Help with speaker placement / Room treatment

holland.g.david

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Hi, I'm looking for help with speaker placement (within very narrow options) and/or help with room treatment to compensate.


We have just decorated and rearranged our lounge, the TV/Speakers have been placed into an alcove in the lounge and so far, I’m not liking how they sound there. I have no option of moving them beyond back and forwards from the front wall (a bit), this is where they are staying.

So, with that in mind does anyone have any tips on how I can improve the sound I’m getting or things to experiment with at least.

Details (Hopefully enough)
Wharfedale 9.6 Diamond floor standers
Wharfedale 10.CM Centre
Wharfedale 9.1 Surrounds (not yet in place but will be ear hight directly behind and to the side of the sofa)
Cambridge Audio Minx 12 for Overhead (Need to experiment between Ceiling reflection/Front hight/Overhead)
BK XXLS400-DF Sub

Distances for Wharfedale 9.6 (measured to centre of cones)
65cm from front wall
27cm from side wall (only about 8cm to the cabinet)
295cm to listener
Listener will be about 30cm from rear wall (blind directly behind listener)

Large rug coming soon to cover the space between Speakers and listeners.

Thanks All for any help!
 

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That ottoman or what`s it`s called in front of the couch at right side should be moved elsewhere so you can push your mainspeakers forward more. They are "trapped" now against side and front wall so you are getting quite a bass boost which will muddy the mids and highs surely. Too big speakers for that tight alcove anyway (2x 8" drivers), you are running them full range without subwoofer. Better would be compact standmount speakers with quality subwoofer playing from 80hz down, leaving the speakers playing mids and highs more cleanly. They would still require space around them (pushed forward). As you have Wharfedale 10CM which is good looking 3-way centre with big drivers i would be tempted to buy 10.2s as mains, they cost like 100£, but you would need some cheap 60cm stands too. If for some reason you don`t want subwoofer and keeping the big 9.6s then you just need to push them lot more forward. You have tv wall mounted so you can`t push everything forward sadly which would looked more balanced probably.

I would also push that 10CM forward as it´s rear ported and the more optimal spot for it would be at the front edge of your av-unit, the sound wawes wouldn´t "bounce" from the unit either so you kill two birds with one stone. I would also consider some isolation pads under the speaker to decouple it from the av-unit. Small things but if you are passionate about this hobby then why not walk the extra mile.

Bad_vs_Good_grande.png

If you can mount the Minxes on ceiling about where your knees are when you sit then go for that. It`s the most optimal placement for them as that is where the effects should come so you want to have speakers there. Not at front trying to bounce the sound with poor results.

minx.jpg


Some type of thick rug in front of the speakers and couch would be good and curtains at the window but not sure if possible.
 
Thanks so much for the reply, I'm sorry I managed to miss some details (have updated the original post now). I do have a sub which is a BKXXLS400-DF and I’m not running the 9.6's full range.
Also, there is a large rug coming that will sit between the Sofa and TV.
The blinds behind the listener are thick fabric roman blinds.

I would rather not replace the speakers, as they are something I already have, but would having an 80hz crossover on the floor standers basically make them act like bookshelves in that respect?

Luckily the TV is mounted on a tall stand with the base of the stand sitting under the AV unit. So I can bring everything forward.
Like many people it’s a compromise between my want to make things sound good and my other half’s want to have things look good, and have space. So while I could just pull everything right forward out of the alcove that would meet with some resistance due to lost floor space.

If I were pulling the speakers forward, would I have to bring them all the way forward to the edge of the alcove to notice a difference do you think? The back of the cabinet is currently between 1/2ft away from the front wall.

Obviously, I can have a play with this, I actually currently have the Unit and the TV stand on Teflon floor sliders to moving them around is fairly simple, I could even chuck some under the speakers in the short term to make those easier to move.

I will bring the centre forward, its currently sitting on rubber feet on top of the unit, is that good enough for isolation, or rubbish compared to something specific?

As for the Atmos speakers they fall into the same sound/looks problem. I will have a play with the celling bouncing affect and see how I get on, otherwise will start bringing my partner around to having Speakers hanging from the ceiling.
 
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The rubber feets are fine just bring it forward at the front edge and personally i would aim it shooting more upward, so perhaps using larger bits at the front.

It would probably look horrible if you would bring them 9.6s that much forward and there is still the side walls too close so it ain`t never going to be optimal. Could you leave about 0,5meter space behind? I didn´t see sub, that is good news. Definitely play around with speaker crossovers. Don´t be afraid to try higher than 80hz settings for all speakers.

Which av-receiver you have?
 
For the centre Ill have a play with the angle and try and get it point at head hight, because it's a rounded cabnet you can sort of rotate it on the feet somewhat to change the angle (feet aren't stuck on its just resting on them).

Ill edge the front speakers forward a couple of CM a day see if they start soundng better (and that way no one will notice them moving).

The sub is along the back wall to the left of the sofa next to where you can see the plant pot.

The soround left speaker will be going on the cabnet about where the plant pot is, the sofa will be coming forward about 20cm and a shelf going in behind the sofa on the other side for the right soround. Not ideal I know, but got to work with what you got.

I have a Denon AVRX3600, and am playing with the idea of using an Audiolab 8000s as a power amp for the 9.6's (It has an Pre - Power AV mode). I have a Audiolab 8000p as well, but it needs repairing.
 
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