Is 9'x11' too small?


I am considering using a small home office as a dedicated listening room. I could clear out the room and have it dedicated to gear only (and a chair or two and CD racks). This would allow me to acoustically treat the space (as I can't now in my listening room of the living room). The problem is (or might be) and my question to you is; the room is only 9'x11'x8', is this too small?
jh2os

Showing 1 response by dirtyragamuffin

Well I hate to be Mr. Opposition, but IMHO that might be too small. Small rooms require lots of treament. You'd need bass traps galore and aborption/diffusion at reflection points. The bass traps would need to be able to suck up frequencies below 100 cycles, and I understand that some bass traps won't do this. It's very easy to overdamp small rooms; this will suck some life out of the sound. You'd need the speakers at least a few feet from the back wall, but you don't want your listening position to be too far back. The physical room dimensions will limit the soundstage. How far do you usually sit from your speakers? If you don't mind very nearfield listening and have the means to treat the room well, then it might be OK for you...but I personally like a spacious room to really open things up, even with monitors.

FWIW, YMMV, IMHO ;)