Square room syndrome - whats possible now....

B

Brad_Porter

Guest
Dear all,

My room is a little square - in fact, its 3.2 meters by 3.3 meters. That’s square enough. Sounds silly, but the room didn't LOOK square at first, but upon measurement, my fears were confirmed. A square room. As I have understood from Nic Rhodes and others, this is going to cause grief with sound quality.

I know that my sub doesn’t sound as good as it should and I have tried various places and have it sounding OK but not brilliant. I now assume this is down to room acoustics.

The speaker’s sound O.K, but no where near as good as they did in the demo room at Raleigh Hi-fi. Closer then they did, but they almost, well, don’t come together. If that makes sense. (NOTE: I know that demo rooms are ‘acoustically sound’ but I know that the sound in my house isn’t as good as it should be – in short, I am beginning to think the acoustics are the issue rather then equipment)

Is there any advice on what I can do (ahem, short of moving house or room!) that can sort out the sound in a square room? Assume that all channel levels have been calibrated to 75db and the set-up is pretty much Dolby Standard for a 5.1 set-up.

I do find this all fun, but this is where my amoeba like knowledge really struggles. Need some real expert advice.

If it comes to it, I would gladly welcome a home visit from any recognised expert, which would include a fee for their troubles and at least a few free beers.

I also have a basic room layout design done in a gif format so you can have a look in your browser. Please ask and Ill send if it helps.

Sigh. Does it ever end……?
 
It may be of use/interest to take a look at the following set-up 'blueprint'

www.bryston.ca/newsletters/65_files/vol6is5.html

This seems to suggest that a small/square room can still work OK as long as the speakers are roughly in the same positions as shown in the diagram.

It's a tough one this, I have a reasonably small room (half of my front room, probably 4.5m wide x 3.5m deep) sounds great to me, really cohesive, whilst my mate feels it's too obvious in terms of sound directionality whereas my mate's full size room (double those previous dimensions) leaves me straining to make out centre channel details and directional sense.
 
Here are some iDeas to deal with a square room...

Make it non square.....Do this by putting bookshelfs at back of room on opposite wall from the speakers. Break up this wall at all costs. Try putting tall plants in corners of the room too. Don't fill up the bookshelf uniformly. Make its face an uneven surface...

More when I've calmed down from a long tough day!

Gordon
 
Originally posted by Gordon, Convergent-AV
Do this by putting bookshelfs at back of room on opposite wall from the speakers.

Or, as I do, and if layout permits, hang heavy curtains along this wall... also try and get them with too much material width wise so that they 'ruffle' up a lot rather than being flat.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom