Room acoustics advice

[CS85]

Hi all,

I am soon moving in to a new house and will be buying a new hi-fi system for the living room. As I understand it, you would normally position the speakers facing down the length of the room. Unfortunately this won't be possible for me due to the layout of the so they will be against the long wall. Is this going to cause any significant problems, and what more can I do to improve the acoustics of the room without taking up lots of space or covering the walls with absorption material?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[davedotco]

Try and get plenty of soft furnishings into the room, a rug/carpet on the floor between the speakers and the listening position.

Buy standmounts rather than floorstanders.

If you need to, add a sub woofer, maybe use an Antimode DSP to control room resonances.

 

[CS85]

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking at B&W 685 S2s. I thought floorstanders would be far too excessive for the size of the room and I don't want to annoy the neighbours lol. No plans for a sub woofer at this moment in time - Most of the music I listen to doesn't go THAT low, so I think they'll be fine in general.

There will be a rug between the speakers and listening position, and I also plan on hanging a couple of canvas prints on the rear wall. One of my main concerns is the neighbours - The room is only 3.5m wide and it's semi detached, so I'd like to try and absorb or at least diffuse some of the sound before it reaches the rear.

 

[DocG]

For many speakers, facing down the length of the room is best. But some (Magnepans come to mind) perform clearly better against the long wall IME. Choose your speakers to match (their position in) the room; then get the best amp to drive them properly [or get active speakers]. A room correction system is often a good investment indeed, certainly in less common configurations.

Any concrete plans yet? Any budget left after the house move?

 

[nopiano]

Across the room can be fine as it is better than having speakers in the corners. Depends how wide your room is and how far away you are sitting.

Will the gear be between the speakers or to one side? Makes a difference to cables!

 

[CS85]

Hi DocG,

My budget is more or less set in stone at £500 for speakers and £300 for an amp. I've read up on several pairs of speakers for that price and good things have been said about the B&W's - In terms of amplifiers, again, I've read great things about the Marantz PM6005 and hear they make a good combo with the speakers.

 

[CS85]

Hi nopiano,

The speakers will be positioned either side of a TV unit on the stands that can be purchased separately The amplifier etc will be placed in the centre between the two.

 

[DocG]

The 685s are frontported, and don't dig too deep in the bass. That's two pluses in your situation (as you can't but put the speakers close to the wall).

With a room just 3,5 m wide, your listening seat will inevitably be very close to the back wall too. Can you put some bass absorption behind your head? Thinking of acoustic foam, covered with some picture or photo...

EDIT: I'll say it anyway: for a 800 £ budget, a pair of active speakers will most certainly give you better sound quality. For the living room, you might consider the Adam ARTist5 (they are less ugly than most 'pro' actives). Genelec, Tannoy, Dynaudio and Focal have (IMO) domestically acceptable models too. What connectivity do you need (which source(s) will you use)?

 

[BigH]

Hi DocG,

My budget is more or less set in stone at £500 for speakers and £300 for an amp. I've read up on several pairs of speakers for that price and good things have been said about the B&W's - In terms of amplifiers, again, I've read great things about the Marantz PM6005 and hear they make a good combo with the speakers.

Sounds like you have not heard B&W speakers, some like them, some don't I would urge you to hear before buying. Marantz and B&W I'm not sure is a good combo. Many suggest B&W and Rotel, they are part of same company. I'm not a fan of B&W myself.

 

[BigH]

Hi DocG,

My budget is more or less set in stone at £500 for speakers and £300 for an amp. I've read up on several pairs of speakers for that price and good things have been said about the B&W's - In terms of amplifiers, again, I've read great things about the Marantz PM6005 and hear they make a good combo with the speakers.

Sounds like you have not heard B&W speakers, some like them, some don't I would urge you to hear before buying. Marantz and B&W I'm not sure is a good combo. Many suggest B&W and Rotel, they are part of same company. I'm not a fan of B&W myself. As for active speakers a used pair of AVI 9RS for £750 would be a far better buy, IMHO.

 

[CS85]

I will be buying a turn table at some point in the near future, and will also be connecting my TV to the system for movies and a CD player as well. I'll check out some of the active speakers - I still have a couple of months before I move into the house so plenty of time to look at my options.

 

[Vladimir]

Are these any good? Maybe buy them together with this, upgrade amplification later and buy decent stands.

 

[davedotco]

Hi DocG,

My budget is more or less set in stone at £500 for speakers and £300 for an amp. I've read up on several pairs of speakers for that price and good things have been said about the B&W's - In terms of amplifiers, again, I've read great things about the Marantz PM6005 and hear they make a good combo with the speakers.

If you care about sound rather than branding, buy a better amp and cheaper speakers.

Active speakers are a great altenative at this sort of price point. A lot depends on the source(s) and functionality required, but for a simple setup a Audio Engine D1 dac/preamp and a pair of AVI DM5s would be my choice.

Very slightly over budget, but not by much and way ahead of the suggested alternatives.

However, performance isn't everything, if you really fancy the Marantz/B&W combo, go for it.

 

[Vladimir]

Hi DocG,

My budget is more or less set in stone at £500 for speakers and £300 for an amp. I've read up on several pairs of speakers for that price and good things have been said about the B&W's - In terms of amplifiers, again, I've read great things about the Marantz PM6005 and hear they make a good combo with the speakers.

If you care about sound rather than branding, buy a better amp and cheaper speakers.

Active speakers are a great altenative at this sort of price point. A lot depends on the source(s) and functionality required, but for a simple setup a Audio Engine D1 dac/preamp and a pair of AVI DM5s would be my choice.

Very slightly over budget, but not by much and way ahead of the suggested alternatives.

However, performance isn't everything, if you really fancy the Marantz/B&W combo, go for it.

AVI DM5 > KEF LS50 ?

 

[BigH]

Hi DocG,

My budget is more or less set in stone at £500 for speakers and £300 for an amp. I've read up on several pairs of speakers for that price and good things have been said about the B&W's - In terms of amplifiers, again, I've read great things about the Marantz PM6005 and hear they make a good combo with the speakers.

If you care about sound rather than branding, buy a better amp and cheaper speakers.

Active speakers are a great altenative at this sort of price point. A lot depends on the source(s) and functionality required, but for a simple setup a Audio Engine D1 dac/preamp and a pair of AVI DM5s would be my choice.

Very slightly over budget, but not by much and way ahead of the suggested alternatives.

However, performance isn't everything, if you really fancy the Marantz/B&W combo, go for it.

AVI DM5 > KEF LS50 ?

Amp?

 

[Vladimir]

Hi DocG,

My budget is more or less set in stone at £500 for speakers and £300 for an amp. I've read up on several pairs of speakers for that price and good things have been said about the B&W's - In terms of amplifiers, again, I've read great things about the Marantz PM6005 and hear they make a good combo with the speakers.

If you care about sound rather than branding, buy a better amp and cheaper speakers.

Active speakers are a great altenative at this sort of price point. A lot depends on the source(s) and functionality required, but for a simple setup a Audio Engine D1 dac/preamp and a pair of AVI DM5s would be my choice.

Very slightly over budget, but not by much and way ahead of the suggested alternatives.

However, performance isn't everything, if you really fancy the Marantz/B&W combo, go for it.

AVI DM5 > KEF LS50 ?

Amp?

Marantz PM6005.

 

[davedotco]

Hi DocG,

My budget is more or less set in stone at £500 for speakers and £300 for an amp. I've read up on several pairs of speakers for that price and good things have been said about the B&W's - In terms of amplifiers, again, I've read great things about the Marantz PM6005 and hear they make a good combo with the speakers.

If you care about sound rather than branding, buy a better amp and cheaper speakers.

Active speakers are a great altenative at this sort of price point. A lot depends on the source(s) and functionality required, but for a simple setup a Audio Engine D1 dac/preamp and a pair of AVI DM5s would be my choice.

Very slightly over budget, but not by much and way ahead of the suggested alternatives.

However, performance isn't everything, if you really fancy the Marantz/B&W combo, go for it.

AVI DM5 > KEF LS50 ?

Amp?

Marantz PM6005.

Yes.

This is clearly a preference rather than any absolute claim but when I have heard the LS50 with budget amps I have been disappointed, a lot.

Adequate amplification for my ears would push the budget way beyond ths £700-800 quoted, the DM5/AudioEngine is £699/£139 and who knows, you might get £50 off the Kefs, it being summer.

 

[Vladimir]

KEF LS50 + Behringer A500 = TrevC delirium.