Salk Song Towers-How Close is Too Close?

Hello Salk Song Tower Owners! This is my first post to this forum. After spending hours upon hours reading these and reviews about how great the Salk Song Towers are, I really want to treat myself to this musical experience next year. But, I need to ask for your help in determing if this makes sense based on my space limitations. I live in a townhome so my space for a great listening location is very small and not very flexible. I have a guest bedroom that I would love to be able to convert into a music listening room/home theater with a 5.1 set-up. My wish list consists of the Salk Sound Towers, Salk Center and the Salk Surround 1's. The bedroom is extremely small... 9' 6" W x 10' 9" D x 8' H ceiling. I have read that the towers can be placed just a foot away from the wall and still obtain great sound... does that also apply to the side walls? If I follow the rule of thirds... I would need to move my listening position 2 to 3 feet from the rear wall. That gives me only a little over 5 feet of disance from the front towers to my listening position! Is that too close even for near field listening? Will this lead to a letdown based on my expectations?

I know that I will need to buy or build bass traps to deal with room acoustic issues. I would mount the Surround I's on the back wall behind the listening position. I love to listen to jazz and blues music... The room would be used for 60% music (2 channel & multichannel SACD and DVD audio) and 40% movies.

Based on my limited space am I being unrealistic on what can be expected even from a stellar speaker? My alternative is my living room area, but it is the center of the house... too much household activity to seriously listen to music. I would definitely prefer to have a room that I could have exclusively for music listening and watching movies... my escape after a hectic day. Let me know if I am living in a fantasy world! Has anyone else experienced or experimented with the scenario that I'm dealing with?

I am a total novice in this area. Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. Happy holidays to everyone!

Dennis,

Thanks a million for the quick response! Based on your response, I think I may take a second look at my living room space. I have attached photos of the space. There is 12 1/2 feet of depth from the fireplace wall to the couch. Plus there is an additional 3' 10" inches to the (purple) stairwell wall. That makes the total depth of the space a little over 16 ft. The room is 40 ft wide from the living room wall to the kitchen wall.

I am assuming that I would have a better soundstage in this area... or will this area have more acoustic issues than the small bedroom? The downside to this location is that it is the main family area... so there's a lot of activity and noise in the kitchen... plus I have 6 year old child with a five month old puppy!
I would have to purchase and install a new plasma or lcd tv over the
fireplace since my current set is a DLP and in the corner of the room. (I
know... this is not your problem.) Also, in your opinion, should I put the Surround I speakers at ear level on stands on opposite ends of the couch... or should I place the Surround I's higer up on the stairwell wall pointed down at the listening position? Thanks for the valuable feedback!

Thanks everyone for the responses so far... Bigjp, do you own the Salk Song Towers? I think I might be able to get close to 7 ft distance between the speaker and my listening position if I move the loveseat in the small bedroom closer to only one foot off the rear wall... how does that option sound?

Dennis,
You mentioned that you listened to the HT3's in room about the size I'm considering... the soundstaging was good but the bass was problematic. Did the room have any acoustic treatments? I am definitely planning on building or purchasing these elements to address those issues.

Thanks Dennis... Safe Travels.

Hey Nuance,

Great to hear from you. I've been totally a sideline member up to now... heck it took me over an hour trying to figure out how to post a thread! Your review of the Salk's was the tipping point for me on selecting them. I follow the Salk Owner's subscription pretty religiously even though I'm not an owner yet... I hop to change that soon!

As far as the living area goes, do you think that the 2 8' x 10' area rugs are not sufficient for floor absorption? It's definitely not in the plans to carpet the entire area. I am open to ditching the glass tables if that would help the situation. With the kitchen area so far away from the speakers, will the tile in that area influence the sound negatively? Probably the only additional treatment I might consider in the living room area is to do some type of absorption panel on the stairwell wall behind the listening position. Does the stairwell itself create additional problems?

Regarding the surround placements if I use the living rooom area, do you feel that it would be too far back if I had the Salk Surrounds almost 4 ft back from the listening position on the stairwell wall. I have seen some articles that state that 5.1 should be more so to the sides of the listening position... how flexible is that school of thought? Plus, if I went with the speakers to the sides of the sofa, I have not seen any speaker stands that could position the Surround I's a foot to two feet above the ears. Am I just not looking in the right places?

I take a look at that small bedroom every day to try to figure out the best way to make that a poor man's oasis for a multi-channel music/home theater room! I guess there is no such thing as a perfect room. I am absolutely willing to do whatever is necessary to make the room sound great if it is at all feasible. I have checked out GIK accoustics and they seem to have products that can help me deal with the small space issues Nuance, you mentioned that you sit 9ft from your Towers... how far are you from your rear wall in that setting? Based on the info that I have provided so far, which space do you think presents the best opportunity for an ideal listening location?

Now, I need to apologize for asking so many questions! Thanks for asking all the key questions and taking the time to respond to my call for advice. it's helping me to look at this from various perspectives. The more feedback the better informed decision I will make. I hope to pick you and the other Salk Owners brains in the coming weeks.

Doug,

Thanks for the feedback... it sounds like my first option (small bedroom) is very similar to your space. I can definitely get that much space between the speakers and the listening position. A few additional questions about room acoustics... what is the height of your ceiling? Do you use any bass traps or other acoustic treatments? And, how far are is the rear wall behind your listening position? Muchas gracias.

Nuance,

I am definitely going to do all I can to make the small bedroom work. How far do you sit from the rear wall in your set-up? And do you have Surrounds with your Salk Song Towers? Thanks for all the great feedback.

Thanks Nuance,

I hope to place my order very soon... I can't wait to join such an enthusiastic group of owners!