Posted by clio09 (A) on August 10, 2007 at 06:59:16

I will be moving in about a month to a much larger apartment with 2 bedrooms. I plan on using one of the bedrooms for a dedicated listening room. Here is what I know at this point:

The room is a rectangle with parallel side walls. It measures 17.5' x 11.5' x 8' (compared to 12' x 13' x 9' that I have now). The room is carpeted and there is a window centered along one of the long walls. There are some closet doors, an entry door, and bathroom door, but I don't see these causing any issues.

At this point I plan to put the speakers along the long wall. My goal is to spread them 7' - 8' apart and about 5' - 6' into the room. In the past I have followed the Audio Physics method of speaker placement due to my limited room size. So I plan to continue to follow that model and place the listening chair against one of the long walls (possibly adjusting it to a foot or two in front of the wall once I do some testing). I generally toe my speakers in as this is what many reviews and the speaker company say I should do. I haven't had any negative results to my knowledge up to this point toeing them in.

I use Eighth Nerve room treatments. These include 4 triangles, 7 rectangles, and 4 seams. I also use some 2" thick fiberglass panels on the wall behind the listening chair to provide some absorption. I plan to continue using these pieces and would prefer not to buy any more room treatments, with the exception of some plants or heavy curtains for the window.

The rack will sit against the wall opposite the listening chair mid-way between the speakers. Cables and such don't give me any other options. The amp sits in front of the rack at floor level between the speakers.

I guess what I would like are some ideas or suggestions that may validate or invalidate what I'm trying to do. I'm not sure yet whether the listening chair or rack will be in front of the window. In my room today the chair is in front of the window, but I'm wondering if it should be placed in front of the wall instead in the new room. I'm hoping that by using the long wall the speakers will be far enough away from the side walls to minimize first reflections, as I don't treat those now and wasn't planning to in the new room (the Eight Nerve model downplays this anyway).

For reference my system is posted but the speakers are Spendor 1/2e that sit on Sound Anchor stands. The chair is an overstuffed Manhattan style chair. Any advice would be appreciated.