[tdangelo]

I set up a dedicated room a couple months ago and have been playing with it since ;(  The room size is 13'8" x 11"8' x 9'1" - my love seat is right against the rear wall.  I have 4'x8'x3" rigid fiberglass panels directly behind the 40's - 2'x4'x2" diffusion panels at the first reflection points and another panel of the same size about 1 foot above my head on the rear wall.  I also have foambymail corners absorbers in all 4 upper corners.  I'm just wondering if I wouldn't be better served with a smaller VMPS speaker?  I plan on using this room for about 4 more years till me move again and will have a bigger room at that time.   Bass sounds good and is powerful - imaging is good but not as good as I remember with my Acoustat 1+1's.  40's are about 30 inches from rear wall measured from the front and about 18" from the side walls.  I'm just trying to get a general concensus about maybe getting smaller speakers.   BTW:  My system is Slimdevices Squeezebox > Benchmark DAC1 > BAT VK-3I > Aragon Palladium 1K monos > RM40's w/TRT's.

Thanks for any advice

Tony

[ctviggen]

Hey Tony,

Do you have your RM40s toed in?  I've found that toe in can help imaging (I've also found that traps between the speakers helps in my situation, too, but that's a different thread).  I have the RM40s, but my room is much larger than yours.

[tdangelo]

yes they are toed in quite a bit - they are toed so that they intersect at my listening seat.

Thanks

[woodsyi]

Tony,

I had mine on the long wall and my listening position against the back wall 16' from the front wall.  The concensus was that I needed to get away from the back wall -- there is too much disturbance on the borders to make a good listening position.  If you only have 13' and you have to get away from the back wall by 2~3', I would say you have to bring your speakers closer together and get really nearfield.   Even in my room 16'x22'x7'  I think 30's would've been better, but  --like you-- I will be moving into a much bigger room in a couple of years.  So, I suffer with the 40's until then!

[ctviggen]

Actually, although my room is quite large, I sit nearfield.  I sit only about 1/3 of the way into the long axis of the room, and my RM40s are quite a bit away from the walls.  I'll try to take measurements tonight and post them.

[Q]

I think they are too big and you should sell them to me for $500 for the pair.    

[tdangelo]

I actually may - but not for $500     They are the full wrap Walnut with TRT's and 5 binding posts - they used to belong to ekovolsky.

Tony

[John Casler]

Hi Tony,

Your question is very open and complex.

If you have the freedon to treat your room adequately, and don't mind using a tweak or two, it could be the best sounding room ever.

If you are limited as to what you can do then maybe the RM30s or 626Rs would be better for you.

I had RM40's in my room which was larger, but actually sat only about 7 feet away from the speaker baffle of each.

If you subtract 7 feet from your largest dimension, you have you would have around 6.5' to use up in placing the RM40 and the listening position.

So you can move the couch and the speaker about 3 feet off the walls.

Best results would be obtained if you attempted to create a LEDE type room, treating the Dead End at least on the front and side walls out just past the point of first reflection.

In the Live End, you'll still be best served if you add at least a 6' x 6' (minimum) of 4 inch foam right behind the listening position.  Additionally the "ceiling/wall" intersection above and behind the listening area would benefit greatly from a "lenrd" type acoustic foam treatment of at least 4' wide and preferably 6'-8', if possible.

This will reduce some fo the upper and mid bass energy friring from the upper woofer and "slamming" into that intersection and bouncing back at you.

With all that done you have one additional tweak which will perfrom 2 functions.  It is the "Sonic Director" tweak, that will do the following:

1) It will direct the upper and midbass frequencies out to you more efficiently considering your "nearfeild" position,

2) It will block a good portion of your ceiling bounce, first reflections.

To find out how to do the Sonic Director do a "search".

If you have any questions let me know

[dogdog49]

Hi Tony. Would you mind sharing your thoughts on your Acoustats versus the RM40's in other areas besides imaging? I have the 1+1's and I love them, but haven't heard much of the newer technologies out there. I'm wondering if I should explore a change. I had Gallo Nucleus Reference II's which have been relegated to my home theater by the Acoustats, but I'm very curious about VMPS.

[ctviggen]

I measured part of my room last night -- I sit about 8 feet from the front of the speakers to my ears.  The speakers are about 3-4 feet (depending where you measure) from the front wall.  I sit at about 40% of the room length.  The length is about 29 feet.  I was sitting farther back but liked the sound better (I moved my head forward and backward and put my seat where I found the best sound.

[tdangelo]

wow thanks for all the suggestions  I played around a little more last night and found that if I put another 2'x4'x2" diffusion panel on the wall behind the speakers - it kills the sound - dead... Same as if I add another right behind my listening seat.  Right now they are about 3' from the back wall and about 7 feet apart at the inside edges.  I took my preamp out of the loop and used the Benchmark DAC internal preamp and WOW - much better.  I feed the Benchmark via a digital coax from a Slimdevices Squeezebox thats connected via ethernet to my PC - I stream lossless music to the Squeezebox.  This combo actually sounds better than my Wadia 301 did - believe it or not.  Best thing I ever bought.  I moved my couch out from the back wall and toes the speakers in more and it sounded better the original way.  Guess I'm happy for now  Getting some foambymail studio columns - going to put those in the corners behind the 40's - that should make the bass even better.  Thanks for all your help