Room Set-Up Help Needed

[Glenn Kuras]

38% is not any kind of rule, but a starting point. For a room your size face the short wall and put the speakers as close to the wall as possible. Use the following as a guide for set up.
GIK Acoustics: Room Setup

[royaltrux]

Thanks Glenn,
I'll get everything moved around and post some pics.

[royaltrux]

Ok, so I moved the desk around at lunch. Here are some pics:

http://www.podcastrant.com/Images/studio/IMAG0096.jpg
http://www.podcastrant.com/Images/studio/IMAG0099.jpg

Disregard the acoustic panels, they were something that I got free before I got the speakers. I'll move on to treatment once I have everything set up.

So, the woofers are 36" apart, my closest sitting position is 22" from woofer and my furthest sitting position is 29" (roughly). In reading the various stickies it seems like a unified number (woofer to woofer vs. woofer to nose) is needed. I can remove the middle tier, that the monitor sits on and that would allow me to bring the monitors closer; or I have enough room to place the speakers on stands right behind the desk sides. Which would be better?

Thanks again for your help.
Chad

[royaltrux]

So, reading around I saw that the bookshelf-as-diffuser is a myth. Oh well.

Like I said above, my speakers are 36" apart. I read somewhere, sorry doing a lot of reading from different places, that 24" was preferred. Does it matter? To my last question, in the previous post, would it be better in my situation to bring the speakers together or move them back closer to the wall?

I've found some steel "arms" with a base on top at Lowe's that I could attach to the back of my desk. As long as I put some foam/pad beneath the speakers would this be an acceptable stand? It would save room and, frankly, look "cooler". I understand that "looking cool" is not the goal here, so what do you guys think?

Also, if my floor is a concrete slab with thin industrial carpet, do I need a rug underneath where I'm sitting. Since the ceiling is composed of Armstrong acoustical panels, would I need a cloud?

thanks for any help guys.

[kasmira]

Originally Posted by royaltrux

So, reading around I saw that the bookshelf-as-diffuser is a myth. Oh well.

But, it will provide some minor scattering and is much better still than a bare wall. Will more than likely help combat flutter echo between that wall and the parallel wall in front of it.

Originally Posted by royaltrux

Like I said above, my speakers are 36" apart. I read somewhere, sorry doing a lot of reading from different places, that 24" was preferred. Does it matter? To my last question, in the previous post, would it be better in my situation to bring the speakers together or move them back closer to the wall?

24" is not preferred from anywhere I have seen. Usually for nearfields a meter is suggested. An equilateral triangle is usually best, but my monitors are spaced so that they are further apart than they are from me. Best I could get in my room. If it measures fine then there should be no problem. If you did move them though, moving them closer to the wall would be helpful in bringing up the frequency of SBIR which is always welcomed. Just make sure computer monitors (screens) aren't in the way.

Originally Posted by royaltrux

I've found some steel "arms" with a base on top at Lowe's that I could attach to the back of my desk. As long as I put some foam/pad beneath the speakers would this be an acceptable stand? It would save room and, frankly, look "cooler". I understand that "looking cool" is not the goal here, so what do you guys think?

Well the problem is having the speakers decoupled from the desk. If they are not properly decoupled, they can make the desk resonate and attribute some unwanted frequency response peaks and nulls. Speaker stands are better, usually.

Originally Posted by royaltrux

Also, if my floor is a concrete slab with thin industrial carpet, do I need a rug underneath where I'm sitting. Since the ceiling is composed of Armstrong acoustical panels, would I need a cloud?

No, you shouldn't need a rug unless you want one for looks.

Could you find an exact link for us to look up what panels are in your drop ceiling?

Clouds are useful in four different areas. If placed above monitors, a cloud can help reduce SBIR effects between the speaker and ceiling. If placed anywhere on the ceiling, they can help reduce modal ringing due to the height mode of the room height. They are used most often to control first reflections to get rid of comb filtering at the mix position. Even with a drop ceiling comb filtering reflections can occur, and this is important to control in small rooms (especially with the low ceiling height). Lastly, you can use them to control reverb / RT60 / flutter echo in rooms that have hard flooring. As your floor is carpet, you shouldn't have to worry too much about flutter from the ceiling and floor.

The best bet would be to hang a cloud inbetween mix position and speaker position to get your first reflections off the ceiling controlled. After that, if its possible, get some pink fluffy insulation to use above the drop ceiling. Don't "pack" it full, but if you can fill it up with insulation, it can help a room considerably.

[royaltrux]

Here's the panels:
Contractor Series - Armstrong ceilings - USA - (Version JPG) - Page n° 7 - PDF Catalogues | Documentation | Brochures

I'm going to construct some speaker stands. Would it be ok if I make the top and bottom base out of plywood and the tower portion out of PVC? I plan on filling the tower w/ sand.

[royaltrux]

So, I took out one of my ceiling panels and there is only a 4" gap from panel to start of pink fluffy insulation. Do I need to fill in that 4" gap?

Here are my unanswered questions from above:

1. Center of woofer to ceiling is 3'-7" while the center to the floor is 3'-5". Is this going to be a problem; or is that 2" enough away from center? If needed, I could build my stands a little taller and raise my chair.

2. I'm assuming these panels (Contractor Series - Armstrong ceilings - USA - (Version JPG) - Page n° 7 - PDF Catalogues | Documentation | Brochures) aren't enough to preclude me from using a cloud.'

3. I'm going to construct some speaker stands. Would it be ok if I make the top and bottom base out of plywood and the tower portion out of PVC? I plan on filling the tower w/ sand.

[royaltrux]

Ok, so I have updated a few things. I worked a bit with Bryan from GiK Acoustics and I removed my large desk in favor of a small one. I made some speaker stands for my speakers and have them as close to the wall as I can go at the moment, due to the door. I'm in the middle of the room (side to side) and sitting at the 38% spot. The cones of my speakers are 42" from each other and the equilateral triangle comes to a point right behind my head.

I bought a couple 244 Bass Traps from GiK and have them at my first reflection points (using the mirror method). I'm not finished with treatment; I just have to add more as I can. I have bought a ECM8000 and plan on running some tests w/o the 244's and with. I'll post the results here and maybe it will be helpful to some of you and give you veterans some info to help me with my room.

Here are some new pics:

[OpusOfTrolls]

KRK Rokit 8s are good monitors, but no where near reference. I would say they are more like a far field inside a mid field with a good treble boost. They also have quite a dip around 3-4khz from the small tweeter. The woofer driver is suprisingly good for the price.

[royaltrux]

So am I wasting my time trying to use these as near-fields?

As I said above, I got these on Craigslist for $295; so it was one of those man-what-a-deal things. If needed, I'm up for trying to sell these and then get what I need.

Thoughts?

[OpusOfTrolls]

Originally Posted by royaltrux

So am I wasting my time trying to use these as near-fields?

As I said above, I got these on Craigslist for $295; so it was one of those man-what-a-deal things. If needed, I'm up for trying to sell these and then get what I need.

Thoughts?

They are made to be used about 6 feet away from the ear, at the least. You can nearfield with them, but I think there would be a tradeoff of better bass for more comb-filtering in the treble. Not to mention, the size of them can be rather intimidating.

[kasmira]

Originally Posted by OpusOfTrolls

I would say they are more like a far field inside a mid field with a good treble boost.

Why would you say this? At the volume level KRKs can output to they surely wouldn't be near a far field at all and still quite far from a mid field...I dont think I've ever seen anyone suggest Rokits are anything but near field. And of course they aren't the best reference monitors they're 300-400 a pair.

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[OpusOfTrolls]

Originally Posted by kasmira

Why would you say this? At the volume level KRKs can output to they surely wouldn't be near a far field at all and still quite far from a mid field...I dont think I've ever seen anyone suggest Rokits are anything but near field. And of course they aren't the best reference monitors they're 300-400 a pair.

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Isnt near field within 1 to 2 meters? i do enjoy the sound of mine (the same he has) but i know i dont want them anywhere within 6 feet of me. mine are positioned 8 feet away and the sound is good. i do plan on custom building some mid fields using seas drivers sometime as a reference monitor.

[kasmira]

Originally Posted by OpusOfTrolls

Isnt near field within 1 to 2 meters? i do enjoy the sound of mine (the same he has) but i know i dont want them anywhere within 6 feet of me. mine are positioned 8 feet away and the sound is good. i do plan on custom building some mid fields using seas drivers sometime as a reference monitor.

Perhaps I'm just used to my old Rokit 5s...they must be much quieter than the 8s (which would make sense) but I don't think I've ever seen Rokits in a mid field set up. In comparison to mid field monitors like the Opals or O300s or Twins or MM27s, etc I don't think I could classify Rokits as mid-field. Far field monitors are the big SOBs that are almost exclusively soffit mounted that typically have like 3-7 drivers. This is just what I've come to believe though, perhaps I'm wrong. One thing is for certain though, being farther away is generally better than sitting right on top of the monitors. And I do tend to agree that 8" drivers in a monitor should be allowed at least a meter away from you, I'd recommend at least 4-5 feet if its possible in the room.
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