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In Reply to: RE: Optimal Room size posted by Hifisound on December 18, 2007 at 02:28:05
I don't know how many ways there are to answer this question but let's try a few.
I've got Dynaudio Contour 1.3 SEs which are of a similar vintage to your 1.8 MkIIs. Dynaudio recommend placement at least 1 metre from the wall behind and, if I remember correctly, say 1 to 1.5 metres from that wall. I've got mine a fraction under 2 metres and they sound considerably better there than they did in my previous room where they were a bit under 1 metre from the wall.
What does this have to do with room size? Well, you need a room big enough to place them well if you're going to get good results. Room treatment can certainly help and it will make a small room better, but giving the speakers enough space AND room treatment is even better again.
Next comes where you're going to sit. I sit a bit under 2 metres in front of the plane of my 1.3 SEs and that's probably about as close as you'd want to get in some ways. Yes, you could sit closer but you could always sit further away, so let's say between 2 and 4 metres in front of the speaker plane. Now we've got a room where you need somewhere between 3 to 6 metres from the wall behind the speakers to the listening position based on speaker placement 1-2 metres from the wall and listening position 2 - 4 metres in front of the speaker plane.
Next, how much space do you want behind you? The Audio Physic method has you sitting against the wall and the speakers half way down the room. That's roughly my setup with a 3.985 metre distance between the wall behind the speakers and the closest opposite wall (the room is L-shaped so I have 2 walls at different distances behind me). That would be about the minimum 'length' but in the Audio Physic setup you place the speakers along the long wall. In my case the room is 5.2 metres wide, so it's roughly 13' front to back in the main area and 17' wide. That's pretty close to your suggestion. I've got an 8' ceiling and a 10' ceiling would be better.
As an alternative, Ethan Winer's suggestions on setup has you sitting 38% of the length of the room from the wall behind the speakers—a bit under two thirds of the room is behind you in that case. With possible seating positions ranging from 3 metres to 6 metres from the wall behind the speakers, that translates to a room 26' to 52' long. You'd still want the room around 16'-18' wide for a 26' long room and perhaps a bit wider than that, say 12' - 14' wider for a 52' length. I'm adding on that much to get the room a bit over half as wide as it's long and to avoid having the length an exact multiple of the width.
Actually, a room 10' high by 16' x 26' is pretty much exactly the dimensions George Cardas recommends using room proportions based on the golden mean. That's a bit larger than the dimensions you've suggested but it does give you a lot more flexibility with placement options.
I don't know how much power your NADs have but you'll need a fair bit to drive the Dyns in a room that size and that may well persuade you to drop back to your suggested dimensions and go for a near field or Audio Physic style setup.
As you can see, there's a lot of options that can influence the answer to your question and we haven't even considered whether or not you like a close listening position or a more distant one in the acoustic far field because they do give very different presentations.
I think your suggested room size would work reasonably well, as would a slightly larger room at 16' x 26' with a 10' ceiling. You aren't going to want to go any larger than that with your Dyns unless you're really prepared to hook them up to a very hefty amp considering their sensitivity though I think your 1.8s will be a little more sensitive than my 1.3 SEs.
Hopefully the discussion above will give you some ideas about how to work out your own answer and also how to assess the rooms that you see when you're looking at houses since you may well not find one that matches any set of dimensions you come up with. Start thinking in terms of how much space you can afford behind the speakers, how far in front of their plane you want to sit, and how much space you want behind you. That will add together for the length. You want the speakers to present an angle of anywhere between say 55 degrees and 72 degrees to the listening position with most people recommending 60 degrees or a bit narrower. I find the Audio Physic suggestion of 72 degrees very good but it gives a very wide soundstage and I'd go for 60 degrees if you're using this system for movies as well. If you're using it for movies and you're contemplating surround sound further down the track, make sure you make the room long enough for placement of surround speakers behind the listening position, and more space if you're contemplating a 6.1 or 7.1 system. You probably want a minimum of 4' or so from the side walls to the speakers. The combination of space between the speakers determined by listening angle plus a minimum of an extra 8' or so to the sides of the speakers will give you the width.
Apart from that, avoid having dimensions that are multiples of each other or related in a 2:3 relationship (ie one dimension 50% longer than another). Your suggestion of 10' high and 15' wide breaches that and a little wider would be better but then you're getting close to a square and you also want to avoid that. I'd consider narrowing the width slightly to around 14' or so if you're going to keep the 18' length or have the width wider than 15'—16' would be good—and then increasing the length above 18' but avoiding both 20' and 1.5 times the width.
David Aiken
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