Odd Shape Room

[riveraa]

Hi All,

 

Admitted audiophile amateur here.

 

I've been looking to grab a pair of bookshelf speakers to pair with my tv but the priority is to have them sound great listening to music. Whilst I'm still on the journey of deciding what sounds great to my ear (thinking B&W 706 or Focal Aria 906 so far) I'm not sure they will be the right fit for the space. My main concern is losing bass and mid notes given the length of the room.

 

The room is a rectangle shape with dimensions at 9mx5mx2.5m. The room is a shared kitchen/living room space with the kitchen on the left half of the rectangle and the lounge room where the speaker would go on the right half. I've attached an image to try and make this more clear. Essentially the speakers would be facing width ways on the right hand side of the room. I don't mind if the audio doesn't sound great over in the kitchen as that's not really where I would be listening. My main focus is to having sounding great at the couch.

 

I'm not stuck on having to have bookshelf's and would consider loudspeaker towers as well if that did the job too.

 

Cheers,

Dan

 

 

[muon*]

I'd place the system at the end firing towards the kitchen.Dining and put some heavy drapes on the windows behind.

You can have the speakers close to 3 m apart leaving a meter from speaker to side wall on each side. Keeping it all symmetrical.

[GregWormald]

Strange asymmetrical rooms can be challenging for speaker placement, but aren't usually impossible. My room is much weirder than yours.

 

Set up needs to be done by sound and various configurations can be trialled. Check out the youtube video by Wilson Speakers 

 

 

and the Sumiko Master process https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=46634

for a couple of highly regarded techniques.

[muon*]

[genkifd]

looks good to me "above"

[riveraa]

Thanks @muon*, agreed that speaker location would be ideal for the room. Initially we've put our TV on the left hand wall because that's where the power sockets/antenna are and to avoid the glare of the window but like you said maybe we'll have to switch the whole orientation around to ensure the speakers fit the best. I might play around with the fit this weekend to see how it would work.

 

Any thoughts on the size of the speaker for that room? Seems like there's no exact science in terms of fitting a speaker size to a room but I'd hate to just under-do it after all that effort.

[GregWormald]

4 hours ago, riveraa said:

Any thoughts on the size of the speaker for that room? Seems like there's no exact science in terms of fitting a speaker size to a room but I'd hate to just under-do it after all that effort.

There are really very few limits on size. The most important is that you get an amp/speaker combination that will produce the sound (volume, frequency response, clarity, etc.) you want so that you get to enjoy the music the way you want it.

 

That said, generally small speakers mean lower volume levels and less bass. Music generally requires higher quality than AV systems 'cause you are less distracted by the visuals and the plot.

 

Home auditions are the best way to tell, but these do require co-operative dealers and/or friends.

 

 

[anandpkumar]

On a slightly different note - while it makes complete sense to have the TV and audio firing down the long side of the room, the TV will end up blocking your window behind it preventing natural daylight from coming in (if this is a priority to you). If this is the case, speakers and TV on the left wall (like in your first picture) may make better sense. Given the approx 5x5 m size of this space, you can easily get large bookshelves or small floorstanders to work well in this space

[muon*]

That asymmetrical setup I have found ends up with one channel loaded by the room more than the other.

 

Who needs daylight anyway

[riveraa]

Lower volume and lower bass is not a huge issue for me given we live in a fairly narrow property with similar homes near us. As long as the bass doesn’t fall of a cliff with the left most speaker I’ll be happy.

 

I’ve trialed moving one of the couch’s around and reckon we could end up putting the speakers against that northern wall and maybe just use them as dedicated music speakers and leave the tv as is. This way I get ideal speaker location and don’t have to live in darkness. Win/Win! The only con is no tv integration and I’d have to move the other couch a little so it doesn’t bloke the music.