from the speakers?

 

I just found an old thread about this: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=121642&highlight=small+room

No definitive answers though!

 

Hi action pact,

See if this article is of any use to you.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

I think this would be best if you have too much bass now. You can move the couch all the way back and then move the speakers out from the front wall so that they are farther into the room and away from the corners. Tame the highs with the felt trick we discussed earlier if needed.

Usually having speakers in the corners results in a boomy bass sound. Also having speakers out from the wall a bit can help to support a more expansive soundstage although you can adjust to taste back towards the wall for best frequency balance as well.
-Bill

 

I could offer some insight but this link should be helpful and answer your questions. Barry offered a different link that has useful info as well. Good luck.
http://www.realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm

 

Thank you! Barry's article is great!

I may end up moving the speakers along the long wall, just to see what happens. I think that would give me greater contol of reflections, based on what else is in the room.

 

While I respectfully acknowledge the advice of all the previous posts, if it were me, I would expend the the time and effort to experiment with both speaker locations. Then, after careful comparison listening, I would decide for myself which gave the most pleasing sound. Only you can make this determination.

Good luck!

HG

 

I've just made up some diagrams in Excel to show possible placement, and will try them out tomorrow. I will report back on how it all worked out.

 

Following the instructions in Barry's article, I arranged the speakers/couch in both directions (long vs. short), and decided to stick with my original orientation (speakers lined up with the short wall). My room is even smaller than I thought: 8' x 11'.

Until tonight, the speakers had been positioned in the corners of the room.

I re-positioned the speakers 2'8" from each other and 3'8" in from the back wall, per the rule of thirds. Like Barry's article suggested, I'm noticing tighter, less boomy bass, increased depth, and overall better detail. I haven't had a chance to try it at louder volume, but at "midnight volume" is sounds a lot better. Nice! The downside, of course, is less floor space in an already cramped room, but life is all about sacrifices, right?

Thanks for all the useful info!

 

I keep the LCR fixed at the front or I might want to listen to plain ole (((left stereo right))) and move the sofa forwards which I have down very easy and it changes the perspective of the image and the mood as well.

Yes that article I saved to the technical files on the computer I read the first two paragraphs, thou I wish the printer, was working so I could print it and read it in bed relaxing because I take it better that way.

I agree careful listening! I have a few issues that need simple addressing one is the room has an open area on front left side that faces into a chimney beast and that plays havoc for some of the lows, most noticeable 80Hz that has an odd sound tone the right front is okay because the sidewall is normal I, mean flat it doesn’t open out into a gap that is 18”depth deep by 41”width 92”length.

It’s easy to fix just place timber around it like picture frame and placed thick MDF over it with installation packed inside it that should change the tone on the left hand side as well as other low end and middle end frequencies.

 

This morning I experimented with moving the speakers out from their "proper" positions in an attempt to get back more floor space in my little room. Sure enough, even moving the speakers back 12" toward the rear wall made the bass louder and led to decreased soundstage and definition. I quickly put them back in the positions Barry recommended.