I am working on my living room system to tide me over so I can take my time and do my dedicated home theater properly.

Here are a couple of pics of the space I have a question about and then I will let you know what I am having trouble deciding...

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I will be placing a B&W HTM3S Center Channel on top of the entertainment center, which will fill up most of the space between the display and the furniture piece.

My question centers around my Left Front Speaker placement. I am using B&W 804s floorstanding speakers. Will it cause problems (sound wise) to place the speaker between the furniture and where the wall comes out a few feet forward on that left side (I put a sub in one picture there to illustrate where exactly I am talking about). This would cause the speaker to be somewhat "enclosed" between that wall and that entertainment center. There would be approximately 4" on either side of the speaker between the wall and the furniture.

OR do I need to pull it out a bit in front of that little alcove (have the front of the speaker a few inches in front of where the edge of that wall is)?
-Ethan

I don't think that it should be too much of a problem, but I am interested in hearing what others have to say on the subject, as I will be in a similar situation.

My speaker will be basically "sandwiched" between the wall and the deeper subwoofer - I am contemplating moving the subwoofer for this reason.

Great looking setup already BTW.

You want to place the speaker so the baffle is out past the corner. Otherwise you'll get too much boundry reinforcement, to say nothing of early reflections. With the right speaker out in the open and the left back into the corner will produce an uneven soundstage, with the left being boomy compared to the right. So set it an inch or so past the corner.

You want to place the speaker so the baffle is out past the corner. Otherwise you'll get too much boundry reinforcement, to say nothing of early reflections. With the right speaker out in the open and the left back into the corner will produce an uneven soundstage, with the left being boomy compared to the right. So set it an inch or so past the corner.

Thanks for the info!

Just to clarify do I need the front edge of the speaker an inch out or the entire speaker and inch out?

Thanks again.

-Ethan

Just the baffle(front).

Just the baffle(front).


Thanks again... I should read more closely next time and I would have realized that from your first post!

Thanks again... I should read more closely next time and I would have realized that from your first post!
We all do that from time to time. :o

Moving the left speaker forward will help, but still not balance the two sides. Because the left speaker is still on a wall it will still be reenforced, compared to the right speaker moved the same distance from the back wall. How much of a problem is at least in part a function of where you set the LFE crossover- the higher it is the less the problem.

There is an additional problem. Sound waves from the speaker radiate in a spherical manner, and bend around the sides of the enclosure. Those from the left side of the left speaker will immediately hit a boundary while those from the right side will not. If you were to play a test tone and move across the listening area; do you hear a difference left to right? Try some pink noise will sitting in the best seat.

You might consider treating areas next to the left speaker as well as the corner behind it to reduce the difference in reflections and reenforcement between the left and right speakers.

Lots of info about room treatments, store bought and DIY in this forum and on the web. http://www.realtraps.com/index.htm and http://www.gikacoustics.com/ are good places to start. Ethan Winer of RealTraps and the folks at GIK are regulars here.

Moving the left speaker forward will help, but still not balance the two sides. Because the left speaker is still on a wall it will still be reenforced, compared to the right speaker moved the same distance from the back wall.
That's all good, but this situation is only a temp one for Ebanks, until he finishes his dedicated room. One can't make perfect something that will never have a chance to be perfect.

Certainly doesn't hurt to get things as good as possible - even if temporarily - especially when they're free things to do.

Bryan

My front 3 speakers came in the other day. Got them unboxed and somewhat situated today. Still waiting on my cinema 11, lumagen vision, and parasound a52 before everything is actually functional.

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-Ethan

Certainly doesn't hurt to get things as good as possible - even if temporarily - especially when they're free things to do.

Bryan

What type of things could be done to improve upon the acoustics without adding panels or doing anything permanent?

Thanks

-Ethan

I was referring to getting the speakers out away from that wall corner to avoid reflections.

Getting your seats in a good place also will help tremendously.

Bryan