small listening room

[mulderX]

Hello to the ASR!
I'm reading the site for some time now and it's time to register.
So i have a very small room that i can enjoy music mostly at night. It is 2.70m x 3.70m.
What's your option about equipment in that case?
I have some gear from a previous place , but i want to here what you thinking.
I'm thinking go for active this time and do the room like a small studio and dedicated room too.

 

[mulderX]

It's better to have a 2.2 or 5.2 with smaller speaker for that small place?

 

[mulderX]

So right now i have the ATC scm 40 at listening position of 1.7m. I don't know if it is too close for such a big speaker. What do you think?
I was forced to move them to that small room and now i'm wander if i must change them to something smaller.
I'm running them with xtz d3 (110w AB) , minidsp 24( updated to ddrc) and i have tow subs dynaudio 9s which i don't know how to put them together in the system chain.

 

[Hipper]

Regarding big speakers, the key distance to the listener for any multi driver speaker is the distance the drivers integrate. The manufacturer can tell you that figure. Provided you can accommodate that distance the problem will be how to manage the bass, and in rooms, whether small or large, that presents difficulties. You seem to be on the right lines with the gear you've got - subs and MiniDSP.

You can check here to see the sort of problems that might arise:

Amroc Room Mode Calculator

Put in your room dimensions. Click the link 'more about Room Modes...' in the top right corner to get a better understanding of what is going on.

To improve the bass you do can any, all or a combination of these:

1. Change the listening and speaker positions.
2. Use room treatment (bass traps etc.).
3. Use DSP/EQ.
4. Use a sub or multiple subs.

I've not used MiniDSP or subs but there are surely others on here that have.

Firstly I would try to use what you've got, namely the two subs and MiniDSP.

The MiniDSP site shows how to connect everything:

https://www.minidsp.com/products/dirac-series/ddrc-24

You then have two things to deal with regarding the subs: the crossovers in MiniDSP and their volume, and their positioning to help with your bass problems. I understand this is quite difficult to get right.

You then need to measure with the MiniDSP to see how your are doing. Move chair, speakers and subs around a bit more and measure again. And again etc.. Of course you have to do this whilst still allowing your room to be practical to use.

Finally, once you find the best sounding and most practical positions, you can measure to get the flat curve frequency response or whatever curve you prefer.

That's the basics, but the details will be in the MiniDSP manual.

 

[mulderX]

Regarding big speakers, the key distance to the listener for any multi driver speaker is the distance the drivers integrate. The manufacturer can tell you that figure. Provided you can accommodate that distance the problem will be how to manage the bass, and in rooms, whether small or large, that presents difficulties. You seem to be on the right lines with the gear you've got - subs and MiniDSP.

You can check here to see the sort of problems that might arise:

Amroc Room Mode Calculator

Put in your room dimensions. Click the link 'more about Room Modes...' in the top right corner to get a better understanding of what is going on.

To improve the bass you do can any, all or a combination of these:

1. Change the listening and speaker positions.
2. Use room treatment (bass traps etc.).
3. Use DSP/EQ.
4. Use a sub or multiple subs.

I've not used MiniDSP or subs but there are surely others on here that have.

Firstly I would try to use what you've got, namely the two subs and MiniDSP.

The MiniDSP site shows how to connect everything:

https://www.minidsp.com/products/dirac-series/ddrc-24

You then have two things to deal with regarding the subs: the crossovers in MiniDSP and their volume, and their positioning to help with your bass problems. I understand this is quite difficult to get right.

You then need to measure with the MiniDSP to see how your are doing. Move chair, speakers and subs around a bit more and measure again. And again etc.. Of course you have to do this whilst still allowing your room to be practical to use.

Finally, once you find the best sounding and most practical positions, you can measure to get the flat curve frequency response or whatever curve you prefer.

That's the basics, but the details will be in the MiniDSP manual.

Thank you for your answer,
I just don't know the minimum listening distance. I searched at their site and send them email , but i have no answer.
The avmentor wrote "Placement of the loudspeaker proved to be rather easy. I chose a place with a distance of about half a meter from the back walls and 2.6m from the listening position". I can't do that because of my room length 3.70m.

 

[JIW]

Firstly, place the speakers and listening position symmetrically relative to the side walls, i.e. the distance from the left speaker to the left side wall is the same as the distance between the right speaker and the right sidewall and the distance from the listening position to the left sidewall is the same as the distance from the listening position to the right side wall. Also, I recommend as you already seem to do, to aim the speakers along the long wall.

The fundamental room mode has the least detrimental effect a third into the room from any boundary. The higher modes each have their least detrimental effect at different ratios of the dimensions. Taking the higher modes into account, a good compromise is using the inverse of the golden ratio, i.e. about 61.80%.

Thus, try placing both the speakers and the listening position between a third and 38.20% of the room length, i.e. between 1.23 m and 1.41 m from the nearest wall (front or back). For a stereo triangle, the listening distance would thus be between 1.01 m and 1.42 m and the distance from the speakers to the sidewalls between 0.64 m and 0.85 m.

The same ratios also apply to the height of the listening position. However, implementing them may be more difficult. Still, try avoiding that the height of the listening position is half of the height of the room.

Overall, I think you would be better off using more compact speakers due to the short listening distance. However, keep in mind that if they are too small that they still may not be able to reach your desired sound pressure levels even with the subs connected.

For 5.2, the center channel will be 15.47% closer to the front wall than the front speakers at 30 degrees, while the back channels at 110 degrees will be 35.72 % further in the room than the front speakers. How you balance that is up to you. You can either change the listening distance or move the listening position forwards or backwards or you could - while still maintaining left-right symmetry - place the speakers to individually give the best response and correct for the differences in distance with delay and level.