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In Reply to: RE: Placement in Odd -Shaped Bedroom... posted by steven d on June 21, 2009 at 17:33:10
A diagram with dimensions would have been much better than the pictures which are small and don't show much detail but…
The obvious question is where, and when, do you listen? The speakers are facing the side of the bed. Do you sit on the bed facing them or do you lie on the bed facing the left wall, or is there a chair on the opposite side of the room to the speakers? Do you use the system only at night when you're in bed or is it your normal system and used at all times of day and night when you're listening to music?
Since you're listening in a bedroom and the bed not only takes up physical space but is going to have a considerable effect on the sound, then any placement is going to have to consider that fact and what your listening habits in the room are. You can't "work around" the bed, it has to be considered as an integral part of the arrangement and how it gets considered is going to depend a lot on where and when you listen.
David Aiken
There is a floorplan of our apartment, follow the link below. We have the D1 one-bedroom plan.
David, during the week I don't get any time to 'listen' but will have the system going at low levels while making dinner. On the weekend I'll get a a few solid hours to sit in front of it.
Sometimes I'll sit on the bed at the sweet spot facing the speakers, and if I'm really into it I'll pull the mattress off and prop it against the closet door on the back wall and sit on a chair within the bed frame.
OK, I followed the link.
Is there any reason for not having the system in the living area? Facing the speakers down into the dining area would probably be best but you could also place them on the long wall facing towards the bedroom/den side.
Part of the problem with the bedroom is that the part walls adjacent to the doorway into the den don't provide a solid wall behind the speakers and the coupled space of the den may well be causing problems as well. In addition the fact that you've got a bed in the middle of the room—kind of unavoidable in a bedroom—places a lot of restrictions on both speaker and listening position placement which probably make it impossible for you to get the best results you could in the space were it not a bedroom. Your options are restricted by the bed and your two listening positions, though probably very similar in physical location, are probably going to be acoustically different because of the different location of the mattress in each case. I tend to think that sitting on the mattress is probably superior in some ways but I could be wrong.
If you move the speakers forward away from the wall behind them, you start to cram them up against the bed and if you move them back away from the bed you jam them into the corners. Neither position is ideal. Sitting against the closet probably isn't a good idea because I suspect the closet doors are fairly light weight and resonant and sitting on a chair between the bed and the closet places a mattress at bed height between you and the speakers which I also suspect will be less than ideal. Sitting on a chair inside the bed frame places a physical obstacle around you, but the mattress probably damps any vibration of the closet door which would be a plus.
I suspect sitting on the bed is probably the best option because it raises you up a reasonable amount above the matttress and minimises the mattress/bed coverings between you and the speakers. It also probably puts your ears a fair way above the speaker drivers so angling the speakers up would be a good idea in my view. Auralex and some other manufacturers make some foam wedges intended for placement under monitor speakers in order to angle them and I'd suggest something like that between the speaker and the top plate of the stand. Then simply experiment with speaker placement as much as you can given that you have to leave walking space around the bed. I'd try them as far forward into the room as you can manage without restricting walk space and then experiment with moving them back in 6" increments. Keep moving them back in steps while moving them back produces an increase in sound quality. When moving them back produces a reduction in sound quality you will know that the best result will be located somewhere between that position and a position 12" in front of there so you can then repeat the process moving forward in 3" increments, to narrow your options further, and then repeat again at 1" intervals to focus in on the best placement.
I think all you can do is to experiment within the space available to you without restricting necessary movement around the bed.
David Aiken
may make you sick, so read with caution...
I purchased SF Cremona Auditors about a year ago, the lute shaped monitors with the beautiful curved stands and the gorgeous woven silk grilles. My GF came home from work about three weeks after while I was in the middle of a listening session and in my haste to get dinner started I didn't replace the grilles but left them on the bed. We left the bedroom door open while making dinner then went to sit by the TV. After about 15 of TV there was an eerily quietness about the apart when Sherry went to check where the cats were. When she got to the bedroom the covered her face and looked at me. When I got to the bedroom there they were, one cat each with silk in his teeth.
I'm past that now. But the stereo remains where the cats don't have easy access - they don't come into the bedroom at all.
I use the office chair (adjustable) to listen, and the mattress covers the entire length of closet. The right wall has framed prints, but the left wall is bare, so I was thinking to hang an area rug to counter HF reflections. I usually stack four thick pillows (2 deep by 2 wide) on the right side to counter the HF reflections - that helps the imaging to a small degree.
When I have enough dough saved I'd like to get a combination of real traps from Ethan.
I have an Extech spl reader on order, when that arrives I'll do the full run of experimentation and report back.
Cheers for the advice, David.
steve
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