Speaker Placement a Key to Imaging

[Ian Mackenzie]

Maybe Rob can start a new thread on room acoustics.

[toddalin]

I have never been terribly impressed with the performance of acoustic tiles.

Perhaps you could consider something like this?

Widget

I had thought of that sort of thing but feel that it may interfere with the front and rear surround channels and/or block the projector to be truly effective.

[Ian Mackenzie]

I had thought of that sort of thing but feel that it may interfere with the front and rear surround channels and/or block the projector to be truly effective.

That maybe the case.

I’ve got six Dolby Atmos top loudspeakers and no issues. Room treatment is only ever used to solve a problem. My ceiling treatment is only in one location.

My main treatment is at the front and rear and the front sides. My panels are proper acoustic absorbers from 250.+ hertz. Not foam tiles. l have five bass traps for below 250 hertz.

Before this l had slap echo and the room ringed out. I opened up a stud wall and introduced some room treatments. It now sounds great.l would k also had some first reflections due to my room being a bit narrow (4m)

It depends if you think you need to introduce room treatment or not.

If you don’t then leave it well alone. Too many people think it’s a magic bullet like a lot of things in the HiFi scene. In some situations the shape or size of the room will dictate your options. In general small rooms are more difficult to work with than larger rooms.


Cheers

Ian

[DerekTheGreat]

Ian, who is selling this?

Yes, much interest for this.

Also, no more pics of 'Vettes! I'm bummed. Got moved to "Off Topic Forum", no doubt where dreams go to die as one has to apply for access. (which I did, but haven't got yet..) Makes me wonder how many other members do not have access and thus do not see threads from within.

[Ian Mackenzie]

https://wavebone.com/pages/retailer

https://wavebone.com/pages/contact

[toddalin]

There is a way to qualitatively judge the "liveness" of a room and really determine what it is doing to the sound. You make a YouTube video in the sweet spot and compare that to the original. For example:

https://youtu.be/krlBTPPehm0

https://youtu.be/GXE_n2q08Yw

[Odd]

Thanks for the link, Ian

[BMWCCA]

There is a way to qualitatively judge the "liveness" of a room and really determine what it is doing to the sound. You make a YouTube video in the sweet spot and compare that to the original. For example:

https://youtu.be/krlBTPPehm0

https://youtu.be/GXE_n2q08Yw

Good suggestion.
But, way too many variables introduced depending on what microphone you use for your recording, etc. A camera or iPhone recording of anyone's system in their room just won't produce the same result as replaying a commercial recording. I've never attached any credibility to recordings posted on YouTube of anyone's system. Sorry!

[Fat Point Jack]

I have lurking here for many years and it is a whole bunch of fun. I don't know much about imaging, soundstage and speaker placement, I just put the where they fit and they sound great to my ears. The wall unit came with the house. The room is 12 x 16. The room treatments are stuff. I got the Altec Model 15's about 1980.

[DerekTheGreat]

I was pretty proud when I got my dad to put the left speaker on the left side and vice-versa, not to mention toe'd in and at the same level. Previously, you might find a speaker stuffed in a corner on the floor and another one on a shelf at the other end of the room. Polarity was another thing that didn't matter to him either.

[toddalin]

Good suggestion.
But, way too many variables introduced depending on what microphone you use for your recording, etc. A camera or iPhone recording of anyone's system in their room just won't produce the same result as replaying a commercial recording. I've never attached any credibility to recordings posted on YouTube of anyone's system. Sorry!

Sure things vary, but recognize that we are not listening for quality, only the "liveness" of the room and obviously one needs a fairly accurate portrayal of the source to come close to the unadulterated YouTube video.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Hi Todd,

Probably the more important point is what to do about liveliness?

[toddalin]

Interesting review of the Thrax Audio Siren speakers in this month's Stereophile. Touted for their imaging, the speakers are time aligned and contrary to most other speakers, the start of the woofer's positive-going step arrives first at the mic, followed by the tweeter's negative-going step.

This gets back to what I was alluding too (i.e., time alignment aides in imaging). Because the Merman's consist of three separate cabinets, I really should take them out of alignment and see if the imaging suffers notably.

[Robh3606]

Hello Toddalin

Before you start messing with your set-up you might want to check out Greg's comments about time alignment in the 1400 Array and how it affects imaging.

Without having access to measurement gear you are not going to know if and when you are aligned. You need to look at the step response make changes and remeasure.

Rob

[toddalin]

Hello Toddalin

Before you start messing with your set-up you might want to check out Greg's comments about time alignment in the 1400 Array and how it affects imaging.

Without having access to measurement gear you are not going to know if and when you are aligned. You need to look at the step response make changes and remeasure.

Rob

Not so..., or at least the way I do it.

I use the RTA with the mic set at the sweet spot and simply move the mid-cabinet/Heil back and forth until I get the smoothest transition in the crossover areas.

Does this result in time alignment???

Probably pretty close..., and even if not, I know these to be the "smoothest" positions attainable (+ or -) in the room with the set-up. I know where the mid-cabinet and Heil currently sit so can easily put them back.