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Dead room! Help pls!

1168 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by ratboy, Jan 5, 2009

ratboy

Discussion Starter · Jan 4, 2009

Was hoping to get some advice on my setup. I can't seem to get any life out of my mains. Everything sounds dreadfully flat. My ceiling is slanted on one side of my 16x12 room (see pic).

My question is, which side of the room would be better for my mains? You can see in the photos below that my mains are currently firing at the slanted side. Next to one of my mains to the left behind the dry wall is the chimney (not sure what effect this could cause). The surrounds are sitting in the window spaces.

I have tweaked and tweaked the placement of the mains (close to wall, moved them closer together, ect), and get decent sound, but the mid bass (Rocket 850s) is definitely missing. When I walk around the room, the accoustics seem to improve at times. I've had my Rockets for ~10 mos. so they should be plenty broken in by now.

Would I be any better swaping the placement of the mains and surrounds? I'm thinking the slanted ceiling must be playing a big role here. Any advice?

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Bing

· #2 · Jan 4, 2009

You could reverse the wiring so that the surrounds become the mains and then move the couch.

If anything, the slanted wall is deflect more high freq towards you and maybe that is tipping the balance to a leaner sound. More likely is the seating position in a place where the bass cancels out.

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LTD02

· #3 · Jan 4, 2009

this is interesting. i just posted a question that you may find relevant:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1104152

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RXPorlando

· #4 · Jan 4, 2009

I would start out with some acoustical treatment. Check out acoustimac.com for good deals on treatment for your room. This will help cut down on the reverb and ecoes and will help your sound greatly.

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LTD02

· #5 · Jan 4, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by RXPorlando /forum/post/15455674

I would start out with some acoustical treatment. Check out acoustimac.com for good deals on treatment for your room. This will help cut down on the reverb and ecoes and will help your sound greatly.

what will that do for the bass?

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soundlovr

· #6 · Jan 4, 2009

I'd move your fronts out a bit into the corners of the room and toe them in. Presently, they're just sitting in dead space along the wall with not a lot of separation or reinforcement from the room. A corner location will boost your bass. Where is your subwoofer?

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LTD02

· #7 · Jan 4, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by soundlovr /forum/post/15455847

I'd move your fronts out a bit into the corners of the room and toe them in. Presently, they're just sitting in dead space along the wall with not a lot of separation or reinforcement from the room. A corner location will boost your bass. Where is your subwoofer?

won't corner placement also more strongly excite room modes and cause deeper nulls at various points in the room?

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ratboy

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 4, 2009

My sub is currently out of comission due to a lightning strike, and is out for repair. When I pull the mains out, it seems to make them seem even more flat.

I think I will do a little main/rear swap and see what happens. I have to believe the slant is causing a good amount of this.

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LTD02

· #9 · Jan 4, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by ratboy /forum/post/15455974

When I pull the mains out, it seems to make them seem even more flat.

how do you mean? please describe.

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EricM407

· #10 · Jan 4, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by ratboy /forum/post/15455974

My sub is currently out of comission due to a lightning strike, and is out for repair. When I pull the mains out, it seems to make them seem even more flat.

Depending on where you pull them out to, the sound might be better or another dead spot. Really, an inch or two one way or the other can be the difference. If you can move around the room and get the sound more solid, then speaker placement is definitely an issue.

Put one against the wall and have somebody move the other one out into the room and around slowly while you're sitting with some music playing that has a fairly constant bass line. Don't toe either speaker, and just look for solid bass. You'll hear several good spots, pick the best one. Then do the other speaker. Then listen to something with decent vocals and toe them until you get the stage centered and wide without being thin. Then if you changed the distance much, readjust the rake to get the tweeters aimed at the height you like.

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ratboy

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 5, 2009

Thanks for the input everyone! After doing an A/B between both sets, I decided to swap my setup. What a difference! It really is night and day. Now I can fine tune my positions to optimize. Now, if I can only get my sub back!

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