Is it even possible to set up a system in 12x12 room?

I’ll keep it short... what works for me in my 8 x 12 room. Two "tricks" that made all the difference:

1. Turn down the bass (a lot.. below 150 hz or so) in one speaker only. this reduces the boom effect caused by close room corners in your small room. Bass is non-directional and will sound so much cleaner. (less corner effect, fewer phase problems in small rooms). Try it!

2. Judicious use of a separate channel equalizer. Necessary to reduce inevitable upper midrange peaks (shrill) exacerbated by close-in walls, even with treatment (especially at higher volume levels) as well as provide the bass control mentioned above.

A smaller room can cause greater differences than amplifier and even speaker selection as you know. Let me know how it works for you!

Or you could go digital and put in a DSP and never look back. It kind of eliminates the analogue part all together. :)

I have a perfect 12x12 room as well that I use as my main listening space.  I had terrible luck with it when I moved in ~10 years ago but now have very good sound.  Some things that worked for me:

1. Listening on the diagonal.  Set-up speakers such that you are facing a corner.  The best things about this way is that you will get incredible center fill that is deep.
2. Bass traps in the corners (I do two corners, floor to ceiling with GIK).  If you have slap echo or such (clap your hands, does it reverberate or sound metallic, or does it sound natural) as I do, I would but some additional treatments in the ceiling-wall junction. (I use Auralex LENRD bass traps with push pins to hold in place.)
3.  Play extensively with speaker and chair position.  You will find that bass will vary dramatically depending on speaker and especially chair position.  With my current speakers, I have them nearly pushed to the wall and I listen in the near field such that my chair is almost dead center in the room.  This worked less well with my previous speakers that needed some distance to integrate.

I had to try a few different speakers as my room is on the bright side even with the treatments.  Any brightness in the speaker choice (or other upstream choices) will be amplified.

Best of luck!

I am all analogue, FYI. 

@paulcreed


I have a friend who also has a small room...with the sofa set up for listening and placed in the room with a wall directly behind it.  My friend has tower speakers which he put on furniture sliders so that when he listens, the can position them about 6' from the sofa and about 7' apart.  He has 2 12" sealed subs in the front corners of the room....directly opposite the sofa.  Hardwood floors, drywall and 9' ceilings best describe the room.

The Sound:  In a way, it is almost shocking considering what you know in your brain is going to be a mess of reflections and boominess....but it isn't.  The bass is reasonably tight, defined and low....and no doubt could be even better with 3 or four subs to further smooth out the small room resonances.  As for the mids/highs....you almost get the sense that you are experiencing an all enveloping surround sound....not with pinpoint imaging but also not bright and totally diffuse....and it is a very "live" sound with most music.


My takeaway is that it is easier to get good sound in a bigger room...but it is not impossible to get good sound in a small room.