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Help with Speaker Placement in an Asymmetrical Bedroom

BlackVulcan

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Aug 23, 2021
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I've got an 11' x 12' x 10' room but unfortunately due to the current layout my speaker placement can't really be fully symmetrical so I wanted some advice on what would be the most decent placement considering my listening positions for the ELAC Debut Reference (with an SVS SB1000 Pro Sub), which has 80deg directivity so I'm worried about reflections on my walls (0.5"-1" Concrete on each side with about 3" Styrofoam inside for insulation)

THIS is how it currently looks with my current speaker setup (Edifier S350DB), and THESE are the dimensions (at scale, with measurements) of my room (though it's reflecting what the setup will likely look at with the DBRs, the paper cutouts actually reflect the actual dimensions of my PC case and the DBRs)

Wanted some feedback on some of the placements I'm planning considering my 4 primary listening positions (also indicated in the drawing):
1. Near-field in front of my desk, I can of course adjust this along the X axis as needed
2. Bed for when sleeping leaning on my headboard
3. Bed but leaning on the wall which is padded (actually a headboard from a King-size bed), for when I'm watching with someone else here
4. Workout area (weight sets, yoga mat and some other stuff), also where I go when I smoke on the window in this corner. Though I've kinda accepted that it'll be impossible to get good sound here

And given that, here are the speaker placements I'm currently considering (though any other recommendations would be great as long as it doesn't involve putting my PC on the floor as I'll be carpeting it so it won't get adequate cooling):
A - Current setup but shifted more to the right
B - Rotated PC with the right speaker immediately beside it (still not in the center, but somehow better but then I'm worried about reflections off my PC case like a wall, plus it's tempered glass so it might not sound good)
C - PC moved to the side table, which seems better esp since it's a few inches lower so there's less issue on reflections from the speaker but then it makes part of my L desk unusable
D - PC moved to the far left which is gonna be really horrible for cable management and aesthetics but does seem to have better acoustics

Sorry for the long read, am actually a newbie (just joined today in fact) but got a lot of help and advice from alex-z and based on his advice am looking into alternative speaker placements since my prior setup is extremely bad. So hope someone could help point me in the right direction (though I will also be using REW once my UMIK comes in so that I can get a better sense of my room response)

Thank you so much in advance
 
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Hipper

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Firstly I don't think it's possible to get good sound in all four listening positions (LP). You should select the most important one and do your best for that. What you could do then is use Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to make the best of things in the other LPs, as well as your main one. DSP software or hardware often comes with the ability to make a number of 'presets' - settings. If you use your PC for playing your music then software is ideal.

I suggest you place the side table on the left by the wall and either put your PC on that or perhaps on a shelf on that left wall. You could also use shelves to place all that 'clutter' now on the side table! This allows you maximum freedom to place your speakers and as a bonus gives you more space on your desk.

You could perhaps place your speakers in different locations for each LP, if you had long enough cables. You could use speaker floor stands and mark the best positions so you can find them quickly. Alternatively you could look for wall mounted stands with swivel arms so you can move them about a bit.
 
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BlackVulcan

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Firstly I don't think it's possible to get good sound in all four listening positions (LP). You should select the most important one and do your best for that. What you could do then is use Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to make the best of things in the other LPs, as well as your main one. DSP software or hardware often comes with the ability to make a number of 'presets' - settings. If you use your PC for playing your music then software is ideal.

I suggest you place the side table on the left by the wall and either put your PC on that or perhaps on a shelf on that left wall. You could also use shelves to place all that 'clutter' now on the side table! This allows you maximum freedom to place your speakers and as a bonus gives you more space on your desk.

You could perhaps place your speakers in different locations for each LP, if you had long enough cables. You could use speaker floor stands and mark the best positions so you can find them quickly. Alternatively you could look for wall mounted stands with swivel arms so you can move them about a bit.

It's an executive L-desk (one piece) so sadly, I can't detach and move it :( not easily anyway

I'm actually planning on optimizing for LP1 and 2, with 3 as a lower priority and 4 as a last one (thinking of using REW if I can save it with EQ, and honestly SUPER THANKS for mentioning different EQ settings depending on my listening position, since that might be great!).

I'll have a better idea of the room acoustics once I get my new speakers, so I can experiment with speaker placement. I got my UMIK now too, for REW but I'm still super new so idk yet how to tell if my room response at the listening positions are "good" or "bad" so if you have any advice there that would be great!
 

Hipper

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The general aim with EQ/DSP is to get a smooth reasonably flat frequency response (FR) from 30Hz to 20Khz at the listening position. Some people like a slightly sloping FR being about 6dB higher at 30Hz then 20kHz (or some other 'House Curve'). It's really down to taste and perhaps the music you play.

The principle is to measure, then find the filters you need to correct the results (REW can do both operations), then find a way to implement these filters in your music system. With a PC, some software would be best. I've heard people recommend Equaliser APO but I've no experience of it and there are probably other software solutions. I use JRiver Media Centre to manage my music library and that comes with a Parametric EQ and Graphic EQ.

Learning to use REW is not easy. Here's a good guide:

RealTraps - Room Measuring Series

There is also the REW help pages. Just take your time to get it right. What you learn now will help you in the future too whenever you need to set up a speaker system. You can use REW to find the best speaker positions and placement of room treatment (bass traps etc.) if you use that, not to mention other items such as furniture that may affect the sound.

Here you can see some people's measurements:

Share your in-room measurements? | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum

Don't obsess about getting a flat FR. Just do your best. Ultimately it's what you hear that counts.
 
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