Doing a new room for both music and movies like I have. Options in the house are 13.3’ wide by 20 something deep. Or flip it to 13.3 deep by 20 something wide? I am thinking Wide. But wondering what others have experienced.
I would opt for 13’ wide by 20 deep. The depth will give you the choice of more space behind the speakers as well as more space behind the listening spot for a deeper soundstage. IMO!!
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What @Sohail said, unless you can ideally increase both dimensions
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Ive had both those size rooms. I got way better bass with the 13’ wide placement. 20’ puts you too close to the rear wall and will have too much bass build up and inconsistent bass. At least that was my experience.
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13 x 20.
Pretty similar to my basement size. I went for 13’ wide. I separated amplification on the front wall between the speakers and Pre/sources on the side wall in a rack. Take care also about symmetry if possible.
That gives you a better Image focus and a wider/taller soundstage.
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Deeper soundstage!
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I like the 20 wide and 13 deep option. I don’t like sidewalls adding the need to treat them with diffusers to cancel bounce. If your speakers are 8 feet apart that would make the sidewalls each six feet away. You’d be sitting near field which is also my preference. They have a point about bass though. In my room there is a huge no bass zone. Sadly it is where my listening chair is. Hmmmmm.
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It depends on what speakers you have, the music you listen to, the films you watch, the amount of acoustic treatment you can or want to do, how close you want to sit to the speakers, and no doubt other factors. Having the room 13’ deep would likely exclude using a lot of speakers.
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My room is about the same, 13.5x19.5. I use mine for movies as well. I went 19.5 wide for a couple of reasons. Logistically it works out better considering where windows and doors are. Secondly, I really need the extra space on the wall with the screen. I’m running two completely separate systems so I need space for 2 pair of fronts. Looks kind of funny but sounds very good.
Vince is that a vote for 13 wide by 20 deep?
13’w x 20’d
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Yes, thanks!
My basement is similar in size and have set it up both ways. Utilizing the length definitely is better for the sound, but not as user friendly for seating and socializing. We changed to a wider setup which is more user friendly for movies, sporting events and such, however I have had some bass control issues I am working through.
Audio only would stay with length, but as a multi-use room setup on the long wall is much better. .02$
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FWIW, my current room is 14 by 22
I have tried various ‘directions’, even placing speaker fronts 4 feet+ in front of an angled fireplace. SQ could be optimized regardless of the position.
I have arrived where I started…due to room flow niceties and doorways. A 22ft wide room, 14ft deep. Front of speakers 3 ft plus from ‘front’ wall (wall behind speakers, actually it is a large lanai window now mostly covered by a large diffuser) with the right speaker about 4 ft from the right wall and left speaker about 10 feet from left wall. About 3 feet behind chair to half wall (arched into a larger room). Getting excellent horizontal and vertical stage with instrument/singer positioning accomplished when the engineer produced a recording with such foci. Also, this orientation gives me much more flexibility in speaker distance from each other. Room is carpeted wall to wall, undue reflections well checked.
SQ, aesthetics, room flow…all to be merged into experiments and decisions and laser measurements for speaker position experimentation.
Hopefully, your space is not too alive…ie, significant reflections from basement-type walls.
I mentioned to increase dimensions if you can. I have had 9’, 12’ and 17.3’ wide rooms. The 17.3’ wide room is by far my best sounding room. The length dimensions 12’, 20’ and 30’. The 17.3’ x 30’ also has additional open areas (in both width and depth) beyond the listening area which seem to eliminate reflections from arriving from the back.
a 17 by 30 would be dreamy
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This is a possible build as I could be moving. Wife wants to move, I am ok staying. But this new house also has a a 6 car garage (3 attached too). The pervious owner worked on Race cars as hobby. The house is amazing and these buildings are all AC and floor heat via propone. I could take the far 2 car garage and make a suite 20x24 room with like 12’ ceilings. Issue is 100’ walk outside to get to it. Now if i was in Az or So Cal, not a big deal. In CT, during winter, going down steps at 10pm to listen to some music is way different than walking in 10 degrees with snow on the ground.
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only a ‘little’ snow shoveling and no strolling to the SQ room with only a bathrobe
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That’s a helluva crib.
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