I can see eyes rolling to heaven already. I have a pair of Troels Nomex V1 (2.5 way, 40L, 2x 6.5" mid/bass) front ported in a near perfect listening room area (Cardas defined 12x 16x 10ft). I currently have the speakers positioned almost as near to Cardas definition of perfect placement too, 164cm (64") from rear wall and 78cm (30") from side walls and about 182cm (71") between the speakers and listening position.
BUT, I note some people position waaay closer to walls without losing anything. This has me truly baffled (pardon pun). The majority of member setups I have seen place the speakers far closer to the back wall. Even the Troels TL1 which is a complete beast of a box.
Current placement gives me lots of everything, especially detail. I'm not a fan of bass deep enough to muddy everything else which is my fear of moving the speakers backwards. I know everyones room is different to mine as are their speakers, but if I moved them back a foot, what can I expect (besides deepening bass).
Cheers for looking.
BUT, I note some people position waaay closer to walls without losing anything. This has me truly baffled (pardon pun). The majority of member setups I have seen place the speakers far closer to the back wall. Even the Troels TL1 which is a complete beast of a box.
Current placement gives me lots of everything, especially detail. I'm not a fan of bass deep enough to muddy everything else which is my fear of moving the speakers backwards. I know everyones room is different to mine as are their speakers, but if I moved them back a foot, what can I expect (besides deepening bass).
Cheers for looking.
"if I moved them back a foot, what can I expect"
You can expect the bass to be a bit different. Whether or not you'll notice it is another matter.
I don't put much stock in "golden ratios", etc.. They're a good idea as a "baseline starting point" in concept, and there is good acoustical physics to support it, but in practice, the best setup may be entirely different. A lot depends upon the design of the space and the furnishings in it.
In the end, the best positioning of the speakers is where you like the sound in the room.
You can expect the bass to be a bit different. Whether or not you'll notice it is another matter.
I don't put much stock in "golden ratios", etc.. They're a good idea as a "baseline starting point" in concept, and there is good acoustical physics to support it, but in practice, the best setup may be entirely different. A lot depends upon the design of the space and the furnishings in it.
In the end, the best positioning of the speakers is where you like the sound in the room.
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Just another set of irrational numbers. Where good room dimensions start, althou sloping the roof has HUGE benefits.
Near perfect? Small and all the numbers divisible by 2.
If we choose 12’ as the base, 19.4x12x7.4’ is a golden rectangular box.
dave
The wall behind the speakers is not usually wanted. I like to design speakers so they don't send sound there as much as possible. I'm not saying this because you are wanting to push back towards this wall, but because there is sound going behind the speaker and you're getting closer to the problem.
What you may mostly want to look at is the region below your baffle step where the box is not helping. There may be no perfect solutions to this, but you want to see what the combination of nearby walls does. Is the response as balanced as the speaker itself?
What you may mostly want to look at is the region below your baffle step where the box is not helping. There may be no perfect solutions to this, but you want to see what the combination of nearby walls does. Is the response as balanced as the speaker itself?
Waaay back in the early 80s, I wrote some software in BASIC (on the IBM PC) to do various calculations for room acoustics and loudspeaker output. One routine calculated the room mode frequencies (in X,Y, and Z planes), to see where the modes would "pile up", and show a bar graph of them. The problem was always that the standard formula is based on an enclosed space of x,y, and z dimensions, which is not often the case in real home rooms. More typically, one room is adjacent to another, with a large opening between (or is effectively just one big room, with some type of architectural feature to define each "room"), or a stairway, entry, etc. These scenarios often throw the calculations out the window.
A sloped ceiling is most definitely a big bonus, if it's sloped in the front-to-back direction (not side-to-side). I am fortunate to have such a ceiling. It starts at 9 feet at the loudspeaker end, and slopes upward to the second floor, at about 20 - 25 degrees. My favorite listening position is on the stairway landing, rather than the sofa directly below it. But, that's a function of the loudspeaker directivity - the tweeters are E-V T350, which are pretty directional at higher frequencies. (The speakers are tilted back about 30 - 35 degrees against the wall.) Which reminds me...
AllenB wrote: "The wall behind the speakers is not usually wanted."
That is a great comment. At the late Siegfried Linkwitz's home (R.I.P.!), he had his LX speakers about five feet from the front wall. Of course, they are dipoles, so that would make sense. That is the best-sounding home system I've ever heard. Instrument placement was uncanny. Room ambient sound was full and well-balanced. Also, listening to the Magico S5 several years ago in Magico's listening room, they had the speakers a good 15 to 20 feet out from the front wall, and the sound was excellent.
No rear wall problems. I moved em back about 20cm to begin with and finally settled on 10cm from original position, so 155cm from rear wall. Bass is touch deeper but, surprisingly, the highs got a little higher. More wall reflection maybe. In any event, the whole sound has taken on more body. A worthwhile exercise especially for someone who likes a lean sound like me.
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Heey, I don't think I can give a simple answer to this question, there are a lot of factors that affect it all. For example, the speaker I have in my living room does not sound the same at all as my friend's speaker (and we have exactly the same speaker but each one is in a different place). If you move the speakers closer to the back wall, you'll get an increased bass response and a possible loss of detail and clarity in the high and mid frequencies. Other elements, such as the type of floor, the type of walls, the location of furniture, and the size and shape of the space, might impact the sound quality of your speakers. Take your time and experimenting with various positions because it is the best method to find the speaker's perfect place.