[S Clark]

This room may be beyond help.  Uneven, tile floors, lots of glass.  The ultimate goal is keep the wife, finish the LS-9 project, and treat the room in a way that utilizes the best of a large line array system. 
Here is a diagram.



I see something that I left out. The pentagon to the extreme right is brick planter that is about 12" high.

Here is the link to pictures taken from various angle in the room.  http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=3276

Currently, the only "treatments" are two 3'X 8' wool rugs mounted in two corners with 6 inches of 703 behind them.  I have probably another 20-25 2'X4' panel of 703 in the garage, waiting to be utilized.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[jimdgoulding]

Well, you're not going to get much help from your room in the conventional sense and I imagine there is more than average reverb in there.  Think you need to get in a perfect triangle with your speakers and if they wind up being LS9's you may want to leave good space behind them and that may mean moving your sofa back some and/or bringing them closer together.  Large dense natural fiber rugs for the floor should help.  If your triangle is too large you'll play into the character of the room.  Make it smaller and you'll play into the character of the recording by keeping the room effects more at bay.

[S Clark]

Well, you're not going to get much help from your room in the conventional sense and I imagine there is more than average reverb in there.  Think you need to get in a perfect triangle with your speakers and if they wind up being LS9's you may want to leave good space behind them and that may mean moving your sofa back some and/or bringing them closer together.  Large dense natural fiber rugs for the floor should help.  If your triangle is too large you'll play into the character of the room.  Make it smaller and you'll play into the character of the recording by keeping the room effects more at bay.

Thanks, Jim.  I already move the couch back when listening, usually to the spot where the ceiling comes down from 14 to 8 ft.  I have several thick wool rugs to reduce the liveliness of the tile floor, but I'm stuck with the walls.
Scott

[jimdgoulding]

Scott, when you move your sofa back to where you've indicated, your triangle is very large and you're nearer the back wall.  Your getting a lot of room interaction it would seem.  As an experiment, move your speakers out further and bring them closer together to create a tighter triangle with your seat where it is.  Try making your triangle 7'X7'X7' for purposes of this experiment.  If you must move your sofa, move it only as much as is necessary to get your seat equilateral with your speakers with them at least 4' off the wall behind them.  I didn't see a rug on your floor in the photos between you and your speakers where one is needed.

You may think that you will be losing spaciousness doing this, but you may find that you will gain realism in instrumental texture, tone and 3D imagery, and more of the hall sound and place when that is in a recording.

We're not talkin LS9's here.  I'm assuming that you are listening with not so large speakers at present. 

[S Clark]

Currently the speakers in that room are the GR-Research AV3's.  There is a wool rug between the TV and the couch, but there is also a coffee table that is non negotiable.  I'll try the 7x7x7 tactic tonight. The AV3's will be about 6-8 ft off the wall. 

[jimdgoulding]

Currently the speakers in that room are the GR-Research AV3's.  There is a wool rug between the TV and the couch, but there is also a coffee table that is non negotiable.  I'll try the 7x7x7 tactic tonight. The AV3's will be about 6-8 ft off the wall.

Thanks, Scott, for your speedy reply.  Is there a reason why the AV3's have to be THAT far off the wall?  I think that's too far.  Can you manage less?  We can adjust the size of the triangle if need be with no worries*.  Do you scoot the coffee table out of the way when you listen?  Is that possible?   

*and we may want to cause of the size of the AV3's and so their short waveforms add up better at your seat.

(later)  Oh, I see what you mean bout the coffee table (looked at your photos again).

[S Clark]

Speakers now at 4 ft from the wall, coffee table gone, wife out of town  ,
I have an extra rug that I think I'll lay out and cover the TV with a heavy blanket.  I'll be back after a bit of listening session. 

[S Clark]

Oh, I'll add one thing.  It may be a seasonal option to place the speakers on either side of the wood stove and use the very heavy cast iron stove and brick as an improvised place for turntable, preamps, etc.  It would have to move in the winter, as the stove is functional. 

[richidoo]

If the love seat is soft, it will tend to pull the center image towards that side. If you notice it at least you'll know why. Also, try a few different speaker placement techniques, like Master Set, WASP (Wilson), Cardas, 37%, etc. Then pick one that sounds good in your space and fine tune it with small movements, leveling, spikes, etc. Lots to be gained there at no cost to wallet or marital relations. 

[jimdgoulding]

Hi, Scoot.  Found any time to experiment?  If you have and aren't persuaded by what you hear, I'd like your comments, personally, same as if you were.  I purposely corrupted your name cause I figure you'd have been doin a lot of that. 

[S Clark]

Jim,
I have spent one evening in that room after moving closer to the speakers and moving the speakers closer to each other.  The imaging seemed to tighten a bit.  I had kids listening to a good cd in there yesterday, and the female vocals seemed well defined and precisely imaged.  I'll get back to that room in a few weeks- off to Big Bend with a group of kids tomorrow, speaker projects next Thurs, and LSAF the next week.  After all that, I'll finally finish my LS9 project and work on the room.