Will this sound good?

*****EDIT: NOT BUYING. HOUSE INSPECTION SHOWED TOO MANY ITEMS REQUIRING REPAIRS*****

Thanks to everyone who replied. Off to do some more house hunting...
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Thinking of purchasing this home. One photo was taken in the living room and the other from inside the kitchen. The only wall separating the 2 rooms is that wall containing the fireplace and TV. I would place 1 Request on each side of that wall structure containing the fireplace (both facing in the same room, of course). Thinking of actually replacing that wall structure with a narrower load-bearing wall so there is less between the speakers (normally things like stereo racks placed between speakers messes up the sound).

I know ML speakers sound best when placed quite a distance from the back wall (roughly 3-6 feet), but is about 20 feet too much? If so, any suggestions if I wanted to keep them in that location?

Nup - next.....

You could place them more or less where the plants are on the photo, I think it would work, but its a huge room.
What I cant see work is the tv, I wouldnt have it there, its way too high I think. I would maybe try to see how it would work if I put the tv where the picture is hanging, but a bit lower on the wall, then speakers on either side of the tv, the couch etc, out on the middle of the floor more or less, facing the tv.

So the freeway next to your house got to you?

20' would not be too much - no reflections from the back to worry about. Just make sure you don't trip over the cables. You may want to contact Gordon Gray about drilling into the floor; he says he has a way to plug up the holes if he moves.

Replacing the wall structure is also a good idea as fireplaces mess up the sound.....and you don't need a fireplace in SoCal!

The TV in that position would be a literal pain in the neck.

I would love to have a room like that.

Nielsen said:

You could place them more or less where the plants are on the photo, I think it would work, but its a huge room.
What I cant see work is the tv, I wouldnt have it there, its way too high I think. I would maybe try to see how it would work if I put the tv where the picture is hanging, but a bit lower on the wall, then speakers on either side of the tv, the couch etc, out on the middle of the floor more or less, facing the tv.

Click to expand...

OK, so you are suggesting to place the speakers where I did but to have them further apart. Is that because you think some side wall reflections would improve the sound? Or to have a wider sound stage? I wasn't going to have them right next to that TV wall, but enough to have the speakers about 7-8 feet apart from each other.

The TVs come with the house. Guess where the other one is...on the other side of that same TV wall. And yes, they are way too high!

Thanks for your help!

Any chance you can post a plan? It's much easier to work with than pictures (for me, at least).

Thanks for the suggestion about the cables! Im use to NJ/NY homes with basements where you can go into and drill holes, so not sure how that is to be done in homes w/o basements.

I don't like fire places at all. Some look cool, but they're usually in a location that makes it not ideal for combining speaker placement with visual appeal.

In my current place, my plasma is at eye level. The placements shown in these photos would definitely be a pain in the neck since I already have a herniated disc! (C5-C6)

Everyone is saying it would sound good with the speakers placed in that area, but if they don't I could always place them along this wall where the lamps are:

Bernard said:

So the freeway next to your house got to you?

20' would not be too much - no reflections from the back to worry about. Just make sure you don't trip over the cables. You may want to contact Gordon Gray about drilling into the floor; he says he has a way to plug up the holes if he moves.

Replacing the wall structure is also a good idea as fireplaces mess up the sound.....and you don't need a fireplace in SoCal!

The TV in that position would be a literal pain in the neck.

I would love to have a room like that.

Click to expand...

Bernard said:

Any chance you can post a plan? It's much easier to work with than pictures (for me, at least).

Click to expand...

Floor plan? I don't have one but I can create one. Wouldn't be accurate but I could try.

With 20' to the back wall, there might be an unpleasant echo.

On the subject of back wall reflection, I can only bring my Vista's about 2-3' away from the back wall, so recently experimented with sound deadening panels on the wall behind them. With the sound deadening panels, the Vista's electrostat panels really are just a line source, can hear very little from then when standing up, with ears above the "sound beam". Without the sound deadening panels, the sound throughout the room is more even, much less narrow vertical sweet spot. I would imagine that having a large space behind the speakers would be the same as having the sound deadening panels behind them...

Peter_Klim said:

Floor plan? I don't have one but I can create one. Wouldn't be accurate but I could try.

Click to expand...

Yup, that's what I meant.

hardeng said:

With 20' to the back wall, there might be an unpleasant echo.

On the subject of back wall reflection, I can only bring my Vista's about 2-3' away from the back wall, so recently experimented with sound deadening panels on the wall behind them. With the sound deadening panels, the Vista's electrostat panels really are just a line source, can hear very little from then when standing up, with ears above the "sound beam". Without the sound deadening panels, the sound throughout the room is more even, much less narrow vertical sweet spot. I would imagine that having a large space behind the speakers would be the same as having the sound deadening panels behind them...

Click to expand...

Hey, hardeng, I'm very close to you....in Kanata.

hum, I actually think that it might sound quite good with no rear wave reflected to create comb-filtering and all that nasty stuff out-of-phase audio does
Try it.

JonFo said:

hum, I actually think that it might sound quite good with no rear wave reflected to create comb-filtering and all that nasty stuff out-of-phase audio does
Try it.

Click to expand...

Thanks Jonathan.

I'f I wasn't so into audio and HT, house hunting would be sooooo much simpler! I probably could "try" it without having to purchase it first 3 years back I brought a receiver and one medium sized tower speaker to an end unit town house. Cranked up the bass, went to the empty next unit over, and was quite amazed that you couldn't hear anything unless you placed your ear against the wall.

I really like this house and put an offer on it just before making this thread. I already own 12 acoustic panels 2X4 feet each (Owens Corning - still need to build them), so I could experiment with placement. Even if not on the walls, I can make stands for them to place them where needed. And I can always place the speakers against any of the other walls to see what works best.

So I put an offer in for the house and the seller accepted. I'm determined to make the ReQuest sound good there. I'm single so not concerned about the WAF.

I just found this, so it makes me feel even more optimistic:

"Planar speakers should be moved further away from the walls
Planar speakers generally radiate directly from two sides. This magnifies the secondary reflection problem that box-speakers have. In order to avoid high-amplitude secondary reflections that muddy-up the image, planars should be located several feet from the back wall. In fact, the optimum location is really in the middle of the room. If you cannot accommodate this placement, then you should consider not purchasing panel speakers. The general rule is 4 feet from the back wall or more."

taken from:

Speaker Placement

Peter,

Don't know where your gear is going but to avoid having the speaker wire exposed and assuming you have a crawl space, research some attractive (brass) floor plates used for AC outlets.

Can install flush with the floor and hopefully you can find a color / finish that complements your wood floor.

GG

PS: Suffice to say, determine the final locations for your speakers before installing the floor plates should that be an option you wish to pursue.

Congratulations with your new home!
You'll have the benefit of enjoying nice music in both departments of the living room.
A Nice bonus if you ask me...

Make sure you put a nice fluffy rub over that shiny hardwood floor Nd add some sound absorption panels in room for best results. Congrats on the new space!

********NOT BUYING. HOUSE INSPECTION SHOWED TOO MANY ITEMS REQUIRING REPAIRS*****

Thanks to everyone who replied. Off to do some more house hunting...