Currently my system is set up is a large “open floor plan” room. The main room, dinning room, and kitchen are essentially one large room (W-20’ L-30’ H- 13 1/2’) The front wall is a section of the 20’ wall, system facing the kitchen/dinning area. The other option I have, but not tested yet, is (W-10’ L-16’ H-11’). I’m curious if given an option, which room would you choose. I get it try both and go from there. Like I said just wondering what others settled on and why. Thanks, Skip
Welcome! Great question that can generate a lot of discussion. I opted for a smaller room (about the size of the one you are considering). Listening privacy and the ability to fully sound-treat the room were major factors. I am happy with the results.
Indeed. Depending on WAF wrt positioning of your rig and speakers, room treatment and privacy should be considered first. Next is reflection points between speakers and listening position and overall absorption, or the lack thereof, combined with the ability to rearrange the layout of your living.
I would use the 20’x30’ area with the 20’ wall as the front wall behind the speakers. I have a similar space with a 17’-4” x 30’-0” rectangle plus the dining area back and to the side, but my dining room rectangle is 19’x10’ and parallel (not perpendicular) to the living room/kitchen. This allows for symetry from speakers to listener, and no walls directly behind the listening seat.
I also have diffusion on the side walls and an area rug on the floor.
Which room has more glass surface?
Welcome, Skip. Ron asked a good question. The room that has more problems to overcome will have… more problems to overcome. But there’s another factor to consider - are the speakers the right size for the room? Not everyone may agree, but I’m a firm believer in the concept of everything having to “fit” together to get the best that is possible out of a system + room. I’ve seen and heard too many systems that have either gargantuan speakers in a closet sized room, or tiny bookshelf speakers in a cavernous space. Can situations like these be enjoyable? Sure, maybe. Will situations like these get the best that is possible out of the system? IMO, probably not.
Thanks! Listening privacy is definitely a consideration and good point with sound treatment.
The large room has way more glass surfaces.
My speakers are Zu Audio DW6 + Superfly. If I were to choose the smaller room I would probably move to stand mount speakers. Upgrading the Zu’s was the last component in my system I would need to upgrade. I’m homing in on age 69 in a couple of weeks. I’m getting toward the inevitable ”this may be my last component” but I really hate saying that if I’m being honest.
Some good books on the subject:
Get Better Sound–Jim Smith
Sound Reproduction–Floyd Toole
And of course, Audiophile’s Guide by Paul McGowan.
And it might be fun to noodle around AI, keywords; HIFI room setup, or pressurizing or loading.
Highly efficient speakers, those Zus. If you have the opportunity to try both rooms, I’d say try them. You’ll have a bigger issue (likely) dealing with low frequency mode suppression in the smaller room, versus (likely) dealing with the reflective surfaces in the larger room. Either way it’ll come down to finding out which choice will give you the best sound with the lesser Herculean treatment effort and trade offs. Those guides Ron mentioned will help.
Thanks Ron, I appreciate the info. Skip
I am not familiar with this speaker, but even with my older floor standing speakers (about 4 to 5’ tall) before, the smaller room did not work well at all. Basically I could not turn the volume higher. The bass was a major problem, but soundstage width and depth did not have enough space to form one to my liking.
Your larger room has a high ceiling like mine, and I believe you will hear much better SQ in the larger room. My slope ceiling takes an entire sound bouncing side out, and the music breaths so much better!
Try the smaller room first, and play some music with deep bass and you will know quickly.
This is a big disadvantage of a smaller room for sure. I was able to address it with sub woofer placement just behind the listening position - but it is not ideal. I am perhaps happy I don’t know what I am missing.
Big.. I love big, spacious soundstages and big music.. My current musicroom is 19 feet deep and 21 feet wide with a ceiling rising to 12 feet, and I can easily see myself in a room maybe 26 feet deep and at least 22 feet wide, and also with a nonfixed-height ceiling.
My answer to the prevailing question would be “yes”. Ideally, sure, a big room with a big soundstage with better bass would impress. But, most often, the larger the room, the greater the anomalies that have to be tamed.
I moved from a smaller to larger room and the effort to get it closer to ideal was significant. A bunch of active and passive treatments in play.
There really isn’t an answer, just your willingness to get your preferred site to work for you.
Do you prefer more big concert performance or small intimate club type setting?
I would choose my higher end system in the smaller room and acoustically treat it. It will be easier to control and get the sound you are after. The big room could work, but require large amounts of treatment and would generate a lot of quizzical looks from guests.
Ultimately I would do systems in both rooms with lesser dollars spent in the large room.
Good luck!
IMO, speakers would have to be extremely large to be too big for most reasonably sized rooms.
I think you need decent amount of surface area for midrange and LF drivers to generate great sound in all but the smallest of rooms.
Welcome to the forum.
I really enjoyed reading the comments. The logical first step is to haul the system into the small room and see how it sounds. A strong case can be made for the smaller room; less glass, easier to treat the room, and listening in a quieter atmosphere. Or, buy a second system!!! My spouse would certainly love that idea. Thanks again, Skip
After you do this, you’ll realize that you were misled in the wrong direction. But then you will know for sure just how good your bigger room is.