Upside Down Advents

[Guest raymeedc]

Has anyone here experimented with placing their Original Large Advents upside down on high stands to minimize the sometimes boomy, overbearing bass & achieve a more balanced effect?

[dynaco_dan]

Has anyone here experimented with placing their Original Large Advents upside down on high stands to minimize the sometimes boomy, overbearing bass & achieve a more balanced effect?

Hi there;

Do you have them on a pair of stands, presently?

Is your bass or loudness on or boosted or flat?

Are the tweeters both outputing equally?

Are the tweeter switches in the + position?

Are the speaker leads in polarity?

If not, there is usually less bass.

The cabinet should be about 12" +/- above the floor, with the tweeter at ear level, when you are seated.

[Guest raymeedc]

My speakers are on 15" concrete stands.

I usually leave my amp on tone defest.

Tweeters are outputting equally.

Tweeters in the + position.

Speakers are in polarity.

Speakers are toed in & as far away from walls as is possible, considering my severe limitations, as, unfortunately, the one thing I can't control is the most important..... the room is small & square. Seems almost impossible to defeat.

[jackfish]

My speakers are on 15" concrete stands.

I usually leave my amp on tone defest.

Tweeters are outputting equally.

Tweeters in the + position.

Speakers are in polarity.

Speakers are toed in & as far away from walls as is possible, considering my severe limitations, as, unfortunately, the one thing I can't control is the most important..... the room is small & square. Seems almost impossible to defeat.

From the Cardas website:

Square Room Venting

Q.) Hello, First of all I'd like to say thanks for all of the great information provided at your site regarding speaker placement and listening room dimensions, I've found it very interesting and useful.

I'm one of the unfortunates that has a room measuring 8' H x 14' 7" x 15'. My speakers are set up on the long wall. Should I consider this room "square"? If so, the statement at the bottom of Diagram G, Speaker Placement in Square Listening Rooms: "Golden Rectangles, 1.618 (side wall) x 1 (rear wall) on one side and 1 (side wall) x 1.618 (rear wall) create diagonal lines for speaker placement in a square room." leads me to think that the Golden Rectangle may be rotated ninety degrees and used similarly to the way shown in Diagram "F"- Horizontal and Square Listening Rooms. Am I interpreting this correctly?

1.) Not being certain if the dimensions in my room are close enough to being square, which diagram should I use?

2.) Am I correct in thinking that I can place my speakers anywhere along the line created by bisecting the corners of the golden rectangle?

3.) Would the Nearfield Listening Position in Diagram B be an improvement over the the other diagram(s) that would be applicable to my room?

Thanks in advance for your time, I really appreciate it! - Best regards, Dave

A.) Hi Dave - Yeah, that is square room! You seem to understand the suggestions, except that "Near Field" refers to a listening position that has the listeners head the same distance from the speakers as the speakers are from each other. This is probably going to be the best place to listen in this room, no mater how the speakers are arraigned. I believe that you will find that softening the walls and the room in general will make the biggest improvement. Carpet with thick foam padding or batting on the walls covered by cloth, or anything else you can come up with along those lines, will make the room much more pleasant. Let me know what works best for you. I am always interested in the solutions that people find for Square rooms. - Cheers, George

Q.) Thanks George! I'm going to try your ideas with the room treatments and set up for the near field position, this room is driving me nuts! - The best, Dave

A.) Do you own the house? If so I have an idea that might work. - George

Q.) Hi, yes, I'm the owner. I do have plans to knock out a wall and extend the room another 5 feet, making it 15' x 19', but who knows when this will happen! I'd love to hear your idea. - Dave

A.) Ok here is a semi radical idea, but cheap and easy. If there is an attic, you can vent the room into it through a couple feet of fiberglass insulation. Use the pink stuff with no backing. A square room peaks all its nodes in the center of the room. An opening 4' x 8' (one sheet of dry wall) in the center of the ceiling will do fine. You can cover the hole with linen cloth. This will dramatically reduce the 50~/100~ cycle bump.

Felt works good for wall covering or linen over foam or cotton batting. If you have a source for pretty cloth, it works great and gives you tremendous latitude for tuning the room while still maintaining a pleasing aesthetic. - George

Q.) I just love radical ideas! Ok, let me be sure and understand your idea. I will cut out a section 4' x 8' out of the sheetrock in the ceiling, leaving joists intact, stuff a couple feet of fiberglass up in to the space, then make it pretty at the ceiling by covering with (probably in a frame) some linen cloth, or maybe burlap. I understand that burlap has good a good way of not reflecting sound. Do I have it right?

Thanks so much! My wife has pretty much figured me to be crazy already, so this won't surprise her at all. - Dave

A.) Yup that's it. Maybe a little chicken wire or something to keep the fiberglass under control and yes, burlap is fine, if you can find big enough rolls. My current room has cotton batting on walls double or triple at corners, edges and reflection points. The surface of the room is a blue linen I purchased at a yardage store. It is sewn together and stapled at the edges to hold it on the walls. It's rather extreme, but it looks great and it is the best sounding room ever. The unachievable goal of a perfect listening room has a little absorption at every frequency, evenly distributed (a little more at reflection points). This is easily achieved at mid and high frequencies, but the low frequencies require more industrial strength tricks. In the case of your square room, the hole in the middle seems ideal. If not, you get a little extra insulation and it only cost a little more than a sheet of dry wall to put it back. Let me know how it works out. - Cheers, George

[dynaco_dan]

My speakers are on 15" concrete stands.

I usually leave my amp on tone defest.

Tweeters are outputting equally.

Tweeters in the + position.

Speakers are in polarity.

Speakers are toed in & as far away from walls as is possible, considering my severe limitations, as, unfortunately, the one thing I can't control is the most important..... the room is small & square. Seems almost impossible to defeat.

Hi again Ray;

Place some padding, bluetack, carpet, rubber feet or just about anything soft between the speaker cabinet and the block.

We live within our home and our budget.

What are the measurements of your room, standard measurements please?

A bad room would be 8' high x 16' wide x 32" long (multiples).

A more suitable room might be 8' high x 14' wide x 22' long.

A typical sound room might be 8' high x 10' x 12' long.

At one time it was the norm to have speakers along the long wall with the listening chair at the opposite wall with a six pack. LOL

Keeping speakers away from walls and doorways is a good idea.

Not touching the wall is important.

A speaker mounted or touching a weak wall will now have a hollow space to carry the resonances even further.

A speaker sitting on a shelf mounted on a wall, should have sound insulation from the wall bracket.

[Guest raymeedc]

Room measurements are 10 ft. x 12 ft. x 9 ft. high. Speakers are along 12 ft. wall, about 1 1/2 ft. from side & rear walls, toed in. I'm going to put a couple of mouse pads between the speakers & cement stands, as you suggested.