Will dipole midrange on Motion 12 create problems in asymmetric room?

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tedolap

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I am looking at the Motion 12's but I am worried that I have an oddly shaped room to utilize the dipole midrange. The room is 16 ft by 20 ft but the wall on which the TV must go is just half of a 16 ft side. A wide-angle picture is below.

First, the speaker placement in the room is not symmetric so the distance to the side walls for each speaker will be different. Second, the left (facing) speaker will be max 10" from the wall when 20-24" is recommended. Third, the right speaker will be 10" inside the end of the wall, so some of the rear projected sound will flow into the kitchen and not be reflected.

Not a great sonic situation. (No luck getting my wife to move the TV to our more symmetric living room.) Given the big L-shaped sofa, there is little leeway to move the speakers.

Should I give up on the Motion 12's and move to a more traditional like a front-ported speaker? I don't think that I can do an in-home demo.

Thanks.
 

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You'll be fine. The Motion 12 is designed to work in any arrangement. The room might be a little off axis in terms of sound, but I really dont think you anything major to worry about.

ML prides themselves on being easy speakers to setup and forgiving in any room configuration.
 
I also think you'll be fine. It's a tough situation, I think the solid end of the couch will mess with your sound from the right speaker more than the open kitchen behind, but unless you are planning to sit with your eyes closed and seriously consider how various classical recordings of the same symphony differ (and you wouldn't choose Motion 12s for that) you will enjoy your new MLs. Especially if you can talk the wife into letting you add a nice small subwoofer.
 
You're absolutely right about the couch. When I was testing the speaker at BB, I put my knapsack in front of the right speaker to simulate the couch. I was in BB again and the associate there pulled out one of the speakers so it's back was 45 degrees to the open door to simulate my situation. Definitely seemed to degrade the sound somewhat though not terribly. (It also created a wierd sweet-spot since the fronts were angled towards each other, which might have caused additional problems.)

Maybe I am better off getting bookshelves and mounting them higher than than the 35 inch high couch.

Thanks.
 
Well BB has a 30 days return policy on almost everything. Take the Motion 12's home and listen and then decide if you want to keep them. Their demo room is really poorly designed and since they have a return policy I say take advantage of it.
 
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