[kingdeezie]

So, I am having, what I believe to be a problem caused by side wall proximity.

A lot of people I talk to usually just recommend getting smaller speakers, but, part of me feels like this won't solve the problem just partially side step it.

My room is fairly narrow, being about 13 feet long. I do have a projection screen that is taking up 10 feet of that measurement, leaving only about 8 inches per side for the speakers to breath. I realize this is the farthest thing from ideal.

I messed around with speaker placement, despite the screen, but found that pulling the speaker in too close to each other completely took away my soundstage width which I have become used to.

My biggest complaint is vocal recession, which I assume has to be due to bass overload correct??

I totally understand that vocal recession could also be a function of my less-then-stellar preamp (replacing that soon as well), but I have to consider its more due to the speaker being so close to the side wall.

I do have some GIK treatments in the form of four tri-traps on the front walls. I also have some ATS panels on the reflection points.

Here are some pictures....









So, is there anyway to trick the speakers into believing they are farther away from the side walls then they really are?

For the record I think the bass sounds awesome; its not muddy at all; its extremely articulate and punchy, which confuses me considering I would think this would be the first hallmark of bass overload.

[richidoo]

Experiment with position of listening chair, and speakers. Move speakers out as far as possible from sidewall while avoiding blocking view of screen. Then adjust chair fore and aft for best overall bass balance. Then adjust speakers back toward wall for finer adjustment. Fore and aft position of speakers too. Speaker adjustments should be made 1/8" at a time. You will hear the effect after each move. Mark where you start and each good tweak with blue tape/pencil so you can repeat and compare. It's hard to tweak tall speakers because they should be levelled after each move. Read "Master Set" on AC.  It's interesting and will teach you a lot about speaker positioning. It's not the final rule, but a good starting place to get you aware of modes and positioning.  Chair is just as important, of not more.

You can try moving those high mounted absorbers down low so they are close the woofers. Also try laying the tricorners on the floor next to the speakers, more in front of the baffle than behind, but experiment to see what you like.  Space the panels off the wall more.  Maybe sitting on top of the floor tricorner traps edge.  The absorbtion works best when it is closest to the source of the sound.

[srlaudio]

We have found that adding diffusion really helps small room acoustics.  Here is a pic with new 6 inch deep models...
http://www.srlaudio.com/dan_penn_studio.pdf