Question on klipschorn room dimensions

[dtr20]

My ultimate speakers are klipschorns. The only room I would really be able to put them would be my living room which is setup for home theater. The dimensions are 29' long by 13' wide and my listening position is about 16-17' away. Does this work at all for klipschorns? Thanks

Edited July 23, 2016 by dtr20

[pbphoto]

Do you have solid corners?  How high are the ceilings?

[dtr20]

8 ft ceilings

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[dtr20]

Those are klf 30s and klf 20s in the corners now

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[Zim.]

  x

[pbphoto]

The cat tree isn't helping matters either ;-)

[dtr20]

I definitely could not put them on the long wall. But I guess if it doesn't sound right in those corners, I could do the false walls and toe them in a bit. I'm sure it will still sound great.

[Chris A]

The dimensions are 29' long by 13' wide and my listening position is about 16-17' away. Does this work at all for Klipschorns?

 

Yes it does, I believe.

 

The deal with Khorns is that if you're using them without false corners, they must be oriented in the corners at 45 degrees from each adjoining room wall (more on this below).  However, using false corners with your Khorns frees you to aim them at your listening position(s), which for you is pretty far back away from the front wall.  Most people listen to their Khorns at a distance of 10-12 feet, as it turns out.  Listening to them further back allows them to "coalesce" better due to time misalignment issues of the bass bin to midrange, and midrange to tweeter: sitting further away seems to help resolve those issues better.

 

The real issue in positioning Khorns is actually:

 

1) Positioning them for extended bass response without also creating "suck out" frequency response in the mid-bass.  You do this by positioning them in the corners of the room snug up against the corner and bisecting the 90 degree corner of the room (i.e., the 45 degree angle with the room corner walls). Or you can use false corners to allow much greater freedom of placement and aiming, as long as you maintain no more than 18 inches distance from the side or front walls. 

 

2) Dealing with the midrange horn's (the K-400) off-axis response (due to its curved side wall construction), and ceiling/floor bounce due to its vertical collapsing polar design below about 1.8 kHz down to about 300 Hz (i.e., below its crossover point) that puts a lot of excess acoustic energy on your ceiling and floor that must be dealt with...must be absorbed.  If you're using false corners to allow aiming off the 45 degree line, then you will be putting more acoustic energy from the lower midrange on the side wall or the front wall, depending on which direction you aim the Khorns from the 45 degree bisection line.  This extra nearfield acoustic energy also must be controlled in order to get good imaging.  This is adjustable by placing a 2' x 2' x 1" absorption square on each of the side wall and front wall, thus regaining your imaging performance as if you're using them on the 45 degree bisection line.  (See https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/131163-corner-horn-imaging-faq/.) You will also need carpet on the floor directly in front of the Khorns to about 3-6 feet distance from the front face of the Khorns to soak up the excess floor bounce energy.

 

The net result of these adjustments to the room acoustics will be to fix the issues of the narrower room dimension (13').  With these room acoustic stipulations above, a pair of Khorns in the corners of your room will sound amazing.  Note that you also need to keep all other room furnishings within about 6' of the Khorns' midrange horn mouths (including the center console) away from the near field of the Khorns in order to get that excellent imaging performance. This also applies to you personally: any tables or acoustically reflective room furnishings within 6 feet of your listening position(s) will affect the imaging performance of your loudspeakers.

 

Chris

Edited July 23, 2016 by Chris A