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living room with big L-shaped couch - best solution

dasdoing

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my living room is not my listening room. the living room is more of a social room (classic usage). it has a L-shaped couch with 5 seats. more chairs are also added around the table when people visit.
I wonder what the best solution for sound is for this?
a stereo triangle doesn't really work; people sitting close to one of the speakers will only hear one channel.
I can think of two solutions:
1) put the speakers very narrow (just besides the TV).....towed out perhaps
2) downmix to mono

any ideas?
 

Elitzur–Vaidman

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Choose speakers carefully for wide dispersion. I had JBL Studio 530s in such a set up and the sound on the side couch was very satisfying.
I can second JBL Studio 530s (or 570s-580s if you prefer floor standers). My friend has a similar setup as you, and I got him a pair of 530s as part of his wedding gift. FYI 530s are on sale for $240 a pair right now.
 

Marc v E

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A solution could be to have a 5.1 setup that also does 2.1. Then upmix to 5.1 when socialising. Leave it at 2.1 when with you are alone or with a friend in ideal seating positions.

I know from B&O systems that this can sound quite good. In fact I hardly noticed a downgrade in sound when it was mixed to surround.
 
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Joe Smith

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We have an L sectional and I used some metal pro-type speaker stands for my ADS L520s that can get to about a 32" height from floor angled into the long side of the room. (There's a bit of separation between the sofa and the corner section of the sofa on the one side, the other speaker is not right on top of the right side of the sofa.) Fine for quiet listening if people are on the sofa. Have a listening chair facing the speakers in the sweet spot for when having a solo listen at higher volumes. Good placement for cocktail parties where no one's sitting down for the most part.

The way we have the room now, though, floor-standers absolutely would not work, whereas the bookshelf speakers with the good height work perfectly.
 
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dasdoing

dasdoing

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sorry for late reply, not a priority atm.

dispersion isn't a solution for the issue. people sitting near to a speaker will have a too loud speaker and be hearing only one channel. also I am using my old speakers for this (KRK Rokit 8)

height is a solution, thanks Joe Smith. problem is that when using a single pair like me, you sacrifice the single/dual person audio....I wont be moving up and down those speakers everytime people come over.

not caring too much about other's sound is something I normaly agree with lol; but not in this case where the main goal is socializing and people near the speakers will have problems following the talking because of the loudness.
 

Elitzur–Vaidman

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dispersion isn't a solution for the issue. people sitting near to a speaker will have a too loud speaker and be hearing only one channel. also I am using my old speakers for this (KRK Rokit 8)

not caring too much about other's sound is something I normaly agree with lol; but not in this case where the main goal is socializing and people near the speakers will have problems following the talking because of the loudness.
One thing you should experiment with is altering your speakers' toe-in. Non-ideal listening positions will get much more of both channels if you angle your speakers so that the tweeters "cross" each other a foot or so in front of the center listening position
 
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dasdoing

dasdoing

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One thing you should experiment with is altering your speakers' toe-in. Non-ideal listening positions will get much more of both channels if you angle your speakers so that the tweeters "cross" each other a foot or so in front of the center listening position

thanks, worth experimenting
 

Timcognito

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(On-wall) speakers with wide dispersion.
Just draw a scheme of sitting places and try to cover all of them with "sound projection".
Agree with this also research conjoined dipoles to spread sound and create null spot over the couch so that couch receives only reflected sound. Also look at Larsen speakers the 4.2's are $2500
 
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dasdoing

dasdoing

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Have you tried? It's easy and simple.

not yet, but I tried to simulate it.
found a CF2 file for Genelec 1031A (should be close to my old KRK I am using there) and took it to Bose Modeler.
Problem is I never worked with it before (Ease Focus is much easier).
Simulted something by hand (not the real meassures of the room), with focus on learning the software, and this gave the most equilibrated response for the band around 2kHz:

1665083970788.png


I will do it again with real world data
 

ernestcarl

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not yet, but I tried to simulate it.
found a CF2 file for Genelec 1031A (should be close to my old KRK I am using there) and took it to Bose Modeler.
Problem is I never worked with it before (Ease Focus is much easier).
Simulted something by hand (not the real meassures of the room), with focus on learning the software, and this gave the most equilibrated response for the band around 2kHz:

View attachment 235635

I will do it again with real world data

It seems like seat #1 is the most problematic. Perhaps raising the speakers higher up might mitigate the apparent loudness from the closest speaker -- easy to test if you have height adjustable speaker stands -- though the bass may be more of an issue. Another possibility maybe to add a small narrow beamdwidth "fill" speaker (high passed relatively high, say, 150-200Hz with appropriate time delay) on the left wall/side pointing directly at seat 1, or bet. 1 and 5.
 

Marc v E

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Experienced again today that a 5.1 setup with front and back playing stereo (in a square and mirroring each other) is very good if you want a room filling sound when guests are around.

Small monitors, a sub and a receiver with build in eq is key to succes imo.

Edit: in your room I would use 2 downward facing monitors on the ceiling where the couch is.
 
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