square=bad, almost square=?

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  • tmt
    Member
    • Jan 2005
    • 88

    square=bad, almost square=?

    Hi there,

    I'm in the luxury position to be able to plan a HT room "from scratch" as I'm in the planning phase of building a house (not by myself of course :P )
    In my first plans the HT room will be 5x6 meters (that's about 16x20 feet for you Americans ). Ceiling 2.8 meters (9 feet)
    I'm thinking to shorten it a bit because the whole house is growing a bit too large, making it 5x5.5 meters (16x18 feet), which is getting close to a perfect square.
    I know a square room is Very Bad for acoustics, but what about a room that is almost square? Will it behave almost like square room or are the square room effects (bass problems) almost non-existant?
  • Glenn Kuras
    Junior Member
    • Jun 2006
    • 6

    #2
    Originally posted by tmt
    Hi there,

    I'm in the luxury position to be able to plan a HT room "from scratch" as I'm in the planning phase of building a house (not by myself of course :P )
    In my first plans the HT room will be 5x6 meters (that's about 16x20 feet for you Americans ). Ceiling 2.8 meters (9 feet)
    I'm thinking to shorten it a bit because the whole house is growing a bit too large, making it 5x5.5 meters (16x18 feet), which is getting close to a perfect square.
    I know a square room is Very Bad for acoustics, but what about a room that is almost square? Will it behave almost like square room or are the square room effects (bass problems) almost non-existant?
    The short answer is YES. :B Not only are you getting close to a squ but you are shortening the room which will give you even worse bass problems. Kind of a double whammy for your room.
    Sorry for my first post to be negative.
    Glenn
    Glenn Kuras

    Comment

    • KeithM
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2005
      • 285

      #3
      american mentality-get a bigger garage to make up for the bigger house

      Comment

      • David Meek
        Moderator Emeritus
        • Aug 2000
        • 8938

        #4
        There are several "golden ratios" that equate to better sonic performance in a room. Here are the four I'm familiar with:

        Room 1 - 1x, 1.14x, 1.39x
        Room 2 - 1x, 1.28x, 1.54x
        Room 3 - 1x, 1.60x, 2.33x
        Room 4 - .61x, 1.00x, 1.61x
        .

        David - Trigger-happy HTGuide Admin

        Comment

        • tmt
          Member
          • Jan 2005
          • 88

          #5
          OK, I'll leave it like that then.

          Room 3 is actually pretty close:
          with a 2.8 meter ceiling:
          2.8, 4.5 , 6.5

          my room will normally be:
          2.8, 5.0 , 6.0

          Too bad I'd rather not make it narrower. I'd like a 3 meter wide screen, and some room left and right for my B&W nautilus speakers, they need some breathing space.

          Comment

          • SteveCallas
            Senior Member
            • Aug 2005
            • 799

            #6
            If you're building from scratch and you have some freedom, why even settle for a rectangle? I've still got many years to go, but when I get in the position to build a home and a dedicated room, I'll be going for a shape like this:



            Those aren't actual dimensions, they are scalable factors to base dimensions on. The protrusions along the sides are columns. I made this thread a while back to try and dig deeper, but it never took off - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2169&highlight

            There is a very good study of acoustics in different shaped rooms attached - I believe the shape I have extrapolated should be close to an ideal shape.

            Comment

            • tmt
              Member
              • Jan 2005
              • 88

              #7
              Your picture you posted doesn't show up
              interesting link though! I have to dig up my avsforum password first before I can access the pdf though :roll:

              About not using a rectangular room... well I've got to factor in the WAF, I must admit she took it pretty well when I first reveiled the room size demands for my HT room (which will be the biggest room in the house!).
              I want it to look as normal as possible, it will be part of the main living area. So no black walls, thick carpeting all round, floor risers and dedicated sound deflectors making it look like a studio, but using stuff like bookshelves and drapes in front of the windows.

              the finish should look a bit like one of the pics you posted (see attached file finish%203.jpg)

              But I havent looked at your design yet, so maybe I could incorporate some parts like avoiding 90 degrees corners, like in the 2nd picture (but not so big)

              I'll know what you are talking about when I can take a look at the pdf file you posted on avsforum.

              looks interesting though! To be investigated!
              Attached Files

              Comment

              • SteveCallas
                Senior Member
                • Aug 2005
                • 799

                #8
                The picture I have posted here is also attached at the end of the first post with the PDF, so when you recall your password, you can see both.

                Comment

                • Kingdaddy
                  Senior Member
                  • Jan 2004
                  • 355

                  #9
                  Square is bad but small is worse, although I wouldn’t call a 16X18 room small but I know in my 14x14.5 room that the modes are so closely packed together that it has caused me severe headaches.

                  Use the golden ratio posted by the admin and don’t make it any smaller, that should work well.

                  Big rooms have better quality bass IMO
                  My Center Channel Project

                  Comment

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