Topic: New House: Recommendations for speaker / stereo setup...

[Nick in Edinboro]

I'm moving into a new house May 1st and could use some advice as to how to construct the living room for optimum performance

The bonus here is that my girlfriend isn't moving in until atleast mid-June so if I can get this stuff setup before she gets here than she shall have to just live with it

The living room is 12x13 and setup like this:


The wall with the 13 marker is facing the front yard and has a 5x3 window and a door:


The wall with the 12 next to it also has a window:


It's a smallish box.  The coax cable for the tv is in the corner between those two walls.

Any opinions on where to stick my gear?  Speaker placement is what I need the most help with.  I'm not sure which wall to have them against, or why

Any thoughts?

[twoodruff]

The bonus here is that my girlfriend isn't moving in until atleast mid-June so if I can get this stuff setup before she gets here than she shall have to just live with it

Any thoughts?

you are delusional

[Nick in Edinboro]

This may be true but I'd like to keep telling myself this until the point that she does move in    I'm hoping it'd be far too much a PIA to move everything once she gets moved in...

[leegeddy]

[jedi mind trick]you need a pair of these[/jedi mind trick] 



or



marc

[pfife]

Nothing is too big of a PITA for her to demand - you'll have to do the work... enjoy it while you can! 

[Jammin72]

Personally I'd set the speakers and system up on the wall opposite the door.  Reason being this... You'll have more space to get them spead out without them being in danger of getting hit by a door or being forced next to a wall.  Giving them room to produce the sound without any reflections will give you a much wider and open soundstage.  If they are Next to any type of wall or furniture you'll loose the depth of the image for sure.   If you're going to set up surround sound it's no biggie to mount the rear speakers on either wall to your left and right when you're looking at the speakers.  This is really the placement that is preferential for 5.1 setups.  You put your couch beneath the window and voila! You'll want to sit in between the two cushions closest to the door, right on the seam I would think 

The 12' adjacent to the windo opposite the kitchen could also be used but you would be forced to have your listening position too close in my mind as folks would have to get behind you to make it into the house.

[discgo]

I would consider a diagonal set up for a room of that size.  It will really help the imaging and you'll be able to place the speakers closer to the walls, so you'll have more "room to live".

I have a 12x14 room and the biggest improvement I've ever made to my system was setting up on the diagonal.

Check out www.decware.com and look under Articles on how to set up a dedicated room on the diagonal.  I think the article is called "HOW TO SET UP A DEDICATED LISTENING ROOM WITHOUT FANCY TREATMENTS" or something.

[Nick in Edinboro]

I should've mentioned, that front door will probably not be used at all.  In fact, I could throw a couch in front of the door and it would be no problem.    The entrance used will be through the garage & kitchen.

The problem setting it up the wall opposite the door is that there are bedroom doors on that wall which aren't apparently in the little "blueprint"   You can see the one bedroom door in the second picture.

No real surround needed.  this is a 2 channel system

I was thinking the 12 foot wall  opposite the kitchen myself.  What is a good distance for the listening position?  I could back the couch up against the other wall which would give me roughly 8-10 feet of distance between myself and the speakers.  What is a good spread for the speakers?  I take it I shouldn't have them too near an adjacent wall to avoid a loss of imaging?  I imagine I should have them kicked out from the wall atleast a foot, foot and a half to allow the rear ports some room to breath..


Edit: new response   Thanks discgo, I'm intrigued and will check that article out right now!

[Jammin72]

That article on the diagonal setup is pretty interesting!  Good luck getting that one past the Girfriend!

I'm acutally moving this month as well, I'm going to set up the system that way after the furniture gets moved out just for giggles to hear the difference.  I've got wood floors so If it images with everything out but the stereo you know that it's the real dea!

Are you a tridoe guy Nick?

Imaginary +T  (Not at 50 yet) 

[Nick in Edinboro]

That article on the diagonal setup is pretty interesting! Good luck getting that one past the Girfriend!

Ya, that was a great article, here it is for those who don't want to dig (wasn't hard to find though):
http://www.decware.com/paper14.htm

I really have no idea about reflections and stuff and this article helped me understand some of that as well.  Do you guys think this is a valid idea according to the article:

Taking it to a finer level would be fairly easy by purchasing a laser pen and fastening it to the top of your speaker and then taping mirrors to your walls to find your exact reflection point centers. This is where the most energy of each reflection is located. Once you have found a way to get as many points on the correct sides of the room respectively, then you can take action to treat the offending points.

I think with a diagonal setup I wouldn't be able to spread those speakers out all that much given how small my room is.  It is a really ingenious idea though.

Are you a tridoe guy Nick?

Jammin' +T for your thoughts too, big help all around.  No t00bs for me.  My setup is rather meager
 Toshiba 3690 > HK AR-20 > B&K ST-140 > Axiom M22

[pfife]

You think getting a certain setup is going to be difficult, try getting those room treatments for reflections!  I've already had a battle just cause I wanted to put some acoustical foam on the wall behind the speakers.

[Jammin72]

Using the laser pen would indeed get you an idea of what was happening at the reflection points.... However instead of using mirrors to find all the other reflections my guess is difusing at that first reflection point from the speaker would be good enough for most folk's purposes!

Just using some acoustic foam at resonance points in the room can do a suprising bit of good.  Using the clapping test walk up and down the room when you hear a spot where the echo is the greatest stick a foam group on either side of the room in that location, it can make a big difference.  Just hangning heavier fabric curtains and putting up a few tapestries can also help to quiet the high frequency nasties without purchasing good looking expensive tiles, resorting to bedding on the walls, or needing approval from the significant other.  A nifty trick is to simply put up an egg crate mattress topper on the wall covered by one of your favorite tapestries!  Cheap and easy.

I would poke aound the site to see if the Bass Trap will work for you as that really does make a differnce in the mid range by controllig the lower freqencies.  Speaker or sub placement also helps a lot in this regard.  If you don't use the diagonal techniques here's a primer on speaker placement in more squareish rooms.

http://www.immediasound.com/Speakersetup.html

No problem on the comments!! The more folks that end up with a system that gives them an accurate image the better!  It makes 'em use good stereo technique in the field!   

[Nick in Edinboro]

Another great read, thanks Jammin'!  Kickass.

Ya I think you have a great idea of what I'm striving for.  A decent sounding room that is livable and not girlfriend/wife unfriendly   A hard mix but those simple suggestions of heavy curtains (a definate doable) and tapestries should definately help improve my situation.

[Nick in Edinboro]

[jedi mind trick]you need a pair of these[/jedi mind trick]

Hehe.. Marc we'll see how long I last before coming back to you for more wires... The interconnects you made for me are working great   I am somewhat hesistant moving to silver with the Axiom's as they're can be bright as is but given the reviews thus far here on ts.com of the cables are making me think I should try them out, especially for the price.

[Jammin72]

[jedi mind trick]you need a pair of these[/jedi mind trick]

Hehe.. Marc we'll see how long I last before coming back to you for more wires... The interconnects you made for me are working great   I am somewhat hesistant moving to silver with the Axiom's as they're can be bright as is but given the reviews thus far here on ts.com of the cables are making me think I should try them out, especially for the price.

I haven't noticed silver interconnects being bright at all... in fact one of the main characteristics of the silver interconnects that I've heard is enhanced silky smooth midrange!