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Room Acoustics Problem????

I'm hoping someone can provide some input to resolve what I "think" is a room acoustics problem. I have a HT setup in a rectangular shaped room approximately 20' (L) by 12' (W). My television and front speakers are located on the length of the room. Although I have 5 speakers in the room for surround HT sound, I listen a great deal to 2 channel as well. What I'm noticing is that the left speaker always appears to be louder than the right speaker, throwing the sound off-balance. After reading a few articles on room acoustics, I'm attributing the louder sound to the bay windows which are located next to the left speaker. I'm assuming the bay windows add increased reflections in the sound. The right speaker is located next to an open space so there is no added reflections from that speaker.

Is there an easy way of fixing this problem other than using the balance control to change the output? Would adding absorption materials near the bay windows (maybe curtains?) solve the problem? I'm hoping that I could come up with a simple solution without spending too much money. Any advice would be appreciated!

Tony
calgarian5355

Showing 1 response by sns

sns
3,600 posts
 
I have experienced the exact same problem as you in pretty much the same size room! A number of fixes for me. First, I discovered that one speaker was about 2db louder (near cone measurement), I replaced some tubes to equalize output. Second, speaker placement, front to back, side to side, and amount of toe in all effect this to some extent. Third, room treatments can make a large difference as well, something like an echobuster at your first reflection point on your wall should help (curtains may help some as well).
Goinbroke makes an interesting observation in that it as much the lack of reinforcement on the speaker in the open area that is part of the problem. Some sort of free standing combination absorber/reflector at first reflection point might help. I plan on experimenting with this as well. In the meantime there are times when I still have to use the balance control.
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