| Author | Message | ||
     Lowlife |
I've just moved into a new place, and need some advice on arranging my gear. As you can see in the picture. The two front speakers are about 4 and half feet apart, with the component rack placed betwixt. Now, if I slide the TV stand over to the right and place the left front speaker to the left side of the TV stand, would that be a good idea? My concern is that the left speaker wouldn't be placed against the wall as it is in the picture. Is it a bad idea to have one speaker against a wall and another in open air? The left speaker would be placed against the railing of the staircase with about 6ft of open air behind it. I have it set up as pictured because I listen to way more music than movies. So, the proper surround sound placement wasn't a huge deal to me. Any suggestions are, of course, very much appreciated!  | ||
| Ingemar |
Some starting points for speaker placement, Should not be further apart than the listeners' distance to the speakers but preferably just a tad closer to each other. Should not be placed in corners. Should not be placed too close to the wall or against a wall. For some speakers it's even best if they have NO wall behind them. If you post a top view drawing of the room with dimensions and couches/chairs/tables you have, we may be able to come up with an alternative setup of your stuff. I know there are some audiphiles on this board ... Speaker and listeners' position is largely determined by experiment. It depends on accoustics of the room and your amp/speakers' type, so you may very well end up with your speakers much closer to each other, close to the wall or whatever. Then you can experiment with turning the speakers in or out. Imagine a line coming from the front of the speaker. Both lines may meet behind, at, or in front of the listeners' position. This largely depend on how close the speakers are placed to each other. Again, experiment is the key. Last but not least, don't experiment too much on the same day. Try 2 or 3 things during a day, no more. There will come a point where you will not hear the difference anymore between what sounds good and what's not. Use a few songs of one or two of your favorite cd's that you know sound good on your set. Then when you've found a supposedly good setup, listen to it for a week and change it. You should then immediately hear the difference. What is important (and where a lot of people fail) is what you like when you listen to it. NOT what sounds more perfect (like a tight bass or dynamic midrange). Generally when you move speakers closer to the wall the bass will suffer. But mid or high may sound better. It's the complete picture that you should like and inevitably some areas will suffer. It is always a compromise until you custom build a room according to your likings. Good luck with it! | ||
| Steveford |
If it was me I'd try the rack in the corner, speakers pulled out from the wall and a foot or two from either side of the stairwell's opening, throw down a rug and see what you've got. What Ingemar said, though; see for yourself what sounds the best. It may take some fooling around but that's half the fun. How many speakers do you have? | ||
| Evaddave |
Since you have what looks like a center channel speaker on top of the TV, I'm gonna guess that you have the TV audio routed through the stereo. If so, then you'll want to have the left speaker on the left side of the TV to get the proper audio imaging. Also, there's no similar need to have the audio rack between the speakers. What I'd do is swap the TV stand and the component rack in your picture. So from left to right, you'd have (component rack) (left speaker) (TV stand) (right speaker) Your TV stand looks like it's *way* deeper than the rest of the system, too. Depending on the layout of the rest of the room, I'd be inclined to face the TV diagonally out of the corner with the speakers on either side. This will help accommodate the extra depth of the TV stand, and it even looks like your TV stand has beveled corners in the back for such an installation. If you do that, then you can put the component rack beside either one of the speakers, on whichever side it fits best. BTW, what's that top-loading doo-hickey on top of the audio rack?  | ||
| Lowlife |
Hmmm, I guess I'll have to take a saturday and massage things around. The booklet that came with the speakers stated that they should be placed in a corner with about 1ft of clearance on the side and rear. So, thats why I asked about the open air placement. Here's a second pic. The front speakers are aimed right at the listening position (couch). It's a small room, so whatever you can see in the two pics is about it. Thanks for the input. Oh and Steve, it is a 5 speaker setup.  | ||
| Socoken |
Lewis Black RULES!! | ||
| BadS1 |
The book on my speakers said the same as did the Sub-woofer | ||
| Lowlife |
I highly suggest that anyone check out his show if He comes to your town. Note the tiny Lewis Black bobblehead doll on the glass shelf. | ||
| Brad_buell |
Hey Steve, that looks like an Adcom GFA-555 Amp on the bottom shelf. Are you using that to power the front channels? | ||
| Ingemar |
I thought it looked like an NAD. Are your speakers Bose? That would explain the corner placing. | ||
| Rocketman |
I'd consider the TV to be the focal point of your plan - so that would be my starting point. Seems to me the TV is too high anyway. Lower it and put the center speaker underneath it. When you've done that, consider the stairway to be a feature of the room and one that can be seen not hidden from a huge piece of electrical junk. Move the TV toward the right in the pic so as it's in front of the wall. The object here being to keep it as close to the stairwell as possible yet to keep it out of the corner of the room. That corner space is needed for your speaker and your speaker alone. Consider that when you're walking up those stairs you're not confronted by the rear view of a Trinitron with all its guts dangling out its back! Both the speakers can now sit in the corners but you need to be careful with the one near the TV. I'd place it about two feet forward of the wall and at least a foot off the outer wall then angle it in only slightly to the appropriate listening area. You have to be wise with this speaker because if you place it too near the TV over a period of time the magnetic field will distort the picture and damage the TV forever. A good reason to bring it forward of the wall as well as getting the best sound out of it. When you're happy with the position of the speaker nearest the TV copy exactly its position with the speaker on the opposite side of the room for optimum listening. Finally find somewhere else to place the hi-fi separates away from all what I've just described. Simply there is not enough room on that stair wall. I would consider putting the separates along your back wall somewhere and organising your sofa and rear speakers for optimum viewing and listening. I'd also consider mounting your vinyl deck on the stair wall somewhere using a wall mount if you can find the space and make it accessible and pleasing to the eye. I doubt you'd ever have a feedback problem playing vinyl in that space but it's nice to get the deck behind the speakers really. One more thing Steve. That place is lacking a womans touch  but hey let's face it, what do chic's no about quality hi-fi!!! Rocket | ||
| Ingemar |
Yeah, I missed the fact that you have a home cimema set. The fact that the center speaker is set too high shouldn't be a problem as long as you tilt it forward. That is what I did with my set and it basically has the same effect as placing it lower. So set your tv in the middle of the front speakers and make sure the rear speakers are set a little behind you, but not right beside you. And put a carpet in the middle of the room. | ||
| Toomanytoys |
this poor guy is going to end up rearranging his whole room by the time you fellas are done with him. i do like many of the suggestions. will help me reconsider how i will set up my next living room when i move.i wonder how steve feels about the decorating ideas?  | ||
| Lowlife |
The other big problem is that I have already shelled out big bucks on cables for the speakers and interconnects. The speaker cables are 12ft each so that gives me some room to work with. I really do appreciate everyone's input. Yes Brad, that is a GFA-555. The triple nickel is TANK. I picked it up on ebay for short cash, and I couldn't be happier with it. Its got more than enough juice for the front speakers. | ||
| Buelluk |
Toomany, ...and when his girlfriend moves in she's gonna want to rearrange it again ! | ||
| Jeremyh |
personally for theatre i would take that couch and face the back of it towards the stairway opening and utilize the big wall you have on the opposite side. | ||
| Rocketman |
I would take that couch and face the back of it towards the stairway opening and utilize the big wall you have on the opposite side See that's the problem. All but one of us is trying to get the best out of the way it is already when in fact the best solution is staring us in the face. I agree turn that couch around and face it the other way. That is the best solution for every problem you have Steve, except the woman thing of course Rocket | ||
| Brad_buell |
Hey Steve- I'm looking to pick up a triple nickel, as well. But I'm looking for the second incarnation. I'm just an Adcom junkie.  | ||
| Danvetc |
Tough room to do well in. Remember sound waves are bouncing off every wall and you will do best with symmetry. The stairway is a problemo if you are going to use that wall. Watch the sliding door, too, glass is highly reflective, especially a problem for treble. (A heavy drape fixes that when closed.) Do try an experiment with cheaper cables and wires. IMHO, true audiophile nonsense. Charlie | ||
| Jeremyh |
Just keep in mind that a symmetrical room is the worst type of room to have audio in BUT symmetrical placement of your audio equipment is very important. In other words the more •••• arse junk you have in the room the better it will sound but just make sure the speakers are set up for your typical listening position. On another note, if you have a subwoofer i have a great way of getting the maximum sound out of your subwoofer. Placement is an important key even though most people don't believe so. I will try to explain it without boring you. -First take the subwoofer and place it in the spot that you would normally sit. -2nd turn on some music that you normally listen to and crank it up a little bit but don't blast the ship out of yourself. -3rd step is to now walk around your room and find the spot that the bass sounds the best to you. example: corners and side walls. most often it wont be the wall that sits opposite of your cockpit position. -4th once you have found that great sounding bass spot, take your subwoofer and put it in that exact spot. -5th and final step: put your azz in the cockpit and crank up some tunes. P.S. also i have a very large theatre room in which it is shaped similar to what i see in your pictures. Another great cheap and highly affective way to make that room sound good is some cylinders ( not engine cylinders  ) covered in carpet. Also you can place the typical diamond or eggshell foam directly behind your towers. Ok i have rambled enough. Good luck. | ||
| Oddbawl |
There's a dvd called AVIA out there, it's perfect for your application. It explains how to set up your whole system, synchronize speakers with a sound meter and set up the proper black levels in your tv etc. It gives you test tone on each channel and you set all the speaker's sound levels to match the same decibel level. Basically, if you have a speaker farther away, or closer to a wall, you adjust the sounds level to match proportionally. Everything you need to set up your sub too. I'd lend you mine, but I already loaned it to someone. If you're in no hurry, I'll get it back and send it to you. Look fer it on ebay or something,it's well worth it. You can use it every time you move your furniture or get a new component. Charlie, I couldn't disagree more with the cables, garbage cables means garbage sound and picture. A room's never going to be perfect unless you build it for sound, so you need all the help you can get. You can hear a tangible difference on a good system between crappy and hq cables. You wouldn't run your Buell on Regular grade Mexican gas would you? | ||
| Danvetc |
Did I say garbage? This is not the right place to debate the heated "wire" topic, but making the comparison of poor fuel to wires/cables is not really fair. Anyone can tell the difference between good and bad gas combustion, but under "blind" conditions the "improvement" in cables disappears. (I did not say they don't sound "different," just not better.) Deal with RF through good shielding, have good connections, and decent quality wire and I still say the evidence is that you need no more. (Look at what the pro audio guys use... brands like Mogami... good stuff!) Enjoy your music and wear ear plugs on the Buell, Charlie | ||
| Oddbawl |
I said garbage, not you. The stuff that comes in the box with your average component qualifies as that if you ask me. Looks like you're talking speaker wire, I was talking component cables. | ||
| Ingemar |
but under "blind" conditions the "improvement" in cables disappears. I've done that test and passed it. Blinded listening, speaker cables switched when I was out of the room. I was able to name 3 of the 5 sets, of which 2 sets were the same brand (one was twice as expensive as the other). I new it was that brand but couldn't hear the difference between those sets on that system. Going to a better system I believe you will. These cable sets were all high end, ranging from a couple of 100 bucks per meter to a couple of 1000 per meter. So my take is that if someone claims there isn't a clear difference he either doesn't have the ears to hear it or the test system wasn't capable of showing the difference (ie, the limiting factor). | ||
| Rocketman |
I don't buy that bull shite about speaker cable. All quality cable in my opinion works but I'd never believe an adult listener could tell an audible difference between one cable to the next unless that same adult had some weird ears! Imagine all that ear wax dancing to Stings 'Fields of Gold' will ya! If such things were true we'd all have our ears syringed before we got to the hi-fi shop. Na not me - I don't buy it. Rocket | ||
| Josh_ |
http://www.roger-russell.com/ Read the Speaker Wire link. | ||
| Brad_buell |
This entire speaker wire, cable interconnect argument is a moot subject. Either side will gain any ground in the battle. This war has waged on for years before popping up on this board. I've seen documentation on both sides of the issue throughout the years. My philosophy is that if something works for you than do it. If it's less expensive cable that's fine. If you choose expensive cables than that's fine too. I can't spend your money no matter how I look at it. I promise you that if this thread continues on with cables as the topic, there will be no one converted to one doctrine, or the other, on cable philosophy. Of that I'm assured. | ||
| Bomber |
it's a great deal like wine -- me I can taste the diff between Mad Dog 20-20 and a $40 bottle of good wine -- blind test of a $40 and $100 bottle of wine leaves me a bit tipsy, without being able to ID the high-priced (Better) libation I've read the papers (used to work at Bell Labs), including some that insist that energy flows almost exclusivly on the periphery of the wire strand, how non-recycled copper is "warmer" than previously used copper, how wires drawn in the dark of the moon and anealed in ox blood suffer less loss over distances .. . . . . while the metered tests are inconclusive, some swear they can hear the diff -- I gotta believe em, but I can't if YOU can hear the diff between wires (speaker or interconnect), bless your heart, keep wearing your hearing protection devices while riding, and spend as much as you can afford if you can't, enjoy the extra dough you save on gas for your scoot (me, I got no highs left in either ear due to a misspent, but eminnantly enjoyebale youth) Brad's right - -this is a great deal like arguing religion, politics, and "the best band is . . . . " think I'll go lissen to "crawling from the wreckage" ;-} | ||
| Road_thing |
Hmm... ...ox blood, you say? | ||
| Court |
Don't fail to introduce the "how good does it NEED to be" element. I'm using 12ga lamp cord with Bose speakers in the corner of the basement and top notch near field studio monitors over the desk and, given the vinyl and little care I give my media, works fine for me. I'm sure a lab rat could find the dips in the audio response curve, I could (now you know where the saying comes from) give a "lab rat's patoot". Just my $0.02 woth and likely over valued at that. Now and $18,000 Benedetto guitar? . . . that's something different. |
