[mitchb]

We have finally invested in our own place. The problem is that after years of building a stereo I find myself with a decent stereo with little space to put it in. What I will have in about two months is a room that is 10.8 feet by 10 feet with an 8 inch ceiling. The walls symmetrical with the wall across it . By this I mean that on the 10 foot length the walls go full up to the 8 foot ceiling but on the 10.8 foot side the walls are only 3 and 1/2 feet high leaving an open space on two sides of opposite walls in the area . I will have two full walls 10.8 feet apart across from each other and i will have two walls 3.5 feet high with 4.5 feet open space on the other adjacent walls. I was hoping the 4.5 feet open space on the oppsite walls could work for me. Any advice or opinions? I was thinking to put the speakers (Hales t5"s) on the open walls about 2 feet into the room and about 2 feet from the side walls(full walls)to the midline of the speakers centre. I would have an open area behind the speakers and an open area behind me with myself being 6 feet from the front of the speakers right up to the back short wall and the speakers would be about 6 feet apart from centre of speaker to centre of speaker. I would be in an equilateral triangle(6'X6'X6') with my speakers but with no room around me but the open walls in front of me and behind me. The speakers would be 2 feet in front of the open wall and around 2.5 feet or so from the side wall to the midline of each speaker. On paper this leaves me equilateral between the 6 feet between my speakers and 6 feet back away right up to the back open wall. Could this work? Do I stand a chance? I have some special absorptive foam meant for audio acoustic absorption that I would put on the side full walls where the first sound reflection from the tweeters would be but I have no other room treatment. i do not know where to begin!! I am currently in a large room made dedicated for audio but we are moving and i will have available what I have mentioned above. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
My system is :
Hales Transcendence 5"s,
Pass X250 amp
Pass X1 preamp
Talk Electronics 3.1b
Magnum Dynalab Etude
Hydra 6 for power conditioning and a variety of high end power cords running the system. Please advise.
Thanks,
Mitch
 

[JLM]

Are the half-height walls a given?  If so your proposal is probably the best you can do as far as set-up is concerned.  I moved to an even smaller triangle (68 inches per side, ala Cardas) when I moved into my dedicated room (13ft x 21ft x 8ft) and like it.  I would recommend high density fiberglass versus foam on the side walls (and maybe on the half wall behind the speakers).  Realtraps and GIK provide such ready made panels.

[klh]

Since you will have your back up against the short rear wall, I would be sure have a 2'x4' high desnsity fiberglass trap mounted horizontally behind your head and mounted flush with the top of the wall. With essentially no reflection coming from above ear level and a full set of reflection coming from below, the reflections would really muck up the accuracy of what you hear. I would also recommend absorption at the first reflection points on the right and left wall as well as behind each front speaker. Bass trapping will be very difficult since you don't have many boundries to trap, but if you get 6 panels as described you would be in pretty good shape.

[bpape]

Even though you don't have anything behind your head specifically, the short wall you're sitting against will still cause some bass issues even though it's not an 'end' boundary per se.  Generally in this kind of situation, you'll get good beneit in tightening things up if you use a bass absorber behind your seating position straddling the wall/floor intersection horizontally.

Also, if at all possible try not to have the distance from speaker to front wall and your ears to back wall be the same.

Bryan

[MaxCast]

How deep are the open spaces above the 3.5 height?  Will this be used for decorative purposes or can you use it for bass trapping.  IMO, this offers a great opportunity for bass trapping in those areas as many would include this "soffit" style trapping in new construction.

Ultimately, since you are just moving in I would get absorption panels ordered and try both walls.  If used for bass trapping those "coves" can be stuffed with fiberglass.

[mitchb]

Maxcast. The open spaces behind the 3.5 foot walls are large being the top ceiling of the entire boyttom floor. Lots of room either behind me or behind the speakers. The parrallel wall tgo the larger open space is smaller with a wall several feet behind the open space which atre the stairs going up stairs or down.
Fo
I stand a chance do you think?

[MaxCast]

Oh yeah, you have three chances.
1. have the openings to your left and right
2. have the speakers on the wall with the deep opening.
3. have the spekaers on the wall with the shallow opening.
I'd try them all.

I would try the speakers on the wall with the shallow opening and have the large opening to my back.  One of the problems with small rooms is no space behind the speakers or your head.  This set up will help that.  With this set up you will need to treat the side wall first reflection points.  I would order 4" or 6" if available.  At least 2'x4' for each side.  Two for each side if you can afford it.

You will also want to line or stuff those open spaces to eliminate sound waves from bouncing around in there and coming back out.  This can be rolled insulation with some sort of framed speaker grill in front of it.

[George]

What I will have in about two months is a room that is 10.8 feet by 10 feet with an 8 inch ceiling.

Many houses I have visited, but I have never encountered one with an 8 inch ceiling. I deem your problems to be insurmountable and suggest you find a house that is designed for .... humans.

[woodsyi]

What I will have in about two months is a room that is 10.8 feet by 10 feet with an 8 inch ceiling.

Many houses I have visited, but I have never encountered one with an 8 inch ceiling. I deem your problems to be insurmountable and suggest you find a house that is designed for .... humans.