Long or short wall ?

[USNRET]

How would you set this room up?

Room: dedicated man space 17x24x9

Speakers: LCR Belles, surrounds Heresy or RS-7s (or both), SVS PB12/plus2

Seating: 3 seat arcing 'theater' recliners

More time spent with movies / tv but where sound quality is concerned design it for 2 channel

Do I plan on using the short wall or long wall for the front?

If long wall what would be spacing estimate of L & R?

This is my max room size, is there a better L/W (ceiling height capped at 9')?

Would having trey ceiling at the 9' max with some 8' height surrounding two 9' treys hurt the sound. Thinking of 2 perpendiculiar treys, one over listening area and 1 over game / wet bar area.

I am trying to get my act together to tell home designer where to put entry door, wet bar, storage closet, etc (and if it's a slam dunk on which wall I won't have to pre-wire both long and short walls to 'test') would like to keep room future KHorn ready.

[Chris A]

Let's first try to decide what you are trying to achieve with a HT:

1) Good imaging from your fronts and realistic front image placement with your TV (i.e., support both two-channel and 5.1 imaging)

2) Seamless integration with your center and the TV

3) Good lf extension and powerful LFE effects, and minimal distance between sub and fronts in order to create a sense of lf integration (i.e., the sub isn't separated from the front image formed by LCR speakers (Belles in your case).

4) Good surround envelopment

I tried to place these in approximate importance order, although individual tastes may switch one or more capabilities.

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't use the long wall for a front since it will adversely interact with #1, 2, and 3, above.

I would think about placing the sub in one corner and place the nearest Belle just in front of the sub. If you can get another sub of the same make/model, I'd place it in the opposite front corner. This would make the front stereo image appear like two speakers instead or three or four speakers.

I'd place the surrounds at or within a foot of your ear height while seated - but not higher. Spread the surrounds so that they are 120 degrees from your TV in plan view.

I'd aim all of the speakers at the center front seat position or just behind this position.

Chris

[USNRET]

Thanks Chris,

If I were to place the 19 x 29" sub behind one of the L/R Belles how would not having the same 'box' behind the opposing speaker affect this setup. Yea, I would like to have another identical sub or find a way to incorp a 'dual' IB set up but with 2x4 studs and a room on top of this one I don't see how I could do it.

[Chris A]

...how would not having the same 'box' behind the opposing speaker affect this setup?...

One way to deal with this is to place a bookcase or other solid piece of furniture behind the other Belle.

I'm thinking personally that I'd place my pro equipment rack behind the other Belle and also place one or more absorption pads on the sides and top of the Belles, thus clearing the critical area between the speakers to minimize early reflections. This is especially important with HT setups that enjoy higher levels of absorption and fewer room reflections.

Chris

[USNRET]

Here (see attached pdf) is what I will be working with. The wife wants me to use long wall so window on short wall has water view.

Fact is, we have to shave a couple of hundred square feet off the 1st floor (yep, over budget) so what can I do for size of the media room; it's now drawn as 17' x 26' 4" x 9'. The speakers will be 3 Belles and have RS-7s and Heresy for the back / side but normally use a 5.1 setup.

[muel]

stupid question... how do you get to the rest of the house from the foyer? [*-)]

[USNRET]

stupid question... how do you get to the rest of the house from the foyer?

Hope to get a better answer to that on a 3D walk thru tomorrow BUT, I think it is under the 'catwalk' and it seems to us that it's on a diagonal??We just got this initial plan late today and haven't had them 'plained to us.

[garyeanderson]

A 40 inch tall half wall (maybe with a bar top on it) would give you some options to use a corner horn in the future on both walls. This might not be what you are thinking but sometimes things change.

[Chris A]

The wife wants me to use long wall so window on short wall has water view.

I guess that you've answered your question. [*-)]

Chris

[USNRET]

i guess what I'm asking guys is if a smaller room would hurt much or rather is there a better LxW I should use....acoustically. At leaset I do get to make the calll which wall to use.

[USNRET]

That design has gone back for a severe re-do.

[Chris A]

Just in case you don't have PWK's article on room proportions, here is a copy (enclosed).

Chris

Room Dimensions for Optimum Listening PWK.pdf

[Chris A]

A more recent and detailed paper on the subject of relative room dimensions and the resulting room mode measures of merit (enclosed).

Chris

JAES_V52_6_PG640.pdf

[artto]

For HT I would go with the short wall, primarily because of the surround sound requirement. On the long wall it's kind of difficult to get the rear speakers well enough behind you. It also makes seating more comfortable IMO. If everyone is piled up against the back wall (in the long wall setup) you're going to get very different low-end sound for each seat. For stereo/music its a little different and I would usually go with the long wall for the wide-stage effect if your speakers are appropriate (ie: a Quad ESL57 is probably not the best choice for this) as long as you're seating is not up against the back wall. As the room gets larger and larger where the "wide-stage" is appropriately "wide enough" then things start to reverse again and you can go with the "short" wall, say like in a 30x40 foot room.

I'm thinking of putting HT in my room and if I do I'll probably move the main speakers to the short wall for the above reasons.

[Marvel]

stupid question... how do you get to the rest of the house from the foyer?

It's a privacy thing... [:#]

[scallywagger77]

before 5.1 and even 7.2 the long wall would have been the answer, corner placement with a bridged center for listening enjoyment was it. however, things have changed and in the HT world the earlier comments about the seamless soundstage and rear surrounds put the mains on the short wall. for listening only though I would go for 3.1 or 3.nothing on the long wall as prescribed by the Legend in Sound.