Speaker Placement and boundary problems

[RUR]

Originally Posted by prerich

.....The mirror technique works (for the seated position or sweet spot - you need two people to do this, sit in the sweet spot and have another person hold a mirror an walk down the side walls - where the speakers come into view - you need a room treatment there).

Or you can do it solo, using a little basic geometry:

The side wall panels will go slightly forward of the halfway point, and the exact distance is determined using the formula shown below. The panels are centered vertically on the tweeter height, which should be ear height as well.

Looking at Figure 4, this simple formula shows how to find the reflection point based on the distances from the side wall to the tweeter, and from the side wall to the listener.

etc., including diagram: http://www.realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm
Indeed, there's plenty of good room optimization info on that page.

Originally Posted by prerich

When you get ready to by you panels - go to Ebay - you can find studios selling this stuff cheap! Or if you want to you can make your own. I'm going to drape my entire back wall......

Hopefully, the stuff on eBay comes with published absorbtion data, so that you know what you're getting! Before treating your back wall with absorbtion, have you treated for corner bass absorbtion and first reflection points? Rooms can be too flat and you may find that diffractive treatment works best on the back wall. Everyone's system/room are unique, of course.

Originally Posted by Sir Terrence

When it comes to acoustics with most, its all just guess work. When it comes to speaker placement, its all just guess work. Consider this, how many folks have actually used a RTA and signal generator to tune their system, or judge where is a good place to put a speaker. NOBODY!!..........

All of which argues for education if folks are to get the most out of their systems. Will most settle due to lack of interest or aesthetics or ??? Probably, but there's always a few who'll take the plunge.