Best Fit for a Small Room

[scottap]

Hi,

I have a small room, 9x13, that I use as a front projection home theater. In order to maximize the screen width, I don't have much room on either side of the screen for my fronts, perhaps 10 inches. It's far from an ideal setup, but it's my room to do with as I please, rest of the family has no say.

I'm currently using some small Boston Acoustics bookshelves, center and sub and they sound okay, but I'd like to do better. I have 340SE lust, but I wonder if jamming them in the corner, even with some room treatment behind them would defeat the purpose of having them in the first place. Also I wondered if they'd simply be too big in terms of sound generated for such a small room.

I'd appreciate any advice on speakers, room treatment and creative speaker placement that anyone might have to help me make the best of a less than ideal situation.

thanks,

Scott

[curtis]

I'd call and talk to Dave about this one.

I'm thinking you would be better off with 170SE's.

[scape]

maybe try an acoustically transparent screen? that way the speakers can be properly positioned behind the screen, without worrying about the screen too much

also, check this out:
http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=27&pagestring=Room+Setup

[scottap]

Curtis. Thanks. I sent Dave an email

Scape. I would consider an AT screen, but I don't really have enough room depth.

As small as the room is, it actually works suprisingly well as an immersive viewing experience for 2-4 people. The challenge is trying to find a way to improve the sound to match.

Scott

[scape]

is it setup wider than longer currently? I think it might sound better longer over wider. how wide is this screen? maybe some quick snaps with a camera if you have one handy?

but let's just say it is 13ft wide setup for that width and not for length, the speakers might be placed at (and I'm using the formulas from http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=32&pagestring=Room+Setup+7):

- 1.5 ft (1'6") from back wall
- Then 1.5x1.618..so they should both be about 2.427ft, or about 2' 5 1/8", away from each side wall
- Which leaves...13-4.854..about 8.146 ft wide viewing screen to sit in-between each speaker (greater room than a 100" screen), and not infront of.

for exactly a tight fit of speakers on each side of the screen (100"):
7.23ft wide screen, out of 13ft wall is 5.724 empty space total
5.724/2=2.87ft away from wall on sides of each speaker
2.87/1.618=1.77ft behind speaker


which then ofcourse you have to think about distance from the screen that would also mate well with the distance from the speakers to listening position as well (probably back against the wall if possible, maybe with a half-foot gap?)...
if you really want to get nitty and gritty (http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=28&pagestring=Room+Setup+3) explains an equilateral triangle is best; so with a 7.23ft wide speaker gap between speakers, the center sweetspot seat should be around 7.23ft at a 60 degree angle from each speaker (either using a protractor or something to help with the angle measuring, or some geometry to get the right-angle distance).

there is half-dozen ways to setup a room I think, but this is a method I try to stick to

I fiddled with my rooms before and there is always sacrifices to be made in some way; but i gotta say it's great you get a whole room to do what you will with :D

[scottap]

Thanks for the advice, but unfortunately there isn't enough depth to the room to setup the screen on the wider width. The room itself has an odd layout that would prevent it and I'd also have to reduce the image size so much that it would defeat the purpose of using front projection.

I'll try to take some photos, although the room is a bit of a makeshift mess at the moment.

I know it's physically possible, but is there a way to place all three speakers completely above or below the screen and actually get a desirable audio output?

Scott

[scottap]

I gave some more thought to Scape's suggestion for wall distances. Since I'm still limited by a 9-foot width, I experimented with dropping all of the speakers just below the screen and pulling them in and forward so that they are 1.5 ft from both the back and side wall. The screen is actually mounted a little high so in this setup the tweeters are only a few inches below ear level.

While I don't have enough room for bass traps I could still do some acoustic treatment for the screenwall and side walls. Would this setup at least get me in the ballpark?

From reading some of the Sierra-1 thread on AVS it sounds like they can be placed either vertically or horizontally to get the same result. Is that correct? Is that true with the other Ascend models as well?

Scott