Angled ceiling trumps 'length of room' rule?

[Glenn Kuras]

You would need to test your room to find out for sure. Needless to say though you want the sloop to go low to high not high to low, the way you have it now.
REW Room EQ Wizard Room Measurement Tutorial video

[Rod Gervais]

Originally Posted by RominRonin

There are two important details I feel I should highlight before asking my question:

1. The ceiling is angled.
2. The angle is along the width of the room (from one of the narrow sides to the other narrow side - you'll see what I mean when I ask the question).

So here it is:
It is recommended that speakers point into the longest length of the room (or towards the furthest wall in the room possible). In my case however, this would give me a serious left-right asymmetry, since the ceiling on my left ear is higher up than the ceiling on my right. So, is it better for my listening position to be as indicated in the drawing, or should I stick rigidly to the 'standard' recommendation, despite the problems of left-right symmetry that I'll face if I did so?

Do angled ceilings trump the 'length of room' rule?

OK - first off - let's lose the term "rule" - there are few rules when it comes to this, and when people start using the term we wind up with things like "the 38% rule" which was never suggested as a rule (the person who first suggested it as a starting point for finding the sweet spot in the room suggested just that (he would be Wes Lachot))

Each room is different - each room has a particular space that is a good starting point for honing in on the listening position - which is dependent on the speakers being used - the placement of those speakers, etc.

My design philosophy is that (in a control room) symmetry trumps, starting right out of the gate.

I agree with Glenn (not surprisingly) that you want your speakers firing from the low point in the room towards the high point in the room........

The control rooms at Power Station New England and Avatar Studios NYC are wider than they are deep - this is by design.......

Rod

[avare]

+1 to Glenn and Rod.

Additively,
Andre

[Ethan Winer]

I'll just add that for a room like that, it's better to have the higher portion in the rear rather than the front as you show.

--Ethan

The Acoustic Treatment Experts

[RominRonin]

Thanks for the quick responses, I'm listening...

Glenn, I have here two series of test results, taken from the asymmetric and symmetric positions respectively, the speakers were the same distance apart in both scenarios:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7ydaua35k8wwxj8/Dxq7Som5pe

To my eyes, the results look very comparable, the waterfall looks improved by the symmetrical position [I'm looking at the 60Hz (+/-5Hz)]. At least I don't think I'm losing anything by sitting where I plan to.

Re: Starting position for honing in on the listening position:

Originally Posted by Rod Gervais

My design philosophy is that (in a control room) symmetry trumps, starting right out of the gate.

I agree with Glenn (not surprisingly) that you want your speakers firing from the low point in the room towards the high point in the room........

The control rooms at Power Station New England and Avatar Studios NYC are wider than they are deep - this is by design.......

Rod

Rod: Thanks for this, it's reassuring information.

As for the speakers firing from low-to-high, unfortunately I have other (practical) reasons for positioning my speakers such that they're pointing high-to-low, I refer you to the following image:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/attac...key-photo4.jpg

That's the carpenter and his 'team' in the room before it was enclosed - the door side (on the left) is now a rockwool-filled plasterboard wall, the outer wall (on the right) has removeable wooden panels, that will be covered with a combination of plasterboard and rockwool.

I thought the option to occasionally remove these panels would be useful (eg. in case I need to fit a piano in the room).

How important is the low-to-high position of the speakers? Is there any literature on the reasoning behind this?

I haven't begun the room treatment yet. I'm having some wall panels built (again, a combination of plasterboard and rockwool), and I was planning on suspending one above the listening position to prevent early reflections from above. Depending on what I learn about this suggestion, I could maybe angle this panel so it is goes from low-to-high.

What do you think?

[Rod Gervais]

I don't know of any studies that have been published related to the ceiling slope - perhpas others do and will chime in to let us know.

The idea behind this (in my mind anyway) is similar to the concept of speaker cone design.... although early reflections is a consideration as well.

Much as the sound from a speaker cone "splays out" I want the sounds in my sloped ceiling rooms to splay out, from what is (for all intent and purpose) the small part of the room's sound source into the larger back of the room. This as opposed to "bunching up" in the lower end of the space.

Now - some control rooms have what I would refer to as "compression ceilings" - higher in the front - higher in the back - lower in the middle - however - even in the case of these controls rooms that I know and have been inside of - the listening position is situated beneath the lower (compressed) section of the ceiling.

I have never bothered to try testing with a reversed set up because of the success the other has provided over the years...... however my guess would be that I would not like the results in comparison.......

Rod