Rooms wall reflections and sound.

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Rfaul

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Rooms wall reflections and sound.
« on: 23 Jan 2025, 09:10 pm »
Hello Y'all I have a few questions on room acoustics with my new house.  I had to make a decision on this place because it had the room I needed and a 30'x30" garage that I needed.  but the living room is nice but in my mind gonna be bad for acoustics when thinking HiFi.  attached is a quick drawing I put together with pain..lol  but in the picture you can see this is roughly how I have it laid out in my mind.  my concern is the speaker area shown in red.  I am in the process of designing the system now so I do not have the speakers picked out.  I am leaning toward a set of X-Statik's from GR research with a separate set of sub's.  my biggest concern is the little stub of a wall on the feature wall that is only 12"...  I am really thinking about working with a contractor and removing it and making that a flat wall as that room is only an entrance room, but that is an expense I really don't want. so overall my question is do you think it will be much of an issue or is there any  easy fixes..? oh and the main feature wall is 8"3" wide by 8' tall.


 

WGH

Re: Rooms wall reflections and sound.
« Reply #1 on: 23 Jan 2025, 09:34 pm »
Many speakers are designed to be located close to the front wall, the X-Statik's are an open baffle design that sound best 3'-5' away from any wall including the wall behind them.

The REL T/5x sub is only 12" deep, the trade-off is they are -6dB at 32 Hz.
https://rel.net/shop/powered-subwoofers/serie-tx/t-5x/

richidoo

Re: Rooms wall reflections and sound.
« Reply #2 on: 23 Jan 2025, 10:22 pm »
Congrats on the new house, and welcome to AudioCircle, Rfaul!

Alcoves, shelves and small cubbies are pretty nasty for speakers, they can really sound horrible! Even if you pushed speaker hard into the little corner to remove the gap you would have different radiation volumes around each speaker and different front wall reflection time from each speaker, which would mess up imaging badly. The other speaker has a wall to reinforce bass and reflect image on one side but nothing on the other side. You may be able to adjust the volume R/L to center the image but the quality of the image with 3 different time delays coming from the front wall first reflection will make good image difficult to achieve.

Most speakers are voiced to sound best when they are out from the wall by some specified distance, very often it is a couple feet. If you position such speakers hard against a wall they will have too much bass, and you could be interfering with the air flow of any rear reflex ports. Some speakers are design for on wall placement.

I would put the couch on the short wall and the TV and speakers on the long wall where the couch is now. Then you can pull the speakers out from the wall and as wide as you want. Distant side walls is another advantage. You can cover the window between the speakers as necessary. I prefer a hard flat wall between speakers (like DIY inside window "shutters") but curtains would work OK.

Another option is speakers against the short side wall on the right where loveseat is now. The short sidewall there is long enough to catch the side first reflection to make a decent stereo image, as long as speakers not pulled out too far. Or you could damp the side reflection on the other side. Otherwise it is symmetric and should do OK, after window is treated.

The feng-shui of my alternate wall suggestions is not as good as your current arrangement but I would gladly walk around a couch in middle of the room in order to have better stereo sound. ymmv LOL etc


ric

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Re: Rooms wall reflections and sound.
« Reply #3 on: 24 Jan 2025, 02:35 pm »
Agreed with Richidoo. Reversing the setup (if possible)gives you more flexibility, speaker wise. Most speakers do their best given ample room from side and front walls. The proper setup will involve a lot of experimentation. I would try the speakers 8 or 9 feet apart from each other and about the same from speaker to listener. Be patient, work slowly, especially because these will be new speakers--give your ears time to adjust.
Good luck!

Letitroll98

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Re: Rooms wall reflections and sound.
« Reply #4 on: 24 Jan 2025, 03:08 pm »
I like the suggestions of the stereo system on either the loveseat wall or the sofa wall, but that leaves no place for the TV to be mounted because of the windows.  You could buy a stand, but blocking a window seems like a bad idea for living in the living room.  As it stands I'd like to see the speakers out into the room more if that is possible, 
if not then you have a nice room for watching movies and such, not for stereo.   There is an alternative if you put the TV and stereo system in the corner to the left of the loveseat opposite the entryway.  You'd need either a stand or an articulated TV wall mount to angle the TV for viewing, but you may end up with more prime viewing and listening seats.  Corner placement also fixes a lot of first reflection point issues.  All the best in your new home whatever you decide.

Tyson

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Re: Rooms wall reflections and sound.
« Reply #5 on: 24 Jan 2025, 05:38 pm »
Best place to put the loudspeakers is along the long wall where the couch is currently.

Rusty Jefferson

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Re: Rooms wall reflections and sound.
« Reply #6 on: 24 Jan 2025, 09:41 pm »
Best place to put the loudspeakers is along the long wall where the couch is currently.
I almost posted the same this morning but I think he's indicating a window on that wall behind the sofa. If so, that would eliminate a TV set between the speakers.

If he used speakers with highly controlled directivity, the indicated location might not be terrible. I would try it before the short wall, and that may also have a window on it?

WGH

Re: Rooms wall reflections and sound.
« Reply #7 on: 24 Jan 2025, 10:15 pm »
Go to the GR Research Circle and ask a question:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=16

"Can the X-Statik be placed against the front wall?"

If not, what speaker would be recommended?

I have a feeling the front wall would need a massive amount of sound absorbing material so the reflected back wave doesn't muddy up the direct sound.


Did you pick the X-Static because of the price? reviews? frequency response? or efficiency? $1,109 is a bargain for a full range speaker. The Philharmonic Audio BMR Tower has a front port and is also a bargain but it is also 4X the price at $4,400 pr. Dennis Murphy is a world class speaker designer and crossover wizard.
https://philharmonicaudio.com/products/bmr-tower



Frequency Response      25 Hz - 20kHz (+ 1.5 / - 3db) Anechoic
Sensitivity    86 dB (2.83v/1M)