[Tim S]

I am thinking of separating my RM 1's off into a separate listening room. Right now I have a hybrid 2-channel/HT rig in the living room and for many reasons this is not ideal. The room the speakers are in now is quite large at something like 18x24 with a high vaulted ceiling. The room I am thinking of moving them into is a spare bedroom that is something like 10x12. Of course the good thing is that the only thing that will be in the room is the 2-channel equipment. My only concern is that the room will be too small. Any thoughts about whether or not this should be a problem?

Thanks,
Tim

[PLMONROE]

Tim, in general, the smaller the room the more attention you need to pay to acoustics.  The three primary nodes produced by ceiling, floor and walls fall closer together in frequency and have a greater probability of "piling up". There are several good calculators on line that you can use to compute these. Sometimes small rooms will give you too much bass and extensive use of bass traps may be needed. More often than not correct acoustic treatment will return more improvement to the sound of your system per dollar spent than any other change you can make. Good luck.

Paul

[Carlman]

Tim,
Yes, quite probably the room will be a 'problem'.  What you had was probably larger than needed but, I found anything smaller than 14x17 too small for a 3-way floorstander.  However, I haven't heard the RM-1's in a small room so, they may hold together fairly well.  I felt overwhelmed by the 'largeness' of the speakers I had.  The imaging was incorrect and the sounds didnt' blend together well to form the proper harmonics of the instruments.  I'd hear bass and treble sound separated instead of together.

You'll DEFINITELY need room treatment.  If you have hardwood floors, you'll need even more.  Good sound can be accomplished in a small room.  You'll have to experiment with what you have, though.  

My guess is that you'll end up with smaller speakers or stay in the larger room.

-C

[Tim S]

Thanks. That is what I was afraid of. I rather like having the big open space, but I hope I will find a way to make this work. A few bass traps wouldn't be a problem.

Tim

[John Casler]

Hi Tim,

How much freedom to "treat" do you have?

If it is "full reign", then The room could be fantastic, but it would take almost a LEDE approach.

And I can suggest some very effective DIY (actually there is little to no DO involved)  Bass traps if you can put them in all four corners.

Also because of the more "focused" mid/highs of the RM1s it actually can work in a close in but treated space better than a more sonically dispersive system.

[Tim S]

John,

I have complete freedom to do whatever I feel like. Only limitation is my wallet. Given that I will have to buy a new CD player, equipment rack, stands for the HT speakers and maybe a new amp to move to the 2 channel rig, that may be a binding constraint in the short term. Any DIY suggestions appreciated.

Tim

[PLMONROE]

Tim, my HT room is 12X17X9 with two RM-40s, one LCR, (which I got from John for a steal), six 626Rs and four Vandersteen 2Wq subwoofers (and yes, I know thats blasphemy but I already had them). After much, much work the combined speaker/room response measures plus to minus one db from 20cps to 16,000cps. So more can be done than you initially might think.

[jgubman]

John,

I finally got the foam and have installed some of it. Have plenty left over though and very little bass treatment (I put 1 30" x 24" x 3" panel in the front two corners).

What are your DIY bass traps instructions?

[John Casler]

John,

I finally got the foam and have installed some of it. Have plenty left over though and very little bass treatment (I put 1 30" x 24" x 3" panel in the front two corners).

What are your DIY bass traps instructions?

Well some might say this won't have an effect, but try it and see:

Very simply, take a 24 x 48 x 3 acoustic foam panel and push it into the corners of all the walls.

Now it is most effective if you use one at floor level and one immediatly above it.

While these are not the best pics, they might give you an idea