Home Audio Acoustics

**dustwvl** · **07-03-09, 03:32 PM**

I have a question thay I am hoping I can get some help with. The obvious answer is probably just try it and see how it sounds but I am hoping for some guidance if possibl. I have a fairly small room that is much longet than it is wide. Because of this I cannot spread the L & R speakers out very far apart without getting pretty close to the side walls. The room is 11 ft w x 20 ft long. The speakers are about 1.5 feet off the side walls and about the same from the front wall. My actual seating position is about 2.5 ft off the back wall. What I am noticing is that if I move closer to the speakers it sounds much better. What I think I am hearing is a wider sound field. If I move the speakers farther apart I can widen the sound field but will the reflections from the side walls be likely to cause more problems than I am solving. I guess the other possiblity would be to use less toe in. Currently they are aimed about 2 feet behind me. The speakers are 9.5 ft apart and the midpoint between them is about 16.5 ft from me. Sorry if this is confusing. They are Ascend 340's if it matters. I have 340 Left and Right, the 340 center and 170 surrounds. Thanks for any help.

**bpape** · **07-03-09, 04:06 PM**

Welcome to the Shack!

By moving closer to the speakers, you're getting out of the bass buildup close to the rear wall. Spreading the speakers farther won't help with that.

Now, NOT having the distance from speaker to side wall and speaker to front wall be the same WILL help you. So, try pulling the speakers farther out away from the front wall. If you still need to move them closer to the side walls, then you'll want/need an acoustic panel on the side wall to deal with boundary interactions in the bottom end.

Ideally, you'd pull your seating so your seated ear position is approx 7-7.5' from the rear wall behind the seating.

Bryan

**dustwvl** · **07-03-09, 05:34 PM**

Thanks. Unfortunatly the one thing I cannot do is move the couch. It is a family room and Iit unfortunatly is what it is. I will try moving the speakers more though. Thanks.

**bpape** · **07-03-09, 07:23 PM**

Understood. Short of moving the seating, if you can use thick panels on the wall behind the seating, that will help minimize the proximity issue for both bottom end and in terms of harshness.

Bryan

**dustwvl** · **07-04-09, 07:07 AM**

Thank you very much.

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