The listening room

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karatestu
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Re: The listening room

Unread post by karatestu »

How many of us here have a room big enough to have the seating away from the wall ? I don't and it wouldn't work ergonomically. I don't have room to have speakers three feet out from the front wall either. Just as well you can have speakers designed for near wall positioning. That doesn't work so well for point and squirt as you want the reflections to be delayed enough not to mess with the image. Semi omni are designed to be near wall so the problem is moot - we need to listen to reflections otherwise we would have a bloody great hole in the mid range response.

But where you are listening also has a bearing on sound. Sofa's right up to the back wall are generally not a good idea as the bass will be louder than say sitting a metre off the back wall (maybe a good thing if your speakers are a bit anaemic .But if you haven't got a choice then what can you do ?
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Re: The listening room

Unread post by karatestu »

Apparently speakers set up diagonally in a room ( across a corner) can work well if this article is to be believed.

https://www.decware.com/paper14.htm
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Re: The listening room

Unread post by karatestu »

I keep finding more and more people with good experiences of firing speakers diagonally, especially in small squarish rooms like mine. I will definitely be trying it :guiness;

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread ... 6898/
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Re: The listening room

Unread post by NSNO2021 »

karatestu wrote: Wed Aug 14, 2019 4:48 pm I like the sound in my rehearsal room where i have my Sony CDPS1 connected up to the PA. The whole thing is carpeted (even the ceiling) and i mean every square inch. No windows and the only door is carpet lined too. It's obviously a very dead room for high frequencies but the funny thing is i don't find it too dead at all. Nice and relaxing.
Stu you must post a picture of fully carpeted room, my mind boggles at the thought of a carpeted ceiling :o
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Re: The listening room

Unread post by karatestu »

I will take a pic but I'm not sure you are ready for such a sight :grin: Cymbals are the worst thing for hearing loss especially tinnitus. It helps soak up all that shite otherwise I wouldn't be able to hear what my wife is saying :dance:

I must warn you now though that it is 1970's carpet and you should be prepared or at the least sat down.
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Re: The listening room

Unread post by Lindsayt »

On the terraced vs detached house thing, I'd consider the house more important than the room or the system or the choice of music.

Having a good recording on a good system in a home where you have to keep the volume down to avoid annoying the neighbours is a mild form of self torture.

Having an average recording on a mediocre system in a room with so so acoustics at generous volumes is enjoyment.

Going a few steps better and having a good recording, that you've never heard before on a good to World Class system in a room with reasonable acoustics at generous volumes is an attention grabbing form of primary entertainment.

Generous volumes don't have to be deafeningly loud, for enjoyment or for annoying neighbours in terraced homes.
A generous volume is one where if the vocalist were singing in the room, live, unmicced, they'd be at about the same volume. This means that the drums will be at a lower volume than if they were live and acoustic in the room - but such is the nature of rock and pop music.

I'd be very reluctant to buy a house where I couldn't listen to music at generous volumes without disturbing the neighbours.
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CN211276 (Fri Oct 16, 2020 6:00 pm) • dazed_and_confused (Thu Mar 03, 2022 3:02 am)

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Re: The listening room

Unread post by CN211276 »

Lindsayt wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 4:44 pm On the terraced vs detached house thing, I'd consider the house more important than the room or the system or the choice of music.

Having a good recording on a good system in a home where you have to keep the volume down to avoid annoying the neighbours is a mild form of self torture.

Having an average recording on a mediocre system in a room with so so acoustics at generous volumes is enjoyment.

Going a few steps better and having a good recording, that you've never heard before on a good to World Class system in a room with reasonable acoustics at generous volumes is an attention grabbing form of primary entertainment.

Generous volumes don't have to be deafeningly loud, for enjoyment or for annoying neighbours in terraced homes.
A generous volume is one where if the vocalist were singing in the room, live, unmicced, they'd be at about the same volume. This means that the drums will be at a lower volume than if they were live and acoustic in the room - but such is the nature of rock and pop music.

I'd be very reluctant to buy a house where I couldn't listen to music at generous volumes without disturbing the neighbours.
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Lindsayt (Fri Oct 16, 2020 6:32 pm)
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Re: The listening room

Unread post by savvypaul »

I'm lucky to have chilled out neighbours and thick walls...
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Re: The listening room

Unread post by karatestu »

Always buy an old house, new ones are crap.

I have always been able to play music at the levels I want without any hassles. I don't require huge levels of sound. Anway, as you crank it up speaker driver distortion increases (in all speakers).
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Re: The listening room

Unread post by Lindsayt »

karatestu wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 7:06 pm Always buy an old house, new ones are crap.

I have always been able to play music at the levels I want without any hassles. I don't require huge levels of sound. Anway, as you crank it up speaker driver distortion increases (in all speakers).
On the one hand, modern houses have paper thin walls. Internal ones being plasterboard on a wooden frame.
On the other, older houses have sash windows.
But then again, modern houses tend to be crammed in to maximise profit.
Whereas old houses were crammed in for back to back houses and terraced housing, but more spread out for more upmarket detached houses.

I agree that nightclub levels of volume are not required.
To put a figure on it, a volume where the peaks are at 80 something dbs at my listening position is about right for me.
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