General Asylum

Posted by DeeCee (A) on March 08, 2003 at 12:24:41

Well, after taping, painting (my wife did most of this!), rack lugging (Justaracks weigh a TON!), re-leveling, yanking apart cables, jockeying speakers (again, these little guys weigh a TON!), re-cabling, moving in my hand picked listening chair (love seat) and placing the speakers in a diagonal placement; being the avid music freak I just HAD to hear what everything sounded like (remember the room is bare bones now - no diffusion, no treatment... just a chair)...

As you can imagine, it SUCKED.

OK, it was my first shot at placement... disappointed but I kinda expected it.

Fast forwarding thru attempts at herniating myself through jockeying the speakers around for the next number of hours, there were some positives and negatives:

Positive
========
1. Vastly improved soundstage.
(I think this is due to my being able to widen the distance between my speakers.)

2. Possibly lessened (or shifted in frequency) bass boom.
(Well, this was the diagonal placement intent, but my ears need to "re-adjust" accordingly).

Negative
========
1. Some midrange hollowness.
(The room is still totally devoid of diffusion... I am confident that this will only improve once I fill/treat the room).

2. No helpful guide for diagonal placement.
(Had to do all of this by ear and jumping up and down from my listening position... a guide or formula to attempt an initial placement would have been helpful.)

3. Gotta wait for response from ASC in regard to room treatment!

Conclusions
===========

I am *very* optimistic considering the current state of the environment (tucking my CD & album shelf into the closet really screwed up the sound, as expected; but increased room space and WAF).

The diagonal arrangement really shows some potential at expanding opportunities to position speakers (and listening seat) in a small room for handling bass modes.

Now if I can keep the esthetics (WAF) balanced with the room treatment (ASC), I may have a nice, yet sonically acceptable listening room.

Particulars: 10'9"W x 9'9"L x 9'4"H, drywall, carpeted floor.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of WAF vs Listening Room!

Happy Listening!
- DeeCee