Placement of the speakers in the room

[Kumar Kane]

Basic fact .... to absorb low frequencies you need THICK, deep absorbing material. Not a few cms thick; metres thick. And that's a non-starter at home.

Does this then mean that the only way to tame excessive bass at home is via the tone controls, if available on the amplifier? And perhaps, speaker positioning so they are not close to the walls?

Speaking of positioning, to allow me to have my C7s three-four feet out of the room corners AND at the same time keep them safe during parties and with dogs around the house, my stands are on casters. When not in use, they are moved close to the side walls, with some place from the rear wall, i.e., not all the way in to the corner, that isn't necessary. Some time ago, I heard them without pulling them out, and I was surprised to find how little the sound suffered.

[hifi_dave]

Place the speakers on appropriate stands so that the tweeter is at your ear height when seated. Site as far from walls and corners as you are able.

I like to position the speakers in an equilateral triangle shape with the listener at the apex, sitting approximately at the same distance from the speakers as they are apart.

Toe in or out to get the best balance of solid imagery and sound stage for you. I usually toe them in slightly so that I can still see some of the inner side of the cabinets.

Sit back and enjoy.

[davidbraun]

Hello fellow Harbethers,

I would greatly appreciate if someone could advise me on the following topic:

I own a pair of SHL5, powered by a Croft power/pre combination and it makes a perfect pairing to my ears. After the kids got old enough, my wife and i decided it is finally time to completely renew the place we live in, so that we will have one room dedicated to the music and books, which have a very important role in our/my life. The room measurements are:
- width : 275 cm
- length: 462 cm
- height: 265 cm

This room is currently our kitchen, but we want to turn it into a listening/reading room. I am attaching an image, where you can see (you need to use some imagination) how the architecture of the room could be like. Don't bother with the working desk in the picture – just keep in mind that we would really like to keep the stereo system, incl. the speakers approx. in the position as in the picture. Of course, we would bring the speakers upfront and out of the corners, and move them as far from the side walls as possible, but you cant do miracles in that room. The wall behind the stereo setup and speakers will be all glass (+ thick curtains on the side, which can be closed).

My main fear is, that the orientation of the system is perhaps better if the speakers are placed on one of the longer walls, so there can be more empty space left-and right- from the speakers. Now, of course it is possible to play with speaker placement after the room will be ready, but it would be very helpful, if i could know this in advance, so we can have the furniture made in time (vinyl shelves, book shelves etc.).

So, my question: given the room dimensions, do you think that the orientation and setup as in the attached picture could somehow work? Do you think the room is too narrow for the SHL5 or do they even produce too much »energy« for this room? Keeping them close to the side walls is not very good, is it?

Or do you think it would be wiser to wait until the room is ready, then try different speaker positions, and have the furniture made later, just to be sure how and where the best speaker position actually is?

Thanks, i really appreciate your response; music is my life.

Best,

David, a very happy owner of SHL5

[garmtz]

I think the room is MUCH too small for the SHL5. You could easily get booming bass in that room. The best match would be the P3ESR.

[davidlovel]

This may well be an insoluble problem. From my experience in improving the sound of my pair of SHL5s in a larger room I offer the following thoughts:

To get the best soundstage in your room I'd suggest you follow the second option you describe - putting the speakers on the longer wall.

While ideally you need to have your listening chair at about 1/3 of the distance from back to front walls, this is obviously impractical in your small room so I suggest you try the next best option - put your listening chair against the wall behind you (i do this in our living room because it cannot be optimised for listening to music: it works OK).

Reflected sound is potentially a big problem in a small room. If this is not damped or controlled you will get muddled sound images. I suggest you pay particular attention to the wall behind the speakers; while you might think keeping it clear will enable you to push the speakers closer to this wall I suspect that you would be better off having partially filled shallow shelves along the wall (i.e. your books not LPs) as this will break up potential reflections. Adding something similar behind & above your seating position may also help.

If you can I suggest that you put all the electronics at one end of the room rather than between the speakers - this should help keep a good soundstage.

You can't do much about the basic room modes without resorting to room correction hardware and software, however make sure your stands are high enough (tweeters-at-ear-height is recommended) - this will help minimise any floor-bounce of low frequencies.

Finally I note that you are using a Croft power amp: is this one with a valve or solid-state output stage? If the former you are almost certain to have a boost and a lack of 'control' in the bass. In my experience class D amps can control the bass of the SHL5s very well.

Hope this helps. In your shoes I'd try hard to fix things before admitting defeat and replacing the SHL5s with a smaller speaker.

David