[sresener]

Hi everyone, I am about to renovate my basement.
What I will end up with is a long fairly narrow room. 13 x 38 with 8ft ceilings , I plan to have a projector screen on the 13ft wide wall and my couch about 14ft from the wall. This will leave a large area behind the couch for other entertaining, Bar, foosball and whatever else I can sneak downstairs.
I am running kef q900's atm but plan to upgrade to the kef r900's these will be powered with a quality dedicated amp. (still working on which one)


Also I am a contractor and could build a wall or whatever is needed but I would prefer the open concept behind the couch.

[Mag]

Hi, depends on how you use the room.

I initially used the short wall in my 25'x 11'x 8' room. I also shortened the room as you say, overtime however I got frustrated by the narrow soundstage. I have since moved speakers to the long wall for a very wide soundstage with 4 channel stereo. Was using 5.1 speaker arrangement until about 5 years ago I purchased Bryston Model T's which gave me the stereo imaging that I was seeking, with Paradigm Studio 100 v2 placed in the corners for extra width and sound reinforcement.

    I am fortunate that my room acoustics are great, I just use dispersion panels along bottom of wall around the room, and I can crack the spl to concert level without bothering anyone.

[mresseguie]

Hi. I’m not familiar with your speakers, but the house I’ve just vacated (selling it) has a formal living/dining room that measures approximately 13’x29’x9’. Placing various different speakers 4’ to 6’ from the short wall yielded excellent sound characteristics. The only pair of speakers that did not sound good in that room were Harbeth 30.1s.

I imagine your room will be a good audio room. Experiment with different distances from the front wall.

I’m going to miss that room.

Michael

[JLM]

My dedicated room follows the Cardas Golden Cuboid ratios: 8ft x 13ft x 21ft and is well insulated (staggered stud walls, exterior fiberglass door, flexible/insulated/lined ductwork, etc.).  I am very pleased with it, in fact the six GIK 244 panels (that work wonders elsewhere) do little good here.  Note that I'm also a big believer in near-field listening (which benefits from small/single driver speakers that provide a coherent sound). 

I've been in listening rooms like yours and they sound like tunnels.  Read Floyd Toole's "Sound Reproduction" to learn about how sound behaves in-room to understand why I say that and why big speakers in a long narrow room would be a mistake.

[sresener]

Someone mentioned building a short wall approx 4 ft behind the couch.  And integrated a second row of bar seating in it. I could mount my rear surrounds to this also.


I have researched and realized this is not ideal.

[Wind Chaser]

...big speakers in a long narrow room would be a mistake.

+1 big time!

If you can stretch a few feet beyond 13, go for it. 

[Hipper]

I suspect the design of both the KEF speakers you mention (combined single high and mid range drivers) allows for nearfield listening.

13' width room is not bad.

I would have thought a long narrow room, as opposed to putting in a wall or acoustic panels to reduce its length, would prevent rear wall reflections and reduce bass damage from any rear corners.

I'd get advice from GIK or RealTraps but I would thing bass traps in the front corners, plus side wall reflection treatment if that seems a problem (acoustic panels, not diffusion), along with good positioning (I use 'The Thirds as described here: http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/monitoring.htm ) would give you a nice sound.