Jeddie Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 I have moved into a new house and now I have 2 options to place my hifi kit. Currently I have it in the living room long wall (7.3m x 5.0m). Sounds good to me. Kit comprises floor standers and sub / Integrated amp/ SBT. But I was thinking - would the Home Theatre room offer better sound? It is a small room and I guess the sound would bounce around a lot more than my larger room. But I see many member's setup and there rooms appear quite small. Maybe that is the only room they can use. Is there general advice on this. Is bigger always better? Your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugPowderDust Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 Personally, I think your living room would sound better and give you better options for speaker placement. I would suggest placing the stereo facing down the room length ways instead of against the wall with the windows. A 3.9m x 3.6m room isn't particularly big and you really ideally want to get your speakers away from the walls and also sit a bit into the room away from the back wall. Short of sitting in a near field configuration, that smaller room is going to be a significant challenge sound wise. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almikel Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 Bigger is better usually, and 3.9 x 3.6m is a pretty small listening room. That said - you may have more options for applying room treatment to the smaller room than you'd get away with in the living room!! My listening room is approx the same size as your home theatre room. It's lightly constructed (so all the low bass leaks out), with a bunch of absorption straddling corners (targeting low end absorption), and the room's bass response is pretty good . There's no way the boss would allow the absorption treatment into the living room! I would claim the home theatre space as the stereo room and negotiate with the boss whatever acoustic treatment was required... ...I was lucky...we had a spare room downstairs...when I started discussing treating the lounge room, the boss said, "take the stereo downstairs and apply any treatment you want"...which is why I have a dedicated stereo room. Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith_W Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 Congratulations on your new home! I would turn that home theatre room into a dining room. You should be able to get a 2m long dining table in there that can seat 8 people and still have 1m clearance on either side of it. Use your large living area as a listening room. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewantsmoore Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 (edited) 21 hours ago, Jeddie said: Is there general advice on this. Is bigger always better? Better than the "small" room, yes. One of the biggest improvements you can make is space behind the listener (as opposed to a wall close behind) .... so it looks like the living room offers this I assume you are facing "right" (that's the "long wall") ... and that the kitchen isn't too "rattle-y", and that the furnishings in the rooms are relatively soft (some open plan kitchen living, can have a lot of hard surface, etc.) Also I like the idea of listening to music in the "living room", rather than tucked away in a dark/dedicated room. Edited June 15 by davewantsmoore 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizaudio Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 (edited) All great advice - above... The best advice I can provide is try both spaces. Try various system and seated orientations, listen and even measure system response - See which you prefer. Most would say from a pure acoustic position the large space would be preferred. The larger space should also lend its self to more options for speaker and listener position, and allow ample space both behind speaker and listener. ...... But the living area might be the noisiest room in the house, I.e. higher resting noise floor, more reverberation/more hard surfaces, open area, kitchen, family etc. Does the open plan design impact late night listening sessions? I would also assume, the wife isn't going to appreciate acoustic treatment in this area. IMO smaller rooms can work, and work very well, and as Mike stated you will get away with 'more' acoustic treatment before you upset the boss. If this room was used, I would optimise for nearfield listening. With a little acoustic and DSP assistance it could sound great in my opinion. ......But whether it sounds better than the living space - is something you will need to test. Just don't position your listening seat along the rear wall, move in and measure for the best bass & frequency response. Optimise for nearfield, maybe start with an equilateral triangle setup, to reduce room interaction. As an example, my listening space is a similar size to your small theatre space. About 3x3.5m. My room uses broadband absorption and DSP to target curve. Speakers to seated position is an equilateral nearfield triangle @ about 2.1m. My speakers are quite large but have the added bonus of controlled directivity, and the result is a very smooth and even response to target curve. I will say, my system sounds much better firing down the 'slightly' longer room length, than across the shorter length. So experiment with speaker and seated position. Acoustic treatment and DSP will provide best outcomes. Happy experimenting. Edited June 15 by Grizaudio 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 6 hours ago, davewantsmoore said: Also I like the idea of listening to music in the "living room", rather than tucked away in a dark/dedicated room. + 1 Music is meant to be enjoyed with others.... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almikel Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 20 hours ago, Snoopy8 said: + 1 Music is meant to be enjoyed with others.... My wife and I enjoy music together in the dedicated stereo room all the time, whilst the kids do their own thing watching TV etc in the living room. A room where the bass is under control is IMVHO the primary target - whichever room. Our living room is a cube, and the bass response was truly awful. My small stereo room has tight/dry bass even at elevated SPL - the sort of bass you want to turn up just for fun. Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 21 minutes ago, almikel said: My wife and I enjoy music together in the dedicated stereo room all the time, whilst the kids do their own thing watching TV etc in the living room. A room where the bass is under control is IMVHO the primary target - whichever room. Our living room is a cube, and the bass response was truly awful. My small stereo room has tight/dry bass even at elevated SPL - the sort of bass you want to turn up just for fun. It appears that it is forced on you because of room? Our open plan family room is where everything happens, including music and movies, and we will not change this... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joz Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 ^^ Same 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playdough Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 (edited) Try both, one of the rooms may sound way better than the other. Nothing wrong with a smaller space, it can be probably treated to a far greater degree and have a way lower noise floor, solitude and other things. The gear may be safer away from pets, kids. Nothing like the adrenaline rush, watching mortified as someone trips over a speaker cable and one of the speakers rocking on it's base. Hope you end up loving the new house and end up with a couple of set ups Personally like my smaller very dedicated bass trapped and heavily treated sound lounge rather than the lounge room set up, Edited June 17 by playdough 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Fixed it: 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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