Speaker Placement


Hi
I just finished my Audio Room and need help regarding speaker placement. The room is 20ft long by 16ft wide with ceiling height 8ft 9 inches. This is located in a basement all poured concrete. The front half of the room is carpeted while the back is wooden floor. If I sit facing the speakers the right wall is all uneven stonework and on the left I have placed some DIY panels at the first reflection points. Behind the speakers I have placed 2 DIY corner traps. So far the ceiling is bare and I have no panels behind the speakers. I have placed the speakers 3ft from the side wall and 4ft from the front wall all measured at the centre of the drivers. While the sound is very good (no bass bloat ect.) I am unable to get a good sound stage.  The seating position is about 3ft from the back wall. 
My 2 Ch. equipment is as follows. 
Speakers B&W 800D (Not Diamonds)
Power Amp Krell KRS 200 Mono Blocks
Pre Krell KRC 3
Sources Cambridge Audio Stream Magic V1 and Clear Audio DC Performance with Dynavector D17.
Phono is Project Tube Box DS. 

I just want input if this sounds right as far as the placement goes. Should I try and move the speakers closer together? 

Thanks
srafi

Showing 7 responses by timlub

Hi Srafi,

      I haven't seen any questions asked that I would need to give you guidance.

Is the wall behind your speakers the 16ft wall or the 20ft wall?

Are you firing into the carpeted area or away from the carpeted area?

How much Furniture is in the room and where is it?

No Windows? If yes where are they? 

How far is your seating position from your speakers in their current configuration? 

There are a couple of methods to follow, one has already been mentioned.  with the above questions answered,  we'll get you set up fairly quickly where you will definitely pull a decent sound stage.

Please let me know, 

Tim

Ok Srafi,
    Thanks for the answers,  here you go,  this will get you a soundstage...
Speakers..... 3ft off each side wall.... 4 ft off the back wall.  This should place them approx. 10ft apart.  Listening Chair.... 9 to 9.5ft centered in front of your speakers...  You will still need a throw rug On the floor in front of your sitting position and you will need something to dampen the wall behind your sitting position.  A curtain or rug hanging on the wall should work wonders. Measure the distance between your midbass phase caps, this should be the same distance as your markers on the back of the chairs. (explained next)  This should leave around 7 ft to the wall behind the speakers.... Sit in your chair,  Put objects on the back of the chair approximately 6 inches on each side of your head is as markers... so, you'll have 2 phones,  2 calculators, 2 butter knifes,  what it is doesn't matter.  These will mark where you point your speakers.  Tow your speakers in to point directly at these 2 points.  The tow will help tremendously on getting rid of interactions with hard side walls. .  If you have any mid or high frequency peaks, start moving your tow outwards, be aware, as you get close to speaker dispursement properties hitting your wall, this will effect frequencies and sound stage. 
Overall, this will put your very close to where you need to be and will pull a soundstage.  It will not compensate completely for all room problems,  but the rug and padded rear wall along with the carpet on the front of the room will help tremendously. 
10 ft away is a good distance.  After listening for awhile,  I would experiment with padding on the ceiling between your speakers and listening chair.  I hope this helps,  Tim

By the Srafi,

  the speakers in between your speakers and sofa have to go... I do fear that you'll need a few ceiling tiles, decent size rug in front of the sofa and on the wall behind, Not necessarily in the center, but toward the corners, you'll need some sort of soft material... curtain or rugs hanging.  You might be seeing that we are somewhat dealing with the room as well as a decent placement.  I hope all of this makes sense, its not always easy to get the point across on a forum like this.

Tim

Sorry Srafi,  my fingers are faster than my mind... that was the chairs between your speakers and sofa need to go.
Issues of this caliber normally mean that you are dealing with room issues.  A properly damped room goes a long way to correct the tonal balance issues.
Also,  in any room,  if you have a peak or dip due to room interaction, as you turn it up,  those anomalies grow substantially...  
I can't tell much of how your room looks from that video,  but tow in is a different animal as far as tonal balance... a full tow pointing at the ears should be as close as you can get to the actual frequency response of your speaker. As you turn the speakers outward, you star rolling off the top end - mid,  the farther you turn toward straight, the more you roll off the top,  at some point,  you will start dealing with the interaction of your speakers dispersion bouncing off the side wall and that will also effect your tonal balance along with the top end roll off.  Then with panel speakers or baffleless designs, you have to deal with frequencies being projected from both sides of the speaker.  With these 2 designs, you have much more room interaction to deal with.... My post were mainly directed to the Op who is using a standard baffle mount drivers with his B&W's