going against the norm for room lay out

[den497]

Hi Guys
3 years ago my friend setup his hometheater different to what was considered the normal approach.This was a case of pure luck at the time.The normal train of thought was to have a rectanular room with all sides LXWXH different and not multiples of each other.This still stands true. My friends room is 7.5 metresX 5.5 X 2.6 . Most people would put their system facing the shorter edge =5.5 metre . At around that time surround speakers were to be placed well behind you and this was diagramed by manufactures.
He went the other way of having his system facing the 7.5 metre wall. He did not have much idea about hometheater at that time. Since then he a I have played with some ideas.WHEN he finally got it setup good we were amazed at how good his system sounded.Imaging was fantastic due to no close walls to the speakers.So 1st reflection points didnt have much influence on the system.Secondly we had the rears at the sides at about .5 metre back.Which is roughly what is recomended now.You dont have to use sound deadenig materials to tame reflection points which tend to then deaden the room. He bought a stereo equaliser off me and used one channel to the sub and the other to the center.That meant he could equalise his sub and also center channel.His system now sounds really good and it changed my train of thought on several things.The main one being pointing your system to the long wall if feasable. I know when I get a dedicated room this is the way Iwill go
dennis :idea:

[brucek]

dennis,

There's certainly nothing wrong with the setup you're proposing, you'll still have the identical axial room modes and modal distribution. I think it's more a question of room size and practicallity that usually demands we use the long portion of the room. A large room (like the 7.5m x 5.5m in your post) allows a lot of flexibility - most of us aren't so lucky...

If you have a typical 15ft x 10ft x 8ft room, there are a couple of immediate problems trying to use the long wall as you suggest.
For video, it would place the viewing distance far too close to the screen, even with the couch pressed against the back wall. In that regard, then for audio, if the couch was against the back wall, you have a problem. The wall acts like an acoustical mirror. It's much better to have the seating postions away from the rear wall. That would be fairly impossible with a 10ft wide room and certainly much easier if we used the long portion of the room.

Actually, some people find using the 'diagonal' method to be superior. It has the advantage of low first reflections and less effects from adjacent room boundaries you speak of, plus the advantage of flexibility for seating position.

brucek

[den497]

Hi Brucek
I agree most can not do this.My last room was 16ft.x12ftx 8.5ft and I had to use the short wall to use my projector.But when I build my dedicated room then I will go to the longest wall.
dennis

[David Meek]

Dennis,

I've done the same thing. My room is on the small side - 13.5 ft x 11.5 ft x 9 ft and I couldn't get the soundstage right with the RPTV and speakers on the short wall. Using CARA to model the room and equipment, it showed that I'd get better results rotating the setup 90 degrees, and that worked out very well sonically, although I was listening nearfield at that point.




David - HTGuide flunky
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