Room setup Questions: Small Room with Magnepan MMG


Okay, I've finally got around to putting together a floor plan for my small listening room. Recently, there has been a small hitch in things, as I'm going to have to move in a rather large desk into this small, converted bedroom. Also, I have some people coming out next week to install two dedicated lines into this room and I'm wanting to finally start tacking some acoustical issues in this room.

Okay, so here's the floorplan (note: everything is to-scale in the diagram, even if dimensions are absent):

My floor plan

And here are a few questions:
1.) Where should I stick the desk? I'm thinking the location in the diagram is the only feasible location, but another option might be *between* the speakers?! It seems that against the back wall won't really work either. Another thing to note is that I could use the desk chair for listening as well, if that would help the space issue out.

2.) I'm thinking about leaving my rack in the center of the speakers, thus having the electrician install the two dedicated lines to the left of the window. The rack is rather tall, but I'm not sure where else I could put it. Also, if I moved the rack, I'd have to purchase new speaker cables, most likely. I know this is not ideal, but do you guys have any other recommendations?

3.) Do you think I should put the amp and cd player on one circuit and the turntable and preamp on the other circuit?

4.) The window in the center of the room is rather tall (83" high, and essentially starts at the floor) and has wooden plantation blinds installed. Is this something I should think about changing or treating?

5.) Would it be possible to even think about moving up the Magnepan line with this room configuration? I was thinking no larger than MG12's, but would these even be feasible?

6.) I was thinking about removing the plants and installing some corner bass traps. Do you think this would be wise? Or, would installing some Risch-style rigid insulation acoustic panels be better? As far as acoustics go, I do have some slap-echo in the room now due to the laminate floors and rather sparse furnishings, and I'm asumming this will still be the case after moving the desk in... I'm open to a small area rug if it would help things out. As for the bass traps, since the two doors meet in a corner, I cannot really put treatments here, and the desk will be in the other corner, so my only option for bass traps would be to remove the plants, right? The plants serve a very nice function as far as sounds dispersion with the dipole Maggies, so I'm leary about giving them up...

7.) At first glance, where do you think the acoustic panels would go on the walls? I guess I could use the mirror method, but was wondering where about they will end up going?

I think that's about it for now... Thanks for your help!

-Marc
mre2007
Red2:

Thanks for your response! I have a couple follow-up questions:

1.) I figured that I'd leave the blinds on the window to act as a sound diffusor, to maybe counteract the squareness of the room. What do you think about this?

2.) I'm posting another diagram below. I figured I'd make panels for the corner, rather than tubes. What do you think about this idea? Again, the plants are for diffusion. The problem with this setup is where the heck to put my equipment rack!!

Here's a link to my new diagram:

My floor plan revision 2

Thanks!
-Marc
Trial & error (& more error) will be required here.

You may want to try the desk against the back wall and use a swivel chair to double for work and listening (i.e. desk behind you when listening). Because the MMG has both limited deep bass response and limited horizontal dispersion - planar response pattern - you may be able to finesse the small room more effectively than you'd think.

Good luck
Martykl:

Thanks for your response. What is a reasonable metric of success? Should I consider a cheap SPL meter an a test CD?

Thanks,
-Marc
Floor plan #2 looks better but you'll only know how well it sounds once you hook things up. You have refered to all the correct sources for speaker placement etc. so the proof is in the listening. If things don't sound right you can check the audiogon threads on the Berhringer DEQ2496 which has RTA and equalization and costs approx $250-300 with microphone & wire accessories. Your ears will be the best measurement of success....