colinwilkie
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long vs short wall placement
Jan Vigne
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I would suggest you enter "loudspeaker placement" into a search engine and do some reading. I usual think it's best to begin with the Wilson "WATT" placement technique and see if that doesn't do a good job in your room.

ethanwiner
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Quote:
Is this a good or bad thing?


Mostly a Good Thing. The worst peaks and nulls are caused by reflections from the wall behind you. So the farther away that wall is, the better. More here:

How to set up a room

--Ethan

colinwilkie
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Thanks for the tips folks,

I have been reading up a fair bit....but guess nothing works like actually trying it out. Also good to get some direct advice.

Checked the Wilson method, and the link you posted. Guess I would not be far off this with the short wall placement. Only problem is the bass really dissapears. But, I think there is too much at the moment and I am used to it.

Will have a play around over the weekend.

Thanks

ethanwiner
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Quote:
Only problem is the bass really dissapears. But, I think there is too much at the moment and I am used to it.


The only way to know what is correct is to measure your room using software like ETF or the free Room EQ Wizard.

--Ethan

absolutepitch
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col64,
It seems your room is unusual compared to most home audio rooms. The length of 50 feet is so much larger than the width. If you sit within the first 1/3 of the room length with the speakers along the short wall, the back wall reflection is delayed 4x as long as what you hear. If you take this concept to the limit, an infinitely long room of 15 feet width, you won't get any reflection from the rear wall to worry about. In my opinion, the farther back you sit in your room, the more reflections you'd get from the walls, ceiling and floor.

I think it also depends on what speakers you are using. For me, I have my floor-standing speakers along a long wall, and away from the wall about 2.5 feet (room is 25x17x8, unfortunately nearly integral multiples of each other). The speakers are wide dispersion, so getting them away from the walls is an attempt to avoid early reflections from the back and side walls. The ceiling is the standard 8-feet, so can't do much about that distance for reflections, but is a slightly dispersive surface. The floor is carpeted, without intervening furniture from the speakers to the listening position. The first reflection points from the side have uneven surfaces, which help disperse the sound, but not like what a good absorber panel would do. I also found that absorber material behind the speakers and between them on the wall behind them work for improved clarity.

The result is I get great imaging of the soundstage, clear and detailed sound, and very smooth sound. But I still have uneven deep bass due to the untreated room modes, something I like to do, but don't seem to get around to it.

Good luck and have fun discovering. Speaker placement is a fraction-of-an-inch matter.

ncdrawl
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Jan, that would be "WASP" not "WATT"

colinwilkie
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WTL,

Thanks for the very informative post. Like you, I also have floorstanders. Currently Dali Ikon 6. They have quite a wide dispersion, and I guess for the long wall, with the side walls no where near, makes sense.

If I do place them on the short wall, I would indeed be sitting in the front 1/3rd of the room. However, I guess I then need to worry about reflections from the side walls (would manage to get the speakers about 2 feet away from them). The other thing, is that they would have a large glass sliding door behind them, which, itself is as wide as the room. I know I can get curtains though to help with this.

My apartment is a new build, in Switzerland. This means very modern, all floors tiled, all walls solid thick concrete. We have a modern decor, and, like always in a lounge, have to make some sacrifices between optimal sound and the look/layout of my system. I am looking to upgrade over the next year or so, to accuphase amplification, and B&W 802ds. So, maybe I need to rethink my layout then as well, as the speakers will be completely different.

The other consideration I have, is adding 5.1 sound. If I put my speakers on the short wall....this will probably be impossible. But then I could buy seperate system like kef 3005 for this purpose, and keep that on the long wall........aaaaargh, decisions decisions

Jan Vigne
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You're right, ncdrawl. I recomment this set up procedure several times a month and usually just provide a link. Hopefully those people have found themself at the right place.

absolutepitch
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col64,

If you have the time and the options, try it both ways, along the long wall and the short wall. Each set-up needs a lot of moving the speakers around in very small distance steps and a lot of listening time to understand what is happening. Wall treatments in either setup should help a lot.

I happen to recommend the long wall because it seems to give a more spacious sound and throws a great image on my system.

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