Big room! Is the long or narrow side best?

SPOautos

Active Member
I'm setting up a dedicated vinyl system in a large space.

I'll be using a room that's 40' long and 20' wide. Over the 20 foot span the ceiling arches like a ^ reaching about 18' in the center.

Option 1...going across the narrow side....The TV is currently positioned about halfway down the 40' wall. I thought about flanking the TV with speakers. I'd have the speakers 3' out from the wall and I'd be sitting roughly 12' in front of them with a wall about 5' behind me. There would be a ton of space to my left and right (like 17' to one side and 23' the other side)

Option 2...using the long space.....The speakers are at one end of the room, 3' out from back wall and 4' out from side walls. I would be approx 20' in front of them and have 17' behind me.

I'm not sure how the ceiling will affect things...its ^ shaped with the 18' tip centered and running all the way down the 40' span.

Any ideas?
 
Can you move the TV viewing area to one end of the 40' room, regardless of orientation? Then set up a dedicated stereo listening section at the other end, along the 20' wall?
 
Can you move the TV viewing area to one end of the 40' room, regardless of orientation? Then set up a dedicated stereo listening section at the other end, along the 20' wall?

No theres really no where to put the TV area except where it's at. Situating the vinyl setup with the TV would be nice....but it's not required. I have chairs to the side of the sofa that face the back wall so that's why I can also set up the speakers facing the long way.

But what sounds better...having a wall 5' behind me with no sidewalls (maybe toeing speakers in towards me may help the lack of side walls)....Or having side walls but no wall behind me? I'm not sure....I feel like having no wall behind me may make the sound feel lost or something.
 
No theres really no where to put the TV area except where it's at. Situating the vinyl setup with the TV would be nice....but it's not required. I have chairs to the side of the sofa that face the back wall so that's why I can also set up the speakers facing the long way.

But what sounds better...having a wall 5' behind me with no sidewalls (maybe toeing speakers in towards me may help the lack of side walls)....Or having side walls but no wall behind me? I'm not sure....I feel like having no wall behind me may make the sound feel lost or something.
Only you can decide that. Do some tests.
 
I didnt know if maybe there are some general rules regarding room dynamics that may come into play?
There are tons! And all are up for debate on a regular basis. Lol. For many, though, system setup is dictated by living space, significant others, budget, knowledge or lack there of and many more reasons, whether these be singular or in combination. Google "stereo room setup" and come up with the game plan that works in your space. There are also those that build rooms dedicated to music listening. We have both types here on AK. Oh, and many google searches about stereo equipment will lead you back to AK.
 
I like i3's POV. Cut up the depth of the 40', and make the other side into a TV viewing area. With that length of room, you've got lots of room (pun not intended) to work with. Or fill the other side with a bar set up with lots of space for audio stuff...books/records/CD's/DVD's/etc.

Have you "killed" the outgoing sound? Roxul? What about the floor covering? Rugs/Carpet? Then, there's the walls?

Lighting....direct/indirect?

Lots to think about!

Q
 
Are the speakers made for small rooms or are they for large rooms?

I'm still working on getting equipment but due to the wife factor I'm only looking at vintage equip and on a very limited budget lol. This weekend Im looking at a fixed up Lab 80 turntable this weekend and a Onkyo TX-2500mkii (40wpc) OR a Kenwood KA-7100 integrated amp (60wpc). Mostly listening jazz, classical, and occasional classic rock.

I was looking at a set of Advent Large since a lot of people like them....but ive not bought any and I'm open to suggestions. Also considered bringing out of storage some Klipsch RB-5 bookshelf speakers to get me by....especially I'm considering looking for a tube setup and then I'd need to put the speakers off for a while. If I use the Klipsch I'll probably have to flank the TV with them so they arent firing into a 40' deep space.
 
What is your location? If members know where you are we can better direct you on equipment. Subscribe to AK, that opens Bartertown to you, better equipment from members.
A 40 watt receiver will get you background music in a room that size and look at a more efficient pair of speakers for your receiver choices.
 
Like others, I'd like the TV on the 20" wall .
Either way you do have a large room and with your budget I'd recommend the Rectilinear III tall boys as it's a rather large bookshelf/floorstander with decent spl potential
 
What is your location? If members know where you are we can better direct you on equipment. Subscribe to AK, that opens Bartertown to you, better equipment from members.
A 40 watt receiver will get you background music in a room that size and look at a more efficient pair of speakers for your receiver choices.

Central Alabama....Birmingham metro area but willing to drive.
 
I'm generally partial to long-wall setup, but I agree that either should be workable in your space. The non-parallel ceiling should be a plus.
 
Wonderfully large, but unfortunate combination of even multiple dimensions - which exacerbate room modes. Been there, done that. Don't want to again.

You really should experiment, but I would tend to orient the system along the long wall simulating a somewhat smaller and better balanced dimension ratio.

edited for clarity!
 
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Wouldn't the long wall be the 40' wall? Just askin.

Normally I would always suggest setting up centered on the long (40') wall, but as the room is so big I don't feel this is a necessity, you have a plethora of options open.

Wish we all had this dilemma lol.
 
Something to consider…

Many years ago I got a call from Mark Levinson. At the time was hauling around and promoting his Cello speaker system packed into a truck load of TubeTraps, enough to quell the temper of any room he was trying to use for a speaker demo. His herculean effort succeeded. But, back to the phone call. He said his nightmare room had been for some time those long skinny rooms. But he finally figured out how to set them up and needed to share his discovery with me. I’m positive he won’t mind my sharing it with you. By the way, your hunch is correct…..

He discovered he could set the speaker listener footprint up in the middle of the long wall. As you noted, this left two roaring volumes of room outside of the listening zone, one to the left and right. Side walls were so far away no side wall reflection control was needed. But between the speakers both on the front wall and the back walls a lot of acoustics (TubeTraps back then) had to be set in place. He needed to dry up the full bandwidth front to rear “flutter” echo (bass and treble) so the sound tracking inside the listening zone would be fast and clear. He needed good musical articulation, now called musical C50 clarity (see ASC MATT test). The reverb roar to either side of the listening zone (stereo reverberation) was calmed down by adding some full range bass absorption and treble diffusion (TubeTraps) in the 4 corners, along with anything else, lamp shades, vases, cabinets etc… that can diffuse treble.

Anyway, I’ve done the same thing many times and always with great success. Oh yes, I didn’t hear anything in the discussion about the carpet, might have glossed over it, always apply thick Persian-like carpet on listening footprint, from back of speakers to at least under front legs of listening chair.

Bad news……In this room we have something extra to consider. The rear surface of the huge angled cathedral ceiling is acting like a second back wall, stacked up on top of the lower back wall and tipped in to reflect a second rear wall bounce directly back into the lower front wall corner. Outside of some edge of the reflection hitting the listener in the back of the head, there will be a lot of full bandwidth acoustics intercepting the bounce back on the front wall so at least the rear wall bounce won’t return back and forth. If it did it would be a lower front wall/floor corner bounce that returns back to tipped in upper back wall (ceiling) full bandwidth “flutter echo”.

A listening room with great gear ….but no real speaker yet, an interesting position to be in. You have so much room, try a big dipole, Magniplaner does very well and no subwoofer is needed with their new double wide model. Of course, Martin Logan is always a contender but they have converted their product line into hybrids, woofer with dipole on top. Planers play most music really well but not loud, explosive rock and roll. Subs and other dynamic speakers under a tall peaked hall type of room end up with a lot of vertical, floor to ceiling peak, bass reverb buildup which is hard to get out from underneath of or get rid of. Dipoles do not play sound vertically or laterally, in the plane of speaker, only perpendicular to the plane of the speaker. They don’t stimulate the dreaded vertical mode of this room or any room. Alternatively keep a dynamic woofer in your sound system and add huge bass traps into the peak of the room in the middle, above the listening zone to help tone down the vertical reverb buildup.

Well, thanks for hanging out and imagining the voice of the room with me.

Art Noxon, ASC TubeTraps
 
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