postjack Posted July 4, 2008 Report Posted July 4, 2008 Henceforth known as IDAR. Or speaker room. I'm taking off most of next week and besides a lil' road trip up north, I'll have lots of time on my hands. So I'm finally going to make an attempt to convert the extra room into a dedicated 2 channel audio room. I think I'm going to start by just having my analog rig, 840A, and obviously the Quad 22Ls in there. The room is by no means perfect but I'm bound to get better bass performance then in the tiny office space I currently use my speakers in. Here are some before shots: Northwest: Northeast: Southwest: Southeast: Obviously this has acted as the "hey lets throw this shit in here" room, in this case for the 18 months or so I've been in the house. Today I'm going to focus on getting the room picked up and all the shit moved. The room's dimensions are 13ft by 10ft. I plan on having the speakers firing longways down the room. Obviously the floors are wood which by my understanding is bad, but there ain't nothing to be done about that. So here are two questions to get me started: 1. I want to have my speakers setup on the south side of the room, with listening couch/chair on the north side, because otherwise I'll have to find someway to stop the door into the hallway from hitting my speakers when it opens. The problem with the southside is the window. I'm not sure how much impact having a window behind one of the speakers will have. So which side of the room do you think I should put the speakers on? 2. I have a nice thick carpet in there. Should I put the carpet under the speakers? Will this help at all with the wood floor? Or does it really matter? I'm going to go pickup a bit now, more pictures later. Thanks!
postjack Posted July 4, 2008 Author Report Posted July 4, 2008 Setup One: The sound is HUGE and the midrange is quite pleasant, and the extra bass extension is immediately noticeable, but the bass is obviously out of control and this is causing some congestion. Moving the speakers to 14" off the wall helped the bass dramatically. I might try moving them even more. I can't find my 22L manual so I don't know the exact amount of space from the wall it calls for. Maybe I can use the internet here. The bookshelves, being the biggest pains in the asses to move, are staying for the time being. Eventually I will move them, as what I really want to do is put a couch on the north wall so that multiple people can sit and enjoy. Anywho, I'm quite pleased with how quickly this all came together. I should have done this months ago.
jinp6301 Posted July 4, 2008 Report Posted July 4, 2008 Looking good posty! and good choice on the test vinyl
Augsburger Posted July 4, 2008 Report Posted July 4, 2008 Are your walls bare? With the wood floor and bare walls you might notice some wierdreflections and bass behavior. Speaker spikes with metal pucks underneath may help decouple the wood floors from the speakers. Or you could use pieces of granite.
Pars Posted July 5, 2008 Report Posted July 5, 2008 Looks good Jack. My brother had the floors in his condo redone a couple of years ago. They redid the living room (where his rig is) in wood, so he was somewhat nervous about how the acoustics would turn out, and was prepared to get some thick area rugs, etc. When he moved the rig back in, his Apogees have never sounded better and he is quite pleased with it. I think you are on the right track getting the speakers out from the back wall a bit further. Hope everything works out.
Salt Peanuts Posted July 5, 2008 Report Posted July 5, 2008 I can't find my 22L manual so I don't know the exact amount of space from the wall it calls for. Maybe I can use the internet here. In case you haven't found it yet - http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/downloads/Quad%20LS%20Revised.pdf
postjack Posted July 6, 2008 Author Report Posted July 6, 2008 Looking good posty! and good choice on the test vinyl That Sundazed pressing is one of my reference vinyls. It is a bass monster, and Tweedy's vocals just fit the deep midrange niche so perfectly. Also the music kicks ass. Are your walls bare? With the wood floor and bare walls you might notice some wierdreflections and bass behavior. Speaker spikes with metal pucks underneath may help decouple the wood floors from the speakers. Or you could use pieces of granite. The walls are pretty much bare, besides one picture. The granite is a doable tweak, thanks for the suggestion. Looks good Jack. My brother had the floors in his condo redone a couple of years ago. They redid the living room (where his rig is) in wood, so he was somewhat nervous about how the acoustics would turn out, and was prepared to get some thick area rugs, etc. When he moved the rig back in, his Apogees have never sounded better and he is quite pleased with it. I think you are on the right track getting the speakers out from the back wall a bit further. Hope everything works out. Right on. Tonight I pulled them 18" from the wall, and I think that is the magic number. Bass has gained definition and actually increased in impact, probably because it is more focused and not so boomy. In case you haven't found it yet - http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/downloads/Quad%20LS%20Revised.pdf Thanks Haj. Looks like they recommend a minimum of 7" between speaker and wall. I was just spinning the Classic Records pressing of "I Robot" with the new 18" wall to speaker distance and a slightly less aggressive toe-in. It totally rocked the cat box. Sounds great!
tyrion Posted July 6, 2008 Report Posted July 6, 2008 Jack, looks good. I'm in a similar size room and you can make it work. The trick was seeing how far I could get the speakers from the wall without turning it into nearfield listening. Experiment with the speaker positioning, it took me a while before I got it to where I thought I was getting the best sound.
n_maher Posted July 6, 2008 Report Posted July 6, 2008 Color me jealous Jack, the only speaker rig I get to have these days is at my workbench.
postjack Posted July 6, 2008 Author Report Posted July 6, 2008 i see Eternal Champion books! Yup. I'm only missing a couple omnibuses now. Count Brass runs over $100, so I've been shy about picking one up. Maybe the economic downturn will work in my favor here... the setup looks nice enough, but i would definitely suggest getting the speakers as far from the walls as possible. my listening space doubled in size overnight, and i think the biggest change is the fact that my speakers are away from the walls, now. Jack, looks good. I'm in a similar size room and you can make it work. The trick was seeing how far I could get the speakers from the wall without turning it into nearfield listening. Experiment with the speaker positioning, it took me a while before I got it to where I thought I was getting the best sound. Right on. At 18" they sound pretty nice, maybe today I'll go crazy and just try 2'.
boomana Posted July 6, 2008 Report Posted July 6, 2008 Looks really good. You're motivating me to get my room together. I still need a good rack, which will make positioning things much easier (using an old, heavy amish-built coffee table at present). The speakers are fine, but I need to work with the sub.
The Monkey Posted July 6, 2008 Report Posted July 6, 2008 Color me jealous Jack, the only speaker rig I get to have these days is at my workbench. Harbeths would probably be good for that application...
n_maher Posted July 6, 2008 Report Posted July 6, 2008 Harbeths would probably be good for that application... Don't think I'm not just giving Tyll a little time before offering to buy the pair that go slightly dinged at CanJam.
The Monkey Posted July 6, 2008 Report Posted July 6, 2008 Don't think I'm not just giving Tyll a little time before offering to buy the pair that go slightly dinged at CanJam. Heh, you're not the only one. My eyes lit up when Jorge showed me the dent.
postjack Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Posted July 7, 2008 22in from the back wall and the bass is awesome. I might start considering moving in from the side walls now just for fun, but the sound is impactful and full right now. With less boomy bass the midrange is just shining through like I never thought it could on the Quads. Vocals soar and electric guitars crunch. I also need to procure a chair with a lower profile so I can get the tweeters more at ear level. That director's chair is none to comfortable anyhow.
n_maher Posted July 7, 2008 Report Posted July 7, 2008 Just looked at the pictures again, looks like it's time for me to make posty some shorter speaker cables!
postjack Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Posted July 7, 2008 Just looked at the pictures again, looks like it's time for me to make posty some shorter speaker cables! LOL! Yeah those 15 footers tend to bunch up a bit in the corners. They get the job done for the time being though.
n_maher Posted July 7, 2008 Report Posted July 7, 2008 I may have a cheap pair of ~2m cables available soon (replacing my front channels at home for the fun of it), I'll let you know.
Voltron Posted July 7, 2008 Report Posted July 7, 2008 Sweet setup PJ! I hope you enjoy the Week of Tweak, hereinafter, WoT. Someday I will claim a listening room but it will be interesting to hear how yours pans out. Enjoy!
luvdunhill Posted July 7, 2008 Report Posted July 7, 2008 I may have a cheap pair of ~2m cables available soon (replacing my front channels at home for the fun of it), I'll let you know. mmm. i might be interested in the 15' ers ..
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