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October 15, 2009 - 10:27am
#1
Sweet spot or am I tricking myself?
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You've changed the mix of direct/reflected sound arriving at your ears by changing position. If the preferred position is 1' in front of your speakers, I know of no room treatment that will provide that sort of sound 13' farther away. That's not to say further experimentation with placement and room treatments won't provide better sound than what you presently experience from your normal listening position, they certainly should depending on your listening priorities. Beware of too much fiberglass in the way of "traditional" room treatments, they operate as broadband absorption devices and can remove much of the life of the music. Speaker placement and listening position are the first things to experiment with since they are free. I normally suggest you begin with the WASP system as a good starting point.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-hptb5&p=wasp%20speaker%20placement&type=
I'll definitely check the WASP system out. The biggest thing about the new position is the immediacy of the music. It sounds so close. Do you think it's a result of more direct sound or more indirect from what I had been experiencing? Or is that not even the right question to ask? Is it strange that I prefer the sound from my speakers when I'm so close to them?
Yes, consider just what you are hearing.
There are far stranger things that have been reported.
Yes!
Yes, this is done by putting absorbers at the side-wall and ceiling reflection points. If you can't hang absorbers from the ceiling, doing only the sides will still help a lot. However, in a small room like yours, "early" reflections from the wall behind you are also a cause of lost imaging. Ideally you'll use proper absorber panels at all of those places, but even hanging tripled-up bath towels will help a lot. It's a simple and free experiment you can try. These articles explain further:
How to set up a room
Early Reflections
--Ethan
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www.realtraps.com
I kind of thought that's what a good system should sound like. When I was in that spot, I was like, wow, the music is so tangible, so real. I'm incredibly happy that I found that spot, but after going to the WASP websites and Ethan's website, I don't think I have the ability to tweak my listening room (bedroom shared with girlfriend) to sound like that. At least I found a place where I can experience the music like it should sound...