|   Room dimensions? | cilantro72
Apr 30, 2003 8:36 PM | | How big is everyones home theater room?
Is there any suggested minimum height, width and depth for producing the best sound?
I have read that square rooms can cause problems, but other than this, I don't know much about room dimensions.
Thanks for any help...
Michael |
| re: Room dimensions? | Wireworm5
May 1, 2003 3:13 AM | | Whenever I go to other peoples homes I always look to see where I would set up my HT. Surprisingly none of the homes I've been to have a good room for setup except for maybe the master bedroom.I haven't got an ideal room either but it is better suited than most.
I'm using a rectangular room in the basement 11'x 25'x8' 50% concrete walls and 50% wood panels and raftered ceiling. This is a fairly lively room with no windows and one door at the back middle. I would prefer a 4 extra feet width wise. but other than that I get good discernable sound at 80Dbs.
In my experience the liveness or deadness of a room can't be ignored. Live tends to give you discernable treble at lower volumes. But you also risk echoing and boominess. The dead sounding room takes consideralbly more volume to reach discernment of treble in instruments, but more soothing to the ears. However, with a receivers such as mine you can adjust the parameters to accomodate different rooms.
In my opinion, ideally you want a room at least 15'x 20'x8'with the front or back walls being lively and no windows, and a door that's not in a corner.
My .02 cents |
| In general bigger is better ..and more flexible walls are better | Richard Greene
May 1, 2003 12:37 PM | | Standing waves that make bass at certain frequencies BOOM are least annoying in very large rooms (no dimensions under 15') with flexible plasterboard walls (the thinner, the better). That means small rooms made of concrete or cinder blocks would tend to sound the worst. Any attempt to keep sound inside the room by using massive walls will make standing waves stronger = louder bass BOOMS. |
| In general bigger is better ..and more flexible walls are better | cilantro72
May 1, 2003 2:02 PM | | No dimensions under 15'?
Are you including room height in this one? while a 15' ceiling might be IDEAL, is there a more reasonable minimum? |
| In general bigger is better ..and more flexible walls are better | Richard Greene
May 2, 2003 9:13 AM | | Dimensions of 15' or more place all three important
(first-order axial) room modes under 38Hz. -- frequencies below those produced by popular instruments such as the four-string bass guitar and most kick drums. Standing waves under 40Hz. are not excited by bass in the music nearly as often as standing waves above 40Hz.
In general, the taller the ceiling the less likely you will be annoyed by early reflections off the ceiling (interfere's with stereo image) and the floor-to-ceiling standing wave (can cause a bass BOOM at the listening position). My own room has a ceiling that's 8' tall on the left side, and 12' tall on the right side. To my ears
rooms with 10' to 12' ceilings sound better than rooms with 8' ceilings. Basements/rooms with low ceilings and cement walls/floors often sound particularly bad, |
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