Irregular room for Audio and HT

[klettermann]

This related to my other recent threads but different enough, I think, to merit a thread of it's own. I'm planning a combined audio/media room. Overall dimensions are about 24'x12'x8' LxWxH. It's in a basement with ductwork and such, but this only intrudes on part of the room. By boxing it in with a soffit I could make one end of the room about 3' wider, though the "ceiling" in that part the room would only be 6.5' high. But that part of the room would be 14-15' wide. This increases the room volume by about 273 ft^3 or over 10%. Another way to express it is that it would be like a 10x12x8 LxWxH room joining a 14x14x6.5 room. Nodes, resonances etc would presumably be quite different from a perfectly rectangular room, so maybe less room treatment needed? I have no idea about impact on speaker placement, listening position, etc. Can anybody comment on the pros/cons of such irregularly shaped rooms? Worth pursuing or creates more problems than it solves? Ideas and comments welcome! Thanks and cheers,

 

[Doodski]

This related to my other recent threads but different enough, I think, to merit a thread of it's own. I'm planning a combined audio/media room. Overall dimensions are about 24'x12'x8' LxWxH. It's in a basement with ductwork and such, but this only intrudes on part of the room. By boxing it in with a soffit I could make one end of the room about 3' wider, though the "ceiling" in that part the room would only be 6.5' high. But that part of the room would be 14-15' wide. This increases the room volume by about 273 ft^3 or over 10%. Another way to express it is that it would be like a 10x12x8 LxWxH room joining a 14x14x6.5 room. Nodes, resonances etc would presumably be quite different from a perfectly rectangular room, so maybe less room treatment needed? I have no idea about impact on speaker placement, listening position, etc. Can anybody comment on the pros/cons of such irregularly shaped rooms? Worth pursuing or creates more problems than it solves? Ideas and comments welcome! Thanks and cheers,

Can you please draw a diagram of the space? Can be done by hand. That would be very helpful.

 

[klettermann]

Hopefully this helps. Space in question is 12'x24' area on top. Solid outer walls are the foundation. The area is now more or less open on the bottom side., so room width is adjustable to some extent. Ceiling height is about 8 ft throughout except as noted in (3) below. The idea is frame-in this area. The poorly drawn blue squiggle shows the maximum extent that this could be done. The solid horizontal line above that is an existing partition that could be used, removed, etc. Main L and R speakers and video would be presumably on the right side of the room. Listening position can be anywhere.

This creates a few options (and probably more):

1. Just frame in the 12x24 area and be done with it.
2. Use the full 12' width but make room length shorter on the right side if that might be acoustically advantageous. This would create a cavity on the right side of the room between the foundation and rear framed wall (use for closet maybe).
3. Make wall that follows the blue squiggle. This would make half the room (more or less) 12' wide and the other half 14' wide. However, doing this would require a 2' soffit over the 14' wide section. Hence that area would have a lower ceiling, say 18-24" lower. On the plus side that would probably be a good place for some equipment, shelving, etc.

Maybe there are more options as well. Or maybe I'm overthinking it and should just do 12x24 and call it a day. But I hate to do that without looking hard at alternatives. I can do what I want but I can only do it once! Comments welcome. Thanks and cheers,

 

[youngho]

Hi, looks like you're planning to design this around Magneplanar IIIas (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/ht-design-around-magneplanar.45290/). As such, I believe that some of the conventional wisdom may not readily apply. Linkwitz had some thoughts regarding dipole setup (https://www.linkwitzlab.com/rooms.htm#D) that you might consider, also "The first requirement is for lateral symmetry of the loudspeaker and listener setup with respect to large reflecting surfaces" (https://www.linkwitzlab.com/listening_room.htm). As such. I'd probably go with #1. If you do end up positioning the speakers 12' axis, you have an opportunity to use very deep absorption at the back of the room.