New Home = where to locate the speakers?

[Coach_Kaarlo]

Red.

If it doesn't work, try another.

View attachment 78609

The backdrop looks very Australia Ray! And I must say, you have a beautifully balanced room (aesthetics v acoustics) from the looks. A friend mentioned the trick of placing a couple of armchairs or single couches either side of the side wall reflections - is this what you have done here?

 

[Coach_Kaarlo]

Red = 5

Yellow = 2

Blue (my selfish favourite) = 1


Measuring up this afternoon so I can do some more accurate layouts, so far there are some really useful tips and guidance - thanks!

1. thick curtains
2. a couple of ceiling panels
3. a couple of moveable vertical screen panels
4. some large dense stiff plants (partner loves living green things so easiest to implement)
5. thick floor covering in front of speakers
6. speakers on wheels for measuring and adjusting
7. move, measure, listen, repeat, etc etc

 

[RayDunzl]

The backdrop looks very Australia Ray! And I must say, you have a beautifully balanced room (aesthetics v acoustics) from the looks.

It's Jon Iverson's (Stereophile) house in California.

 

[Coach_Kaarlo]

My money is on Red. Almost RFZ. Obvious choice of speakers are JBL4350/4355. [lol]
Get a rollable OLED and you won't have to worry about the view. Or don't even buy a TV

(rfz) rinforzando = sound reinforcement?

Just looked at those JBL monsters - holy cow! 120kg each.....

 

[MarsianC#]

RFZ = Reflection Free Zone
JBL Mains are just awesome! Was ment as a joke, I guess your Yamis will do their job fine.

 

[Hipper]

You could put the TV set up on wheels to so as to be able to move it out of the way of views and doors.

 

[kaka89]

A projector screen will save you view.

 

[dasdoing]

the red one is like many control rooms in studios (deflecting first reflections), IF there wasn't that much glass. But the glass hasn't to be a bad thing. good thing is that it will let low frequencies pass = less room modes. the bad is obviously the frequencies the glass starts to vibrate and make a own sound. I doubt this case can be answered in theory - gotta meassure

 

[Doodski]

the red one is like many control rooms in studios (deflecting first reflections), IF there wasn't that much glass. But the glass hasn't to be a bad thing. good thing is that it will let low frequencies pass = less room modes. the bad is obviously the frequencies the glass starts to vibrate and make a own sound. I doubt this case can be answered in theory - gotta meassure

This guy has glass and fine China issues.>
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...e-serious-audiophiles-gone.15256/#post-482130

 

[dasdoing]

This guy has glass and fine China issues.>
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...e-serious-audiophiles-gone.15256/#post-482130

have you seen this guy?

 

[Doodski]

have you seen this guy?

I love it. Harder core to the core.

 

[Coach_Kaarlo]

the red one is like many control rooms in studios (deflecting first reflections), IF there wasn't that much glass. But the glass hasn't to be a bad thing. good thing is that it will let low frequencies pass = less room modes. the bad is obviously the frequencies the glass starts to vibrate and make a own sound. I doubt this case can be answered in theory - gotta meassure

Thanks, yes I will post measurements in a week or so, I like your points though - less room modes would be great!

All the room mode calculators presume rectangular symmetrical rooms. Most living rooms are anything but....

 

[Coach_Kaarlo]

have you seen this guy?

That’s commitment.

 

[Hear Here]

Thanks for reading this - I hope some experienced members can help me.

Yes, I love the journey of measuring, listening, changing, and repeating again. However I have just spent 3 months tuning the speaker location and DSP/ DIRAC in my old apartment only to be moving to a new one! First world problems etc.

I have some knowledge of the fundamentals of room mode theory, and have also learnt quite a lot through measuring and listening in my old apartment. My first attempt / guess is to place the speakers system in the locations sketched below.

View attachment 78564View attachment 78568

Yellow sketch and red sketch are in the living room shown above. The blue sketch is in the office / spare bedroom (not shown) which also has a timber underlay floor and large full height windows. Architecturally nice - acoustically not so great.

My thoughts are to setup in the office/ spare bedroom (blue sketch) as aesthetically acceptable and functional room treatments are easier and smaller to implement. Things like floor coverings, heavy curtains, corner bass traps etc.

HOWEVER, my partner enjoys music and prefers having the speakers setup in the living room (as they were in the previous apartment). The living room options seem limited (yellow is practical) but I think red would have the better acoustics.


My system;

Digital media (Tidal etc) streamed into miniDSP SHD Studio (DIRAC 3.0) digital into Benchmark Media DAC2-HGC.
With two Benchmark Media AHB2's in mono driving a pair of Yamaha NS-2000 speakers, which have very very good off axis directivity according to my measurements.

So where to start? DIRAC can manage impulse and cutting peaks quite well in my experience, so my thinking is I that the best approach is to position the speakers to minimise the room mode nulls (20-200Hz?). And equally it seems because the speakers are so good off axis, I need to be careful about the wall bounce. I run the speakers flat with almost no toe-in which produces over the shoulder imaging and a wall of sound in front rather than a small centered sound stage.

Priorities for speaker locations seem to be;

1. direct sound
2. first reflected sound (wall bounce)
3. floor bounce
4. rear wall reflections

Thoughts, suggestions?

Yellow no good as you'd lose the view from your windows. Red would be good but perhaps not ideal with box speakers - horns would probably be much better.

I have similar problems in my semi-circular room with floor-to-ceiling glazing but Avantgarde horns work very well. Photo shows Unos, but now using Duos with Duo XDs on order

 

[Harmonie]

"Red would be good but perhaps not ideal with box speakers - horns would probably be much better"

Depends on the "boxed" speaker. Some ESL work very well with no (near) side walls at all, the type of post#6 for example.
+ they would blen in nicely decoration wise too ..
So RED

 

[Coach_Kaarlo]

Well I have been enjoying this positioning - the sound is very good, but limited functionality / practicality. The concrete wall reinforced the bass and there are no side reflections. Some floor bounce and a little rear reflection (glass) but surprisingly good!

 

[dasdoing]

Well I have been enjoying this positioning - the sound is very good, but limited functionality / practicality. The concrete wall reinforced the bass and there are no side reflections. Some floor bounce and a little rear reflection (glass) but surprisingly good!View attachment 80452

there is glass in the back?

(those speakers are very sexy)

 

[Coach_Kaarlo]

there is glass in the back?

(those speakers are very sexy)

Yes floor to ceiling glass doors and windows. But it didn’t seem to effect the sound quality. Can’t wait to measure this one. Expect it will be very good.

 

[maxxevv]

A projector screen will save you view.

The latest and greatest will do wonders towards saving that view too ...

 

[Coach_Kaarlo]

The latest and greatest will do wonders towards saving that view too ...

Wow, just need to work out the best angle to take with the manager of finance. Certainly helps with keeping the view!

Current “approved” thinking is to mount the tv on a mobile stand so it can be removed when not in use (most of the time).

So hunting for a small cabinet or equipment rack to hold the DAC and DSP. I will then fabricate some speaker stands which also hold the amps and are mobile. Three smallish hifi elements to move inside or outside will be manageable, and XLR connections are easy to use.

Listening at each of the three positions (inside yellow, inside red, outside green) has produced 2 clear winners (without measurement) - red and green. But the green was so good we are already looking forward to the next outdoor session.