Moving and requesting opinions of new room

[sikoniko]

I will be moving next month and have some questions from you guys.

Issue #1:Room Layout

The living room is 12x12 if you just count the space designated for living room; however, if the room is layed out long ways, there are no barriers from the dinning room which allows the room to be 12w x 22L.

What I was thinking is using the L of the room to my advantage and butting the back of the couch up against the invisible divider between living room and dinning room.

While this seems to make sense, the issue with this is that the wall that the TV and soundstage would anchor has a large sliding glass door. I have no plans in using this door, as it faces a pretty busy road and I want to block the noise anyways. What I was thinking was covering the door with a piece of carpet taken from scrap, and then putting a curtain up the length of the wall, then putting the TV and system in front of the curtain. The door is not a primary entrance. The carpet should absorb much of the noise from the street, and it seems like a good idea to me, what do you guys think?

Issue #2: Surround Speakers - Mounting

As you guys probably know, I purchased the SCM1's for the purpose of mounting on the walls and this room will accomodate that well. Generally, what I have done in the past is put my surround speakers at an angle behind the prime listening spot and toe them in. I know dolby says to put them anywhere from about 90 degrees to 113 degrees. If that is the case, at what height would be the most beneficial? I was thinking about 3 1/2ft from the floor to the bottom of the speaker, which would put it over the height of the couch and about ear level. This would put the tweeters of the SCM1's about 1 ft above those of my 804's. For those of you who have wall mounted speakers, what have you found to work best? I have noticed w/ the SCM1's that there seems to be definate areas where they sound dead and that placement could make a significant difference.

Issue #3: Carpet or Tile/Hardwood?

The place I am moving to currently has tile in the dining room but nothing in the living room. The owner is friends w/ my fiances family and is giving up the option, w/in a budget to choose our flooring. If we decided to continue the filing from the dining room in through the living room, there would be an area rug around the seating, but nothing around the front soundstage. I plan on buying sound anchors for my 804's. Which would be better and what are the differences acoustically between the different types of floor?

Thanks for your opinions. I appreciate everyones input.

[sikoniko]

31 people have read this and no opinions on if I'm on the right track or should do something differently?

[Aussie Geoff]

Sikoniko,

Since you are impatient Let me be the first to offer an opinion (hopefully one of many!)

Issue #1:Room Layout
Given the smallish room, I like the idea of using the dining room to get the extra sound-stage - it will make surround sound so much better and help stop the individual rear speakers dominating. You will hear the sounds coming from behind and the sides. Just like the middle row at the Cinema!

Issue #2: Surround Speakers - Mounting
I would personally mount the SCM1s higher and angle them down and in towards you. At the 3 1/2 feet height you mentioned this would potentially cut off too much of the sound with the couch. A bit higher (6 or 7 ft) is likely to give a smoother integration into the rooms sound field.

Issue #3: Carpet or Tile/Hardwood?
Definitely carpet for me if you can. Tiles are very reflective of sound and are likely to bounce a lot of sound (especially higher frequencies) up at you, both confusing the sound stage and (potentially) making the sound too bright. Wood is better than tiles but not as good as carpet. If you have to have tiles - then I would get a much larger rug than you are talking about (e.g. 9 x 9 or 10 x 10 in your 12 by 12 room) so that the whole area in front of the speakers and TV is covered by the rug.

Geoff

[gostan]

Siknoiko:

As your questions are not solely B&W related, you might try posing in the Spaced Out section of the HTGuide for responses from non-B&Wers.

I would suggest the following:

Issue #1:Room Layout
Definitely utilize the 12 x 22 foot longer room scenario as long as blocking the glass sliders does not violate some building code such as a requirement for two means of ingress and egress. My system is currently in a 12 x 14 foot room and the rear surrounds are too close to the seating area to do complete justice to rear surrounds.

Issue #2: Surround Speakers - Mounting
I would suspect that a higher mounting will provide better dispersion, but you may want to see if you can do some temporary mounting for test listening purposes as the height of the surrounds may have more of an impact if your seating area is not located equal distance from the fronts and rears. Also, what if you set the room up the long way and and decide to change it back to using just the living room? Allow for some flexibility until you are 100% sure of the final setup.

Issue #3: Carpet or Tile/Hardwood?
Carpet works best. Harwood looks better. I have oriental carpet on my hardwood. The best of all worlds? Who knows, but, my wife likes the look and lets me do what I want in the den.

Good luck with the move.

Stan