Nightmare room setup request for advice (audio only)

[Kal Rubinson]

The wife (aka Design Consultant) has a pair of floorstanding Thiels from back in the day, so if she relents, we'll probably end up with those, although I'd prefer something a little more modern / slimmer...

"What's good for the goose is good for the gander."

 

[Keith_W]

The wife (aka Design Consultant) has a pair of floorstanding Thiels from back in the day, so if she relents, we'll probably end up with those, although I'd prefer something a little more modern / slimmer...

You could start by showing your wife some pictures of attractive looking floorstanders that will complement the look of your room! Do you have a budget? Colour scheme?

I would recommend Kef Blades as a beautiful and objectively well performing speaker. The only problem is the price.

 

[Wrilliam]

Hi all -

I'm looking for some advice on what appears to be an impossible situation - how to create a pretty good audio experience in a horrible room setup / layout.

Diagram is below, but here's some background:
- We're only worried about Audio... no AV requirements
- There's a big room with high ceilings connected to another two rooms / areas with a lot of open (i.e. no doors) paths between the areas
- Not only are these rooms rectangular, there's a lot of glass, so very very few options for wall-mount speakers
- Floor-standers are not an option, as the "design consultant" who calls the shots says "no way"
- Room treatments will be limited to some sheer blinds that are likely up most of the time
- Types of music preferred - lots of Americana, country, hard bop Jazz, early music, & world music make up the bulk of our listening, so fairly diverse

Here's what I'm thinking:
- Main listening area: Some array of in-ceiling speakers (4 (2x2) or 6 (2 x 3) complemented by 1 or 2 subwoofers; fed by: streamer (Wiim?)-> room correction DSP of some sort (Dirac / miniDSP?) -> DAC (Okto) -> Buckeye amp
- Dining room: 2 or 4 in-ceiling speakers
- Kitchen: 2 or 4 in-ceiling speakers

Here are my questions (please add obvious questions I may have missed...):
- Is the ceiling array a reasonable approach to solving this or should I do something differently?
- Is the DSP/DAC/Amp approach reasonable to handle / help with room correction or should I just get an AVR with enough channels & room correction?
- If the inline DSP approach is reasonable, any thoughts on how to adjust profiles if the Kitchen or Dining areas are also playing (e.g. during a party, etc.)?
- Does running 4 instead of 2 speakers in a small space like the dining room or kitchen make an appreciable difference in audio experience?

And, yes, I'm working with a local integrator, but I'd like to get the opinions of neutral 3rd parties.

Thanks in advance & please correct me if I've made any bad assumptions...

View attachment 278881View attachment 278881

Hi all -

I'm looking for some advice on what appears to be an impossible situation - how to create a pretty good audio experience in a horrible room setup / layout.

Diagram is below, but here's some background:
- We're only worried about Audio... no AV requirements
- There's a big room with high ceilings connected to another two rooms / areas with a lot of open (i.e. no doors) paths between the areas
- Not only are these rooms rectangular, there's a lot of glass, so very very few options for wall-mount speakers
- Floor-standers are not an option, as the "design consultant" who calls the shots says "no way"
- Room treatments will be limited to some sheer blinds that are likely up most of the time
- Types of music preferred - lots of Americana, country, hard bop Jazz, early music, & world music make up the bulk of our listening, so fairly diverse

Here's what I'm thinking:
- Main listening area: Some array of in-ceiling speakers (4 (2x2) or 6 (2 x 3) complemented by 1 or 2 subwoofers; fed by: streamer (Wiim?)-> room correction DSP of some sort (Dirac / miniDSP?) -> DAC (Okto) -> Buckeye amp
- Dining room: 2 or 4 in-ceiling speakers
- Kitchen: 2 or 4 in-ceiling speakers

Here are my questions (please add obvious questions I may have missed...):
- Is the ceiling array a reasonable approach to solving this or should I do something differently?
- Is the DSP/DAC/Amp approach reasonable to handle / help with room correction or should I just get an AVR with enough channels & room correction?
- If the inline DSP approach is reasonable, any thoughts on how to adjust profiles if the Kitchen or Dining areas are also playing (e.g. during a party, etc.)?
- Does running 4 instead of 2 speakers in a small space like the dining room or kitchen make an appreciable difference in audio experience?

And, yes, I'm working with a local integrator, but I'd like to get the opinions of neutral 3rd parties.

Thanks in advance & please correct me if I've made any bad assumptions...

View attachment 278881View attachment 278881

This room set up could give excellent 2 channel performance. Test this by placing speakers exactly in the walk thru area to the dining room (about 6 ft apart) with drivers facing North as it were - have to reorient the listening couches by 90 deg to face South. Should be easy to test… Tall narrow speakers would be best.
William

 

[Wrilliam]

Hi all -

I'm looking for some advice on what appears to be an impossible situation - how to create a pretty good audio experience in a horrible room setup / layout.

Diagram is below, but here's some background:
- We're only worried about Audio... no AV requirements
- There's a big room with high ceilings connected to another two rooms / areas with a lot of open (i.e. no doors) paths between the areas
- Not only are these rooms rectangular, there's a lot of glass, so very very few options for wall-mount speakers
- Floor-standers are not an option, as the "design consultant" who calls the shots says "no way"
- Room treatments will be limited to some sheer blinds that are likely up most of the time
- Types of music preferred - lots of Americana, country, hard bop Jazz, early music, & world music make up the bulk of our listening, so fairly diverse

Here's what I'm thinking:
- Main listening area: Some array of in-ceiling speakers (4 (2x2) or 6 (2 x 3) complemented by 1 or 2 subwoofers; fed by: streamer (Wiim?)-> room correction DSP of some sort (Dirac / miniDSP?) -> DAC (Okto) -> Buckeye amp
- Dining room: 2 or 4 in-ceiling speakers
- Kitchen: 2 or 4 in-ceiling speakers

Here are my questions (please add obvious questions I may have missed...):
- Is the ceiling array a reasonable approach to solving this or should I do something differently?
- Is the DSP/DAC/Amp approach reasonable to handle / help with room correction or should I just get an AVR with enough channels & room correction?
- If the inline DSP approach is reasonable, any thoughts on how to adjust profiles if the Kitchen or Dining areas are also playing (e.g. during a party, etc.)?
- Does running 4 instead of 2 speakers in a small space like the dining room or kitchen make an appreciable difference in audio experience?

And, yes, I'm working with a local integrator, but I'd like to get the opinions of neutral 3rd parties.

Thanks in advance & please correct me if I've made any bad assumptions...

View attachment 278881View attachment 278881

kef blades would be good

 

[ExPerfectionist]

Can the couch and speakers positions not be swapped? Basically have the speakers in the corner facing out towards the room, and have the couch in the middle of the room facing the corner? That way you don't have to put anything in the ceiling, and don't have speakers out in the middle of the room on stands as furniture, firing at the wall, and dealing with speaker cables (conceal or tripping hazard).

 

[dweeeeb2]

I have a terrible room for acoustics as well. IME I’m at the point where seating next to a wall is the worst place for sound. The impact of reflections is at it maximum.
I don’t hear it mentioned that often so I could be wrong. It would be good to hear if anyone disagrees.

 

[Philbo King]

This is the inevitable result of surrendering your destiny to an interior designer...

 

[JiiPee]

There is one - maybe somewhat farfetched - solution I can think of. Throw some money on the problem and replace the chairs facing that sofa with custom made chairs that have wisa -connected active speakers hidden inside armrests and run the power chords under the floor.

The only other solution is probably even more expensive: Get a new design-consultant.

 

[quattro98]

Might be too late for the OP, but there are some nice ceiling speakers out there. I have talked to the KEF rep who had heard these and was impressed.

Ci250RRM-THX

Featuring innovative technologies including 12th Generation Uni-Q® driver array with Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT), patent-pending Cavity Radiation Control and Low Diffraction LF Aperture, Ci250RRM-THX is a truly revolutionary coaxial three-way architectural speaker that delivers...

us.kef.com

 

[ExPerfectionist]

I have a terrible room for acoustics as well. IME I’m at the point where seating next to a wall is the worst place for sound. The impact of reflections is at it maximum.
I don’t hear it mentioned that often so I could be wrong. It would be good to hear if anyone disagrees.

Yes, sitting next to a wall is not great for sound. If you have room, moving the seating even 6-12" away can be beneficial.

In my previous residence, the living room was rectangular and our sitting / viewing / listening space was in the middle with the left and right open and used for other things. I initially had the couch against the wall, but moved it out about 12-14". I have GIK Acoustics panels from many years ago, so I put a 4" panel (6" deep frame / bass trap) behind the couch, spaced about 4-6" away from the wall, on its side with the long edge, propped up so it was sticking up about 12" above the top edge of the couch. In front of that I had another panel below the top edge of the couch, just as a "shelf" to put tissue box and power strip / phone chargers.

This helped a lot with the close reflections off the wall directly behind the couch. Less echo-y and more focused listening for direct front sound and soundstage width.

 

[keks8430]

https://www.harman.com/documents/LoudspeakersandRoomsPt1_0.pdf (Pt1,2,3)
has some good ideas, a corner arrangement might be an option for you: