[Nicolas Sole]

hey guys just after some feed back on my front baffle wall design. Frist image is the original design from Shawn at QuestAI (Awesome bloke BTW), as you can see there are boxes on the edges of the room, these are there to accommodate waste pipes from upstairs. because of these the right and left front channels are pushed forward.

This is my design that I've come up with, my issue is where the side speakers connect to the baffle of the rear wall. as you can see in this image the left LCR has an opening to the rear but the right is sealed off. my question is do I leave it open creating one large baffle or do I close it off, so the left and right have there own enclosures.

if there is anything else that you think I should change please don't hesitate to mention it, I'm in the very early stages of my build at the moment and I'm still learning a lot from you guys.

Thanks

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

I've seen plenty of Shawn's designs and built a handful. The pipes aren't the reason for the speakers being forward and at angle. I've seen that same basic concept design in perfectly rectangular rooms. It works well here to solve your problem. As for sealing the wing walls to the front wall, you can do that if you want but be sure you put some absorption in there to keep the sealed cavity from resonating. Sealing off the wing wall sections entirely pretty much eliminates the future opportunity to pile up insulation and create bass absorbers if you discover you need that later. Bottom line is I wouldn't do it. I'm also pretty sure Shawn's design anticipated a fabric covered acoustically transparent screen wall with specific acoustic treatment behind it on the font wall, it wasn't a solid baffle wall. Making it solid moves the mid point of the room length much closer to first row seating and you never want to sit at the mid point due to the bass nulls at that position. You hired a pro I would stick with his design.

 

[SierraMikeBravo]

Baffle walls are tricky things. They really only serve one purpose and that’s to help eliminate SBIR. Further, they should be fully sealed, even around the speakers, to eliminate the potential for refraction from any slits. I’ve started doing these type of baffle wall designs, and it’s not easy to seal the speakers and make them accessible at the same time. As Jeff mentioned, in this case, I’d leave it alone. Everything has been figured out and considered.

 

[Nicolas Sole]

I've seen plenty of Shawn's designs and built a handful. The pipes aren't the reason for the speakers being forward and at angle. I've seen that same basic concept design in perfectly rectangular rooms. It works well here to solve your problem. As for sealing the wing walls to the front wall, you can do that if you want but be sure you put some absorption in there to keep the sealed cavity from resonating. Sealing off the wing wall sections entirely pretty much eliminates the future opportunity to pile up insulation and create bass absorbers if you discover you need that later. Bottom line is I wouldn't do it. I'm also pretty sure Shawn's design anticipated a fabric covered acoustically transparent screen wall with specific acoustic treatment behind it on the font wall, it wasn't a solid baffle wall. Making it solid moves the mid point of the room length much closer to first row seating and you never want to sit at the mid point due to the bass nulls at that position. You hired a pro I would stick with his design.

Thanks for the feedback, I made the assumption that a front baffle is good in all occasions I wasn't aware of the problems it may create.

After reading your post I realised that I have also miss interpreted the drawings with the treatments I assumed that the front wall treatments where flush/inline with front speakers not behind it as shown in his drawings, also why I assume a baffle wall.

Thanks for the help, I'd dare say that I'll be contacting you for more hints and tips when I actually start building

Baffle walls are tricky things. They really only serve one purpose and that’s to help eliminate SBIR. Further, they should be fully sealed, even around the speakers, to eliminate the potential for refraction from any slits. I’ve started doing these type of baffle wall designs, and it’s not easy to seal the speakers and make them accessible at the same time. As Jeff mentioned, in this case, I’d leave it alone. Everything has been figured out and considered.

Awesome thanks for that. I totally miss intrepted the treatment drawings. I wasn't aware that you had taken the front wall into consideration as I just paid for layout drawings, I'll forget the baffle and stick to the original plans. Thanks again it's been a real pleasure having you help me out.