New Sierra 1 owner needs some suggestions/ help

[natetg57]

Hey guys,
I just recieved my new Sierra 1 speakers. I am upgrading from TV speakers so dont really have good baseline for the room (but i have relatively decent/good headphones). Once i had it all set up and started playing music, I could tell they are good speakers, I could hear a lot more in the songs that i have before, the soundstage was quite impressive as well.
So while i like the speakers, there just seems something missing, something that brings everything together and gets the magic flowing (hopefully i am not sounding like a crazy person but not sure how to exactly describe it).

I am not sure if its something to do with how i have my speakers set up or the room or the speakers itself. I want to say the vocals are a bit recessed compared to the all the other instruments but not sure if that is the thing.

I am hoping its something to do with how i have done the set up and its not the speakers themselves.

Any ideas on how to debug and correct this situation will be immensely helpful

One key principle in room setup is to achieve symmetry with the speakers in the room. You want the speakers to be the same distance from the rear and side walls. Since the equipment stand seems to be pushing the right speaker farther into the room, I would try it rotated 90 degrees and on the side wall. The speakers could be placed closer to each other and the same distance from the rear wall. That might sound better than what you have now.

[davef]

Thanks sludgeogre. Answers to your questions inline

I have attached a picture to give a better idea.

Attachment 1354

What height are those stands?

[Elessar]

What height are those stands?

sorry for the late response was out of town.

The stands are 24 inches

[Quinn]

sorry for the late response was out of town.

The stands are 24 inches

Tweeters should be at ear level for your main listening position.

[sludgeogre]

Can you point me to more info the room mode etc.

Sorry I didn't see this earlier, somehow missed it.

Here's a great article on room modes, but unfortunately they never finished it with a part 2, but it is a great primer on the subject: http://www.audioholics.com/room-acou...om-acoustics-1

If you enter your room dimensions into the calculator, you will see that there are a lot of zeros on the adjacent mode spacing column, and that you have modes at 31.4, 62.8, 94.2, and 125.6 Hz that are all evenly spaced. You don't want this as it creates cancellations at those frequencies, and that is really what a room mode boils down to. Dave or someone else please chime in if I'm wrong, but this is how I understand it.

If you compare that output to a room that is, say, 19 x 14 x 9, you'll see that there are no modes which are adjacent, IE, the adjacent mode spacing is never 0, which means that those frequencies will not tend to be cancelled nearly as much, and you'll have a more consistent frequency response as a result.

The only way to effectively combat difficult room modes is through multiple subwoofers, room correction, and bass trapping.

[Elessar]

Sorry I didn't see this earlier, somehow missed it.

Here's a great article on room modes, but unfortunately they never finished it with a part 2, but it is a great primer on the subject: http://www.audioholics.com/room-acou...om-acoustics-1

If you enter your room dimensions into the calculator, you will see that there are a lot of zeros on the adjacent mode spacing column, and that you have modes at 31.4, 62.8, 94.2, and 125.6 Hz that are all evenly spaced. You don't want this as it creates cancellations at those frequencies, and that is really what a room mode boils down to. Dave or someone else please chime in if I'm wrong, but this is how I understand it.

If you compare that output to a room that is, say, 19 x 14 x 9, you'll see that there are no modes which are adjacent, IE, the adjacent mode spacing is never 0, which means that those frequencies will not tend to be cancelled nearly as much, and you'll have a more consistent frequency response as a result.

The only way to effectively combat difficult room modes is through multiple subwoofers, room correction, and bass trapping.

Thanks @sludgeogre that was a good read. Actually the room isnt 19x19 from walls POV. It was effective size of the room. I have attached the exact dimensions. so using 19*35*9 there are no adjacent spaced 0 modesFP2.jpg

So I have finally tweaked and settled on a good placement and reciever spot for sierra 1 where i am enjoying them. I have unpacked my cmt 340s( I am auditioning between 340 and sierra 1 for now, to pick the one i like the most) to try them out as well. Will keep folks here posted in case ppl are interested in my impressions.

[sludgeogre]

Gotcha, those big open areas can cause a big pain as well. I'm in the same kind of situation and the only thing that has helped is having dual subwoofers along the front wall. The bass response in the center of the room, where the couch is, still isn't as great as it as at the back and sides of the room, though. I'd have to treat the hell out of the room to fix that.

Hope you enjoy the CMT 340. I really want to try them out in my big open room in my new house as well.