[kbuzz3]

Hello after giving up a few years ago with the sound of my small loft listening spot I'm going to try it again.  I'd like to expirment with speaker /gear placement before moving to acoustic treatment and bass control

So I would appreciate the more experienced members suggestions for initial placement.  The room is only 14 L x 12 wide.  There are two main issues with this room-which frankly sounds like crap at present.

1)As can be seen from the pics, there is a sloped ceiling running on one end which is quite low and runs about half the room.   The rest of the ceiling is about 7-8 feet high. 

2)The other issue is One end faces out to to a small room with very high ceilings.   

So my question for this first phase is would you try long wall although the room is close to square?  If so would you try the speakers at the railing of the loft end or the short wall side?

I figure this would be a good starting point ...thanks in advance for any assistance.

[Phil A]

Is it possible to move the speakers a bit (e.g. 18 inches) out from where they are now?  May also want to place a sound treatment above where the speakers are.  I have a couple of spare rooms where I have speakers and have some treatments - see pics below:

[Letitroll98]

Have you tried against the railings?  That would give them a lot of room to breathe.  In either case you need treatment on the sloping wall.

[Hipper]

I would say symmetry is the key.

The actual arrangement that you have now with the speakers at the low end of the ceiling is likely the best you can do. Quite possibly, with both speakers having corners, the bass from them may well be quite even.

There seem to me two obvious problems: the window, and the side walls.

The window will reflect sound differently then the sloped ceiling. Perhaps a temporary cover for the window made of the sloped ceiling type of material, or perhaps a mirror/pane of glass above the left speaker.

For side walls, the left speaker will give reflections off the left wall whereas the right speaker gives no side wall reflections - this is for frequencies approximately 200Hz and above. The solution would be either some absorption on the left side at the reflection point, or some reflective material similar to the left wall placed at the reflection point by the right railings.

These problems should be dealt with first as otherwise I can't see how you will get a decent sound. After that you can move speakers and chair around to get the best sound.

Generally you may find it better to bring the chair out from the back wall a bit. If you can place your speakers and chair anywhere then try a range of positions until it sounds the best. Use large movements - say one foot - at a time, and then home in using smaller increments. Finally try some toe-in.

Be patient. It is frustrating work but should be worth the effort.

[kbuzz3]

Thank you everyone for your responses!!!!!

Phil A- I will try and move them out a bit-but any closer its really really near-field LOL.  BTW love the OHms.  I run a pair of MWT in my den for daily tv and surround.  They are fantastic and underrated!

Letitroll98- i will try against the railing but as Hipper pointed out...going to have symmetry problems there two as the the then right speaker will be near the slated cieling while the left (facing out) will be near a vertical wall and higher ceiling.....ill going to try anyway.....

Hipper. Thanks so much- never thought about the symmetry.  I recall from trying the room out a few years ago, that the current position is probably the best....but as above, ill try the slightly long wall and see. 

I think i may just have to sell off some stuff and buy some headphones!!!!! Im a firm believer in room first. And if thats not right...it doesnt matter what or how much gear you have....

thanks again...will update after trying the long wall.

[Phil A]

If you don't have an RTA to measure you can always try a SPL meter keeping in mind that the microphone is the limiting factor (especially for low frequencies).  You can always buy the Audio Tools App for either IOS or Android and a better microphone (which isn't horribly expensive at Parts Express).

[JLM]

Non-Symmetry can be useful.  Near-field setup helps remove room effects.  I'd try skewing the speakers and avoid that low ceiling around the speakers.  Taking advantage of the open space beyond the railing would be a plus.  So I envision putting one speaker on either side of the stair access and sitting roughly in the middle of the middle of the room.

Trying to reach the lowest frequencies in that large space will be very tough and easily overwhelm the rest of the space (got attached neighbors or family to consider?).

Have you thought about headphones for serious listening?  I say that because so many over invest in gear for the given space.  Your loft is really cool, but doesn't make for a good listening space.  I'd look at something like a Schiit amp (headphone emphasis) and look for 2-way stand-mounts.  No need to get into room treatments.