[cmryan21]

Hey guys, I'm in the beginning stages of getting my room treated and I had a few questions that came up today. My room is 25' wide, 21' long and 10' high but on the right side of my living room I have built-in bookcases and a fireplace that run from the front of the room all the way back to a hallway opening at the back of the room(so about 18'). The fireplace runs from the floor to the ceiling and the two bookcases are each about 8.5' tall and they all extend 3' from the wall. So my first question is should I be thinking of my room as 25x21x10 or 22x21x10 for acoustical purposes? I'm mainly curious about this for planning the placement of subs.

My second question involves bass traps. The front left and back left corners should be easy to get treated but I'm wondering about the right corners. The back right is an open hallway so I assume that nothing can be done there but what about the front right corner? The corner is one side wall and the other bookcase. Also, how tall should I make the bass traps?

Finally, how detrimental is a coffee table placed right in front of the listening area? I'm gonna need to have something there so if the table is a problem(acoustically speaking) can I place some kind of cloth over to minimize the problem?

I'd really appreciate any help you guys can offer.

This is a not so good rendering of my living room, but it may help if my description is unclear.

http://floorplanner.com/projects/18780037-my-first-project/floors/18837172-ground-floor/designs/20106054-first-design/edit

[Ethan Winer]

should I be thinking of my room as 25x21x10 or 22x21x10 for acoustical purposes?

Normally, speakers should fire the longer way down the room, but it could depend on where any "unmovable" objects are. In your case I'd set up with the fireplace behind you rather than to your right. That puts the TV in front of a window, but it's better acoustically and more symmetrical which is critical.

My second question involves bass traps.

Rectangle rooms have 12 corners, not just four. The more total corner surface you treat, the better. Always.

how detrimental is a coffee table placed right in front of the listening area? I'm gonna need to have something there so if the table is a problem(acoustically speaking) can I place some kind of cloth over to minimize the problem?

Yes, a thick towel is good. That's what I did with the little glass table shown in the photo below.

--Ethan

[cmryan21]

Normally, speakers should fire the longer way down the room, but it could depend on where any "unmovable" objects are. In your case I'd set up with the fireplace behind you rather than to your right. That puts the TV in front of a window, but it's better acoustically and more symmetrical which is critical.

Well, that's a cased opening to my kitchen not a window. Sorry for the drawing not mentioning that. The only other orientation I could possibly try is facing the fireplace but that introduces a whole other group of problems. As you can tell, my living room was not built with acoustics in mind at all.

Any thoughts on whether or not I should consider the room as 22x21x10 for when trying to use some of the guidelines for picking spots for multiple subs?

Rectangle rooms have 12 corners, not just four. The more total corner surface you treat, the better. Always.

Well, treating the top corners will be tough since I have a significant amount of crown molding but I'll see what can be done.

Yes, a thick towel is good. That's what I did with the little glass table shown in the photo below.

--Ethan

Thanks for that.

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out with these questions.

[Sound-Doc]

You cannot deal with room "treatments" until you have the room fully decorated and the speakers set up properly. If the room is "normal" by that I mean the usual things like carpet drapes furniture etc, setting the speaker up using Master Set almost always negates the necessity of "treatments"

The room is hardly ever the problem. The problem is your speakers are fighting each other and lighting up room curiosities that would never be there if the speakers were performing "as one"