Placement options – Impacts of location, orientation and treatments - Page 2

Rich · 12-13-2007, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Matz

What is your take on Cardas ratio of speaker placement, taking room treatments into account?
The distance from the center of the woofer face to the side walls is:

Room Width times .276 (RW x .276)
The distance from the center of the woofer face to the wall behind the speaker is:

Room Width times .447 (RW x .447)

I'll take a stab at this one for you, David. I think Cardas' "formula" is probably a good starting point in speaker placement, and nothing more. It takes nothing into account except the width of the room. All dimensions in a room affect the sound -- the height, length, and width all play a role in the reflecting sound waves and exciting room modes. Accurate placement of speakers will depend on many variables (as Ethan pointed out) and be different for every room. This formula takes none of that into account. Whenever someone gives you a one-size-fits-all rule for acoustics, you should be very skeptical. Every room is different and every speaker is different and each will require individualized placement based on the particular needs of the situation.

I do believe that with proper acoustic treatment, exact speaker placement becomes less critical. Many times I have read people on this forum stating that they hear a huge difference just moving their speakers 1/2 inch or so. That is certainly not the case in my room.

Bernard · 12-14-2007, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich

...............
I do believe that with proper acoustic treatment, exact speaker placement becomes less critical. Many times I have read people on this forum stating that they hear a huge difference just moving their speakers 1/2 inch or so. That is certainly not the case in my room.

Whew ! Glad I'm not the only one who does not hear huge differences.

twich54 · 12-15-2007, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich

I think Cardas' "formula" is probably a good starting point in speaker placement, and nothing more. Every room is different

I agree Rich, and while we try to achive as flat a freq response as possible I also believe our brain has some built EQ capabilities as well.
What I mean is, that ones auditory senses, while varying in sensitivity are all adaptive (to a point) to what they take in. It is one reason why we have a 'comfort level' with our own systems, after we have gotten are rooms as good as we think we can.

Jonathan, thank you very much for starting this informative thread; along with Rich and Dan (bringing in Ethan), this is what good constructive dialogue is all about !!

JonFo · 12-16-2007, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twich54

...

Jonathan, thank you very much for starting this informative thread; along with Rich and Dan (bringing in Ethan), this is what good constructive dialogue is all about !!

Thanks Dave, I'm sure learning a lot as well as I try and put this together.

Good topic for sure.

sleepysurf · 12-22-2007, 08:24 AM

For those of us looking for a "ONE BOX" room/frequency response measurement tool, perhaps this new PC-based product will be the answer! Just saw this announcement on Enjoy The Music. It is slated for release in Jan, price?? Full product link here... http://www.xtz.se/produkt.php?allman...kt=41&eng=true

Quote:

XTZ will soon offer their PC-based Room Analyzer measurement software/tool for audio systems. A combination of software plus the included USB microphone allows for frequency response measurement with RTA (Real Time Analyzer) from 16Hz to 20kHz. Other features include a high resolution room analysis (Room Analyzer) and reverb analysis. You can also use this setup to locate room modes and see where acoustic panels may be of benefit, thereby removing unwanted frequency depression or augmentation as is common in many listening rooms. A spectrogram, 2-D waterfall, shows time, frequency and magnitude. The USB microphone includes stand and helps to avoid lackluster internal soundcards and, instead, opt for direct digital signal input to the computer software for accurate results.

Rich · 12-24-2007, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepysurf

For those of us looking for a "ONE BOX" room/frequency response measurement tool, perhaps this new PC-based product will be the answer! Just saw this announcement on Enjoy The Music. It is slated for release in Jan, price?? Full product link here... http://www.xtz.se/produkt.php?allman...kt=41&eng=true

I hope they put more time and effort into their product design than they did into proofreading their web page. I have never seen so many grammatical errors on a product website. Doesn't give me a warm fuzzy for the professionalism of the company or its products.

Ethan Winer · 12-24-2007, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich

I have never seen so many grammatical errors on a product website. Doesn't give me a warm fuzzy for the professionalism of the company or its products.

LOL, that's what I think when I go to a software company's web site. Spelling is critical with computer programming!

--Ethan

sleepysurf · 12-24-2007, 11:40 AM

Well, they're apparently a Swedish company, so I suppose we can cut them a little slack as English is not their native language. Anybody familiar with any of their other products?

kwr · 12-24-2007, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepysurf

Well, they're apparently a Swedish company, so I suppose we can cut them a little slack as English is not their native language. Anybody familiar with any of their other products?

Usually the Europeans have intimidatingly good English - I had thought it was a Chinese company on the basis of the blurb.

I am interested in this product too - wonder if they will be doing direct sales over the internet.

Kevin

sleepysurf · 02-02-2008, 05:52 AM

For those of us struggling with WAF while trying to employ bass traps, here's an interesting new pedestal bass trap design. They are offering it in a variety of fabrics and finishes. More info here...
http://www.gikacoustics.com/gik_elite_pillar.html

I showed it to my wife, and she actually didn't cringe... I consider that tantamount to full approval!

JohnA · 02-02-2008, 07:30 AM

and it would have to be in a corner though for maximum efficiency, I would have thought...

Rich · 02-02-2008, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnA

and it would have to be in a corner though for maximum efficiency, I would have thought...

Definitely that is true. But it would look darn good in the corners, maybe with a nice lamp on top.

JonFo · 02-04-2008, 02:57 AM

Nice find Alan. Definitely higher WAF (and good aesthetics in general).

Putting it against the rear wall (as depicted) is still reasonable, as there is plenty of low-frequency pressure there.

Corners do work better, but the wall opposite you sub is always a good place for something like this.

sleepysurf · 02-04-2008, 06:18 AM

I'm debating the best way to employ something like those. Unfortunately, the only place for my (NHT) sub is in my rooms left corner, so I can't place a bass trap there. GIK told me they can custom-size the trap to anything under 4 ft height (no additional charge). I'm thinking about getting TWO 2 ft "cubes" (placing one behind each Summit) with a silk plant on top acting as a diffusor for the panels. Waddya think about that idea?

BTW, here's another thread post with actual photos of my room, as well as the Denon Audyssey MultiEQ XT corrections...
http://www.martinloganowners.com/~td...87&postcount=5