is it possible for 2 tower speakers to sound good in a room that is 10x10? the room is carpeted with 7' ceiling. there would be nothing in the room but a stand holding the gear and the 2 towers, along with a single chair against the back wall.
2 channel in small room
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Given what you described......nothing would sound good with that set-up. I'm not being a smartass, rather the fact is, a square room, with listening chair against a wall and no acoustic treatments just dosen't cut it ! adding tower speakers (assuming they greater / lower bass output) will only make the situation worse.
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Add some acoustic treatment and that room could sound pretty good.
Sure it can sound good, far from ideal but I've heard pretty good setups in rooms of similar size. I'll list some considerations in no particular order.
- With your chair against the back wall, and being in a small room, boundary gain is going to a big consideration. What that means if you'll have way too much bass energy if you choose the wrong speaker. I would rule out all 2.5way designs, since they almost always have a full 6db of baffle step compensation - and that won't work in your room. You need something with more like 2db of BSC, and the only way to know without talking to the designer themself, would be if the speaker has been tested and has reliable measurement data available. You need something that has none of the typical mid-bass/bass hump.
- Room treatments will make all the difference. Either buy or build some corner bass traps that go floor to ceiling. If you can treat 2 of the 4 corners that way it will be a huge improvement. Also put 2" or 4" thick panels directly behind and slightly to the inside of each speaker hanging on the walls, and another panel in each first reflection point. If you could put bookshelves in each of the first reflection points, and line the back walls with 2" or 4" rockwool, that would be even better. And for the back wall put whatever you can there based on your seating requirments. A couple 6' tall artifical ficus trees places slightly behind and outside the speakers could help as well.
- Put your speakers at least a foot out from the back wall, preferably 2 feet. Moving them out will improve your imaging, and will decrease boundary gain. But don't have them the same distace out from the back wall as they are from the side wall, that will exasserbate room nodes (measuring from the drivers radiating surfaces). I would probably start with something like (mesuring from the tweeter dome), 30" from the back wall and 18" from side walls. Play with toe in, all the way from tweeter axis' crossing 2 feet in front of your face, to no toe in at all. A lot of factors will determine what works best.
- Buy only uber expnsive speaker cables. Just kidding
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- With your chair against the back wall, and being in a small room, boundary gain is going to a big consideration. What that means if you'll have way too much bass energy if you choose the wrong speaker. I would rule out all 2.5way designs, since they almost always have a full 6db of baffle step compensation - and that won't work in your room. You need something with more like 2db of BSC, and the only way to know without talking to the designer themself, would be if the speaker has been tested and has reliable measurement data available. You need something that has none of the typical mid-bass/bass hump.
- Room treatments will make all the difference. Either buy or build some corner bass traps that go floor to ceiling. If you can treat 2 of the 4 corners that way it will be a huge improvement. Also put 2" or 4" thick panels directly behind and slightly to the inside of each speaker hanging on the walls, and another panel in each first reflection point. If you could put bookshelves in each of the first reflection points, and line the back walls with 2" or 4" rockwool, that would be even better. And for the back wall put whatever you can there based on your seating requirments. A couple 6' tall artifical ficus trees places slightly behind and outside the speakers could help as well.
- Put your speakers at least a foot out from the back wall, preferably 2 feet. Moving them out will improve your imaging, and will decrease boundary gain. But don't have them the same distace out from the back wall as they are from the side wall, that will exasserbate room nodes (measuring from the drivers radiating surfaces). I would probably start with something like (mesuring from the tweeter dome), 30" from the back wall and 18" from side walls. Play with toe in, all the way from tweeter axis' crossing 2 feet in front of your face, to no toe in at all. A lot of factors will determine what works best.
- Buy only uber expnsive speaker cables. Just kidding
thanks for the help. the speakers are Focal 716v's. i will probably have to find a new location in my finished basement because at this time i cannot add any room treatments because the house is for sale. im just looking for a temporary place right now so i can listen to my music. had to move everything out of my family room to make it look bigger for potential home buyers lol.
Hmm, thost are 2.5 ways. They're going to sound way too bass heavy in the setup you describe, just too much boundary gain. And the problem with boundary gain is that it goes way up into the vocal range too, so likely male vocals will sound thick and slow ... muddy sounding.
Plenty of bass traps as I describe above, and keeping your head and the speakers away from walls will help, but it'll be hard to get the balance where it should be. Still if you do what I said above, I bet you can make it pretty decent. And I wouldn't use subs at all, too much bass will be your problem ... not the other way around.
Hmm, thost are 2.5 ways. They're going to sound way too bass heavy in the setup you describe, just too much boundary gain. And the problem with boundary gain is that it goes way up into the vocal range too, so likely male vocals will sound thick and slow ... muddy sounding.
Plenty of bass traps as I describe above, and keeping your head and the speakers away from walls will help, but it'll be hard to get the balance where it should be. Still if you do what I said above, I bet you can make it pretty decent. And I wouldn't use subs at all, too much bass will be your problem ... not the other way around.
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You could try plugging the ports with something like thick foam (try not to use anything that will fall in the port
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). That should raise the low freq cutoff enough on those speakers to help in that room and reduce boom a bit until you move. Also, try placing the speakers on a diagonal or offset in the room rather than both against the same wall.
You could try plugging the ports with something like thick foam (try not to use anything that will fall in the port
I can't see them improving things in this case, not unless you can cross them hard - more than 24db/octave - at 40hz or lower.
Although, crossing the speakers at 70hz or so, and the subs at 50hz or so could possibly create a small null right where your primary room mode is and help to tame that hump. That would be something worth trying, move the xover points up and down just a hair and listen (assuming you can't measure).
I can't see them improving things in this case, not unless you can cross them hard - more than 24db/octave - at 40hz or lower.
Although, crossing the speakers at 70hz or so, and the subs at 50hz or so could possibly create a small null right where your primary room mode is and help to tame that hump. That would be something worth trying, move the xover points up and down just a hair and listen (assuming you can't measure).
Just guessing, I'd say the F3 ported is in the 45hz range ... sealed it would probably be like 65hz. The more gentle rolloff of sealed combined with the large amounts of boundary compensation you get from having your head close to the wall might mean more extension with the cabinet sealed. Another thing worth trying. In small rooms I find the speakers F10 point more realistic of how in-room extension than the F3.
Also a vented cabinet volume is going to be larger than volume needed for a .707Q alignment. Again just guessing, but it could be like a .5Q, which would take a bit of the hump in vented tuning out in the 80-120hz range, which would again be beneficial in your case.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Skubinski /forum/post/18230672
You could try plugging the ports with something like thick foam (try not to use anything that will fall in the port). That should raise the low freq cutoff enough on those speakers to help in that room and reduce boom a bit until you move. Also, try placing the speakers on a diagonal or offset in the room rather than both against the same wall.![]()
Just guessing, I'd say the F3 ported is in the 45hz range ... sealed it would probably be like 65hz. The more gentle rolloff of sealed combined with the large amounts of boundary compensation you get from having your head close to the wall might mean more extension with the cabinet sealed. Another thing worth trying. In small rooms I find the speakers F10 point more realistic of how in-room extension than the F3.
Also a vented cabinet volume is going to be larger than volume needed for a .707Q alignment. Again just guessing, but it could be like a .5Q, which would take a bit of the hump in vented tuning out in the 80-120hz range, which would again be beneficial in your case.
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