The ideal listening room?

[CJSF]

. . . 'not!' my study, hifi room is far from perfect, although I supose I am luck to have a dedicated room 8) See the nexst post for continuation and pic.,:

 

[CJSF]

. . . 'not!' my study, hifi room is far from perfect, although I supose I am luck to have a dedicated room 8) See the next post for continuation and pic.,:

Silly aint it . . .

. . . any old how, here is a unflattering picture of my less than ideal listening room:

Almost 12 foot square, a square room is a pain to start with but I dont have any options. I've been fighting the room for a few months now, fighting . . . ? its not been that bad, the 9 foot celling helps, I think?

The main problem is the speakers are a tad close at 5 feet but the doors and record rack dictate the available positioning space. There has always been a sound reflection from the records and I dont sit quite central to the speakers on the sofa. These two problems I have always countered by slight left balance on the amp, which has always bugged me.

So a little bit of asymmetric speaker adjustment helped a lot, but I was still not entirely happy!!! The door to the kitchen on the left has always been used as a corner baffle, the angle was important but one did not realise how important. Hazel came in the room this afternoon and moved the door, I was listening to some classical music . . . . the image became so focused . . . wow, dont move that door! I put a restrained on the door, a bit of garden twine tied to the back of the speaker stand with a loop on the end that sets the door to the correct angle. When set, unhook the loop and it hangs down the back of the stand unseen.

. . . :rofl: £4,000 worth of hifi and simple 2ft of garden twine is the make or break . . . :wall: Who said tweaking was unnecessary, it just requires thought and being aware to get things right.

The point? . . . small dificult rooms can be tamed . . . 8)

CJSF

 

[plastic penguin]

. . . 'not!' my study, hifi room is far from perfect, although I supose I am luck to have a dedicated room 8) See the nexst post for continuation and pic.,:

Think it's more about designing your kit around your room, not the other way round. If I had hard flooring and little furniture the I wouldn't have the RS6s or Leema (probably).

 

[steve_1979]

Sweet setup. 8)

 

[Ajani]

. . . 'not!' my study, hifi room is far from perfect, although I supose I am luck to have a dedicated room 8) See the nexst post for continuation and pic.,:

I've long wondered why more manufacturers don't focus on making gear suitably to a typical "audiophile man cave". A small study or 2nd/3rd bedroom is where a lot of HiFi ends up, so I'm surprised we don't see more kit aimed at producing great sound in a small space. Interestingly, the easiest way to get gear well suited for small rooms is probably the pro audio shop - since most pro monitors are designed for near field listening.

 

[CJSF]

Interestingly, the easiest way to get gear well suited for small rooms is probably the pro audio shop - since most pro monitors are designed for near field listening.

I often listen to my PMC LB1's whilst sitting at the desk. Its like wearing a giant pair of headphones, always the best way to start the evaluation of a system tweak or change, the inner detail is amazing. Stage imaging is not so good, for that, I must be on the sofa and at the right volume, after all, that where I do most of my relaxing. The sofa should be 2 foot forward of its position, but . . . it would then be in the way . . . so, we have to work with what we have . . . at the moment, that coffee table will have to go :?

CJSF

 

[plastic penguin]

Wonderful looking speakers, CJ.

BTW, recognise the Spitfire print. Is it by Barrie Clark?

 

[CJSF]

Wonderful looking speakers, CJ.

BTW, recognise the Spitfire print. Is it by Barrie Clark?

Yes PP, it is the Clark Spitfire, it was the last thing my late wife Kathy bought me, not long before she died . . . my love of airplanes and all that . . . That and I have a David Shepard up-stairs, which was my Mothers, my Father, I have his CD collection . . . and he made the speakers stands in the picture. He was the only one who could make Foundation Designer Stands, they are so complicated to fabricate.

CJSF

 

[RobinKidderminster]

I guess I have been looking for advice for some time - in any given room are there any general rules to guide the placement of speakers etc when forced positioning places units in less than ideal corners. Should ports be plugged? Should speakers angle into the corner? Can a baffle be used behind the speaker? How can sub position be tweaked? I guess experiences such as yours help to suggest ways to experiment with our own systems.

I can feel my bad back coming on again :help:

 

[Diamond Joe]

For some reason I thought your speakers were much bigger than that, they look really good in your room and I bet they sound even better. I like your Spitfire picture too (although I have to confess I couldn't work out if it was a Spit or a Hurricane!! must get my glasses checked)

 

[CJSF]

Should ports be plugged? Should speakers angle into the corner? Can a baffle be used behind the speaker? How can sub position be tweaked? I guess experiences such as yours help to suggest ways to experiment with our own systems.

I can feel my bad back coming on again :help:

Experience . . . ? its suck it and see for me I'm afraid . . . ????? Looked at your picture link Robin, thats a very nice set up you have.

CJSF

 

[chebby]

For some reason I thought your speakers were much bigger than that...

The PMC LB1s (CJSFs speakers) means "Little Boxes". The original PMC BB5 monitors (built for the BBC) were the "Big Boxes" (5th version).

TB1s (now TB2s) were "Tiny Boxes".

DB1s (I think) were "Diddy Boxes".

Of course "box" in all these instances is the polite/official 'nomenclature'. The original BB5s were actually dubbed "Big B#####ds" by the people who made them

 

[CJSF]

For some reason I thought your speakers were much bigger than that, they look really good in your room and I bet they sound even better. I like your Spitfire picture too (although I have to confess I couldn't work out if it was a Spit or a Hurricane!! must get my glasses checked)

The speakers replace (used in conjuction, swaped with) LS35a's. As a transmission line speaker, the bass response can be awsom considering their size. I love them, and would not replace them, if they stoped working, it wold be a trip to PMC for repair.

The stands were originaly designed for LS35a, but with all the swaping about back then, we found that the 'tune' was right for both types and hight was not as important as people think, visualy they could be lowered a few inches . . . thats our findings and may be disagreed with:?

CJSF

 

[Diamond Joe]

Of course "box" in all these instances is the polite/official 'nomenclature'. The original BB5s were actually dubbed "Big B#####ds" by the people who made them

Cheers chebby, I didn't know any of that, every day's a school day, as one of my friends used to say.

 

[chebby]

A few more...

PMC GB1 = Girly Box (Petite yet capable of giving a right earful)

PMC FB1 = Floor Box

PMC OB1 = Other Box

PMC PB1 = Peformance Box

PMC EB1 = Extended Box

PMC MB2 = Medium Box

PMC IB2 = Intermediate Box (or Incredible Box because, despite it's smaller size, it comes so close to MB and BB performance)

The 'i' suffix (eg DB1i) just means improved.

 

[Electro]

A few more...

PMC GB1 = Girly Box (Petite yet capable of giving a right earful)

PMC FB1 = Floor Box

PMC OB1 = Other Box

PMC PB1 = Peformance Box

PMC EB1 = Extended Box

PMC MB2 = Medium Box

PMC IB2 = Intermediate Box (or Incredible Box because, despite it's smaller size, it comes so close to MB and BB performance)

The 'i' suffix (eg DB1i) just means improved.

Amazing , Thanks chebby I am a PMC fan and I did not know the reasoning behind the different speaker names

 

[Diamond Joe]

You're a mine of info chebby. Does FACT stand for anything?

p.s. sorry to hijack your thread CJSF, although it is PMC-centred :shifty:

 

[chebby]

You're a mine of info chebby. Does FACT stand for anything?

Dunno. I got the info from a YouTube interview with Peter Thomas (founder of PMC) and a SoundOnSound review and a couple of other sources (a PMC employee who lists the names on a thread in another forum.)

It was only a few minutes Googlage (plus a few I knew already).

 

[Electro]

Hi CJSF ,

Nice speakers and system I have always liked the LB1's

I have done a similar thing to you over the last year of so, I started by moving things around like Cd and record racks and storage cubes then I moved a corner cabinet to try and balance and focus the sound to best effect . Recently I bought three acoustic sound panels from eBay at a good price at experimented by putting them in different places until the sound came into focus and it has made an enormous improvement and has been well worth the effort .

It has taught me that a little time and effort using things that are already in the room can improve sound quality by quite a margin , but unlike your room mine sounds better with the door closed