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What affects front to back depth in room/ system?

I've been moving speakers around for a while now trying to maximize their placement for a happy balance of soundstage width, focus of center image, vocal height, instrument placements, etc. I want to get the speaker placement settled before acoustically treating the room. The room is 15x20 with 8' ceilings. Speakers are setup along the 20' wall. I'm pretty happy with most aspects of the sound, but what I can't seem to figure out is how to improve the depth. Honestly, I'm not sure if what I'm after is attainable to begin with. Is it possible to have depth that reaches the listening position in a 2.2 channel sound system? The depth behind the speakers is great, just not much in front of them- unless it's one of those songs that has a part where it has that inverted phase trick. Then it washes over me. I want that all the time. Any feedback and advice is appreciated. 

veerossi

Showing 2 responses by dsnyder0cnn

dsnyder0cnn
64 posts
 

I see quality loudspeakers there. Wide-angle distortion in the photo makes it difficult to estimate the ratio of tweeter-to-tweeter and ear-to-tweeter. Some say that these should be equal (an equilateral triangle); however, most great-sounding systems I've heard have the speakers a little closer together. Tweeter-to-tweeter distance is ~85% of ear-to-tweeter.



I agree with others that for most loudspeakers to create a perception of depth, you're going to need to pull the speakers well out into the room…at least 4 ft from the front of the speaker to the wall behind. Sometimes further is better. It also helps for there to be nothing between the speakers. Bonus points for having nothing inside the triangle formed by the tweeters and your ears.

Good luck. It's something we're all chasing and have achieved to various degrees.

dsnyder0cnn
64 posts
 

@veerossi - thanks for those dimensions. I don't see any issues. You are kind-of close to the back wall, but that's way better than sitting in the middle of the room, where you would experience bass nulls. Your gear looks great to me, so next steps are probably room treatment, as others have recommended.

Working out how much treatment is needed and where to place it is not rocket science. A few measurements from your listening position using Room EQ Wizard and a calibrated mic (eg., miniDSP UMIK-1) will tell you just about all you need to know. Feel free to PM me if I can help.

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