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Hi everyone I am Dennis from acoustic fields. Today we are going to talk about some dos
and don'ts in room setup. Now a lot of people have rooms, a lot of audiophile rooms in the
last 2 or 3 weeks that I've been seeing some really disturbing trends, I want to bring
those things to your attention. First and foremost, the distances between
the speakers and the side wall must be equal. I mean, this is really no negotiation on this
fact. Sound is an electromechanical energy form and it travels in a constant speed, so
we need to have predictability when we have those reflections coming at us at the listening
position. If we have different distances we have different timeframes, any shifting going
on in the sound stage and a dullness and a grouping, our instruments and vocals suffer,
so you wanna make sure our distances are equal. This is a little alcove in one of our clients'
rooms, so obviously if we did not have that alcove we would have equal distances.
Another thing that's critical and people are not seeming to get this for some reason is
sound takes on the characteristics of the surface it strikes. I know that sounds weird,
but if sound strikes glass it has a particular glass sound if you will. That sound is really
prevalent in your car, I do not care how many speakers you have, I do not care what kind
of car you have, it is still a problem. It is still energy inside of a glass bowl. So
it's got a particular sound to it, it is harsh, it is tinny, it is glaring, and it is like
nail on a blackboard, it is something we really do not want to have. So glass has got to go
in our rooms. You've got to cover it with treatment when you're playing music if you
are gonna get any kind of quality sound out of it at all.
Distances equal on both left and right channels is a must, also no cavities in the room. Because
a cavity depending on what its dimension is, if its 8 foot and it is 2 foot deep, and it
is 7 foot high, well it has an acoustic signature. It has room modes, it has all kinds of the
four acoustical distortions, poor diffusion, speaker boundary interference affect also,
and some comb filtering can be going on so we get a lot of distortioins out of this,
what this ends up being a little alcove or closet that's open like that, is another speaker,
because it is gonna produce a sound based on its dimensions that it resonates at, and
it is going to interfere with our direct sound from our speakers. So no hidden chambers,
no hidden closets, fireplaces, definite no no, they have to be filled when you're playing,
because they can turn out to be a tuned resonator that you do not even want, especially with
the long pipe in through the chimney. So distance is equal between left and right
channel, side wall reflection points. Obviously these distances back here are equal, because
we need predictability, we need to manage reflections and manage low frequency pressure,
in order to do that we need predictability. We do not want one side behaving differently
than the other, it is hard enough getting it right if there are different sides. Another
issues that has pros and cons to it, and let us talk about that is an open rear wall. In
this particular room it goes back another 15 feet this way. So we do not have any wall,
this is couch, the seated position, so we do not have any room boundary surfaces directly
behind the listening position. Now that's a good thing, if you have speakers
that are capable of filling this space. With energy. It is a great thing for low frequencies
because we have more volume for the pressure to run to, so to speak. If you are after intimacy
and development of your two channel system in a real intimate kind of near field monitoring
way, this will not work. Because it gives you a lot of openness and a lot of spaciousness,
and probably not the best format for more critical listening environment, but if you
want a big sound stage, openness and lots of bass energy, a perfect scenario right there,
in review let us make sure our side walls are equidistant from our speakers and please
no glass. We must make most surfaces hopefully out of the same materials and the same density,
and no pockets or closets, and depending on the kind of listening we are gonna do, we
may or may not need a rear wall. Thank you.