I am planning on moving in the next couple of years, so the wife and I have
been discussing houses. Of course I want a room dedicated to music - just
what is the ideal size room?

My speaker manual suggests I need the speakers X cm from the rear and side
walls, but what about space around the listener? Should there be the same
amount of space behind the listening position, as between the listener and
speakers - more/less?

--
MrBitsy

In article , MrBitsy
wrote:
I am planning on moving in the next couple of years, so the wife and I
have been discussing houses. Of course I want a room dedicated to music
- just what is the ideal size room?

In the context of domestic dwellings the simplest answer is probably, "as
large as possible". :-) Ideally, also with suitable materials on surfaces,
and with dimensions that aren't too similar.

My speaker manual suggests I need the speakers X cm from the rear and
side walls, but what about space around the listener? Should there be
the same amount of space behind the listening position, as between the
listener and speakers - more/less?

It will depend on the details of the speakers, room, etc, etc. However I
certainly find that I get better results if the listening position is well
away from any walls. In the room where I have the main hifi the listeing
postion puts my head at least 3 feet from the closest walls, and the
speakers are over 4 feet from the walls behind, and 3 feet from those
beside them.

The difficulty is that the results also depend on the materials from which
the house is made, the wall/floor coverings, and the details of the
speakers and any furniture. So it is a very complicated set of variables.
What works best in one situation may not in another.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

In article ,
MrBitsy wrote:
I am planning on moving in the next couple of years, so the wife and I
have been discussing houses. Of course I want a room dedicated to music
- just what is the ideal size room?

The bigger the better and the more irregular the better too. And one which
is much longer than it is wide. A vaulted ceiling would be good too. Then
treat all the walls, floor and ceiling to get rid of any reflections.

My speaker manual suggests I need the speakers X cm from the rear and
side walls, but what about space around the listener? Should there be
the same amount of space behind the listening position, as between the
listener and speakers - more/less?

Site the speakers across a narrow wall but not too close and sit roughly
half way down the room.

As it happens a through lounge in a Victorian type house say about 30ft
long where the original back room is smaller due to the stairs is about as
ideal as you'll find easily.

--
*The older you get, the better you realize you were.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
MrBitsy wrote:
I am planning on moving in the next couple of years, so the wife and I
have been discussing houses. Of course I want a room dedicated to music
- just what is the ideal size room?

The bigger the better and the more irregular the better too. And one which
is much longer than it is wide. A vaulted ceiling would be good too. Then
treat all the walls, floor and ceiling to get rid of any reflections.

My speaker manual suggests I need the speakers X cm from the rear and
side walls, but what about space around the listener? Should there be
the same amount of space behind the listening position, as between the
listener and speakers - more/less?

Site the speakers across a narrow wall but not too close and sit roughly
half way down the room.

As it happens a through lounge in a Victorian type house say about 30ft
long where the original back room is smaller due to the stairs is about as
ideal as you'll find easily.

--
*The older you get, the better you realize you were.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Other than having as large a room as possible to assist in reproducing the
low frequencies, isn't there ideal proportions to the room? I recall there
used to be (or possibly still is) a good website that allowed you to
calculate these values. Anyone got any useful links?

Cheers,
Alan

On Sat, 12 Aug 2006 13:09:58 +0800, "Alan Rutlidge"
wrote:


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
MrBitsy wrote:
I am planning on moving in the next couple of years, so the wife and I
have been discussing houses. Of course I want a room dedicated to music
- just what is the ideal size room?

The bigger the better and the more irregular the better too. And one which
is much longer than it is wide. A vaulted ceiling would be good too. Then
treat all the walls, floor and ceiling to get rid of any reflections.

My speaker manual suggests I need the speakers X cm from the rear and
side walls, but what about space around the listener? Should there be
the same amount of space behind the listening position, as between the
listener and speakers - more/less?

Site the speakers across a narrow wall but not too close and sit roughly
half way down the room.

As it happens a through lounge in a Victorian type house say about 30ft
long where the original back room is smaller due to the stairs is about as
ideal as you'll find easily.

--
*The older you get, the better you realize you were.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Other than having as large a room as possible to assist in reproducing the
low frequencies, isn't there ideal proportions to the room? I recall there
used to be (or possibly still is) a good website that allowed you to
calculate these values. Anyone got any useful links?

Cheers,
Alan


There is no ideal proportion. Changing the dimensions just changes the
frequencies that give problems. Just make sure the dimensions aren't
all the same - that will pile up the problems. Making the room big
puts the fundamental room modes down below the audible range. The main
thing is to break up flat surfaces that face each other - this ensure
that standing waves have a hard time getting going.

If you are using the latest Internet Explorer, you can use the room
modes calculator on my web site to identify problem frequencies, but
as I say, it doesn't really matter what frequency they are, you still
need to deal with the walls to kill them.

Once you have prevented the modes forming, you can use soft
furnishings to get the reverberation time that suits you. The result
of all this will be a room you can't live in, so a compromise
somewhere along the line is on the cards.

www.pearce.uk.com/papers

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 12 Aug 2006 13:09:58 +0800, "Alan Rutlidge"
wrote:


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
MrBitsy wrote:
I am planning on moving in the next couple of years, so the wife and I
have been discussing houses. Of course I want a room dedicated to music
- just what is the ideal size room?

The bigger the better and the more irregular the better too. And one
which
is much longer than it is wide. A vaulted ceiling would be good too.
Then
treat all the walls, floor and ceiling to get rid of any reflections.

My speaker manual suggests I need the speakers X cm from the rear and
side walls, but what about space around the listener? Should there be
the same amount of space behind the listening position, as between the
listener and speakers - more/less?

Site the speakers across a narrow wall but not too close and sit roughly
half way down the room.

As it happens a through lounge in a Victorian type house say about 30ft
long where the original back room is smaller due to the stairs is about
as
ideal as you'll find easily.

--
*The older you get, the better you realize you were.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Other than having as large a room as possible to assist in reproducing the
low frequencies, isn't there ideal proportions to the room? I recall
there
used to be (or possibly still is) a good website that allowed you to
calculate these values. Anyone got any useful links?

Cheers,
Alan


There is no ideal proportion. Changing the dimensions just changes the
frequencies that give problems. Just make sure the dimensions aren't
all the same - that will pile up the problems. Making the room big
puts the fundamental room modes down below the audible range. The main
thing is to break up flat surfaces that face each other - this ensure
that standing waves have a hard time getting going.

If you are using the latest Internet Explorer, you can use the room
modes calculator on my web site to identify problem frequencies, but
as I say, it doesn't really matter what frequency they are, you still
need to deal with the walls to kill them.

Once you have prevented the modes forming, you can use soft
furnishings to get the reverberation time that suits you. The result
of all this will be a room you can't live in, so a compromise
somewhere along the line is on the cards.

www.pearce.uk.com/papers

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

Thanks Don. Very useful info. :-)

Cheers,
Alan

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...

Just make sure the dimensions aren't
all the same - that will pile up the problems.

www.pearce.uk.com/papers
d
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

It certainly did!
The lounge in my first flat was a 10' cube. And that was where I built (a
pair) and tried to listen to the Bailey transmission line loudspeaker. In
some positions, hum was quite a serious problem.
Fortunately I moved after a short period to a house with a lounge with a
more sensible set of dimensions.

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 21:59:35 +0100, "Malcolm Stewart"
wrote:

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...

Just make sure the dimensions aren't
all the same - that will pile up the problems.

www.pearce.uk.com/papers
d
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

It certainly did!
The lounge in my first flat was a 10' cube. And that was where I built (a
pair) and tried to listen to the Bailey transmission line loudspeaker. In
some positions, hum was quite a serious problem.
Fortunately I moved after a short period to a house with a lounge with a
more sensible set of dimensions.


Interestingly the peaks of sound are only slightly raised above normal
level - it is the dips that are the big problem, with some frequencies
almost vanishing at some points on the room. If you had a hum problem
at some positions, you had a hum problem, full stop. Just at many
places in the room you couldn't hear it.

Playing a low frequency sine wave is always a revealing way of
assessing a room. Just play it and walk around - very depressing in
99% of rooms.

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
Interestingly the peaks of sound are only slightly raised above normal
level - it is the dips that are the big problem, with some frequencies
almost vanishing at some points on the room. If you had a hum problem
at some positions, you had a hum problem, full stop. Just at many
places in the room you couldn't hear it.

Playing a low frequency sine wave is always a revealing way of
assessing a room. Just play it and walk around - very depressing in
99% of rooms.

Last place I had was a large Victorian flat where the living room was near
a perfect cube, and some speakers produced near enough no audible bass.
Worst offenders were a pair of Tannoy Autographs which are massive corner
horn loaded devices. But no bass whatsoever. Go out into the hall, and the
house was shaking with it...

--
*The beatings will continue until morale improves *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
Interestingly the peaks of sound are only slightly raised above normal
level - it is the dips that are the big problem, with some frequencies
almost vanishing at some points on the room. If you had a hum problem
at some positions, you had a hum problem, full stop. Just at many
places in the room you couldn't hear it.

Playing a low frequency sine wave is always a revealing way of
assessing a room. Just play it and walk around - very depressing in
99% of rooms.

Last place I had was a large Victorian flat where the living room was near
a perfect cube, and some speakers produced near enough no audible bass.
Worst offenders were a pair of Tannoy Autographs which are massive corner
horn loaded devices. But no bass whatsoever. Go out into the hall, and the
house was shaking with it...

--
*The beatings will continue until morale improves *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.


I have found that a room about 4.6m by 4.6 m with another room behind
it[in my case a kitchen,but an office would work well too] and
seperated by a low wall works really well.This room has a full width
bay window[135 degree ,1.3 metres deep so overall room depth including
this window is 5.9 metres]].My speakers are located just forward of
this window space and I have thick curtains behind.Ceiling height is
standard 2.4 m.Floor is direct glue 12mm hardwood over concrete and the
walls are rough rendered [bagged] not smooth plastered.
This is an excellent room acoustically-especially as regards
imaging.Many people comment on this.
I used to have a pretty good room in another house which was 6m by 6m
with a vaulted ceiling but it was still not a patch on the bay window
room.
I actually built a dedicted room 4.2m by 6m,high ceilings and open at
the long end.This is more of a recommended size but sounds terrible.I
only use it for home theatre but it has so much echo even following
dialogue is hard.

JT