Long wall or short wall? and why.

[Peter Breuninger]

Ok guys, inquiring minds want to know... who listens to (or prefers) each and why?

(from the CLX thread) (and if this has been covered please let me know and I'll delete the post)

Yes, I'm a near field, long wall listener and 11 to 12 feet work for me. I assert that this set up helps to minimize the room. I really enjoy short wall listening but for reviewing I want to take as much of the room out of the equation, so long wall it is. In fact, this is a good thread topic!

 

[ack]

Definitely long wall for me. Speakers can sound cupped and closed-in otherwise.

 

[cooljazz]

Wouldn't the answer heavily depend on the radiation pattern of the speaker system used? And the distance between the drivers? The driver sizes used and how much beaming is occurring? Maybe even the crossover slope?

CJ

 

[Ethan Winer]

Yes, I'm a near field, long wall listener and 11 to 12 feet work for me. I assert that this set up helps to minimize the room.

Yes, having a room wider left to right rather than longer front to back minimizes room reflections, but only at mid and high frequencies. Bass problems are much worse with that orientation. And it's the bass problems that are the most difficult to correct. Reflections from the side walls are easily tamed using relatively thin absorbing panels. Figure 3 in this short article shows the difference in a smallish room, and the rest of the article explains the principles:

How to set up a room

--Ethan

 

[Peter Breuninger]

I guess I got lucky in studio listening room #1... numerous manufacturers have said that this room has some the best bass in the business. I don't believe there is a set formula or instruction principal/manual for room set up. If there was, all rooms would sound good and all of us would abide by these "rules". Regardless, it would take the fun out!

 

[flez007]

I use the shorter wall due to my room configuration, but have my speakers almost 1.3 mts apart from it and I am as well 1.7 mts in my listening chair, so it is almost near-field listening.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I guess I got lucky in studio listening room #1... numerous manufacturers have said that this room has some the best bass in the business.

I suspect they compliment most reviewers rooms when in our presence.

 

[NorthStar]

-----What is the shape of the best Concert Halls in the World? :b

 

[terryj]

neither I guess.

I use an into the corner arrangement, have tried both of the others. My short dimension is five meters, the long around eight. So either way it should be pretty good. If IO go short, then I have an equivalent wide FR situation, if I go long then space behind me and the speakers. There is one confounder, a bay on the short dimension which I think 'focuses' the rear reflections straight back to me at the lp.

Anyways, I stumbled upon a writeup on the decware site where he was kinda 45 degrees into the corner. Supposedly reflects those FR away from you yada yada.

That way I have found is vastly superior to either of the other methods. Guess it is not too waf friendly but as I have my own room where the missus does not care what I do it matters not.

A bit of fiddling with placement as always, so I did not end up exactly 45 (had to balance the virtual volume either side, which takes into account the bay on the left) but this has given an immense soundstage with depth etc.

Interestingly, I went back to the 'optimum/usual placement as an experiment, revisit it to see what happened. Lost all the depth, lasted about a day and back to this setup.

I spose many do not have the luxury to do what is best, so automatically go to the accepted placements, which leads me to wonder if many do not have the best arrangement of the system (or alternatively do not have the physical space to be able to try). It prob would not occur to many to try these oddball setups, which are free tweaks that in my case at least gave marvellous results. It was a royal PITA to do these wholesale rearrangements with an active four way plus subs! But boy I am glad I tried them all.

I wonder sometimes (given the above factors) how many unrealised improvements are out there when people are looking to spend money (new gear etc) to get improvements??

 

[JackD201]

The Philippine Audio Show used to be held at the Mandarin Oriental. The rooms were fan shaped. The five years we showed there, we went with what you call an into the corner arrangement. The first time, we were the only ones, by the last show at the Mandarin half of the exhibitors were doing the same. Now the show is at Dusit Thani and we went back to the short wall.

 

[Rutgar]

Short Wall. I pushed my speakers around for months, trying different placement/listener configurations. By far, some of the worse results came from placing the speakers on the long wall (at least in my room). Although, I don't know if they can really be considered being on the short wall now, since I have them almost 9 feet out from the front (short) wall, in a 23 x 16' room. :b

 

[caesar]

Yes, having a room wider left to right rather than longer front to back minimizes room reflections, but only at mid and high frequencies. Bass problems are much worse with that orientation. And it's the bass problems that are the most difficult to correct. Reflections from the side walls are easily tamed using relatively thin absorbing panels. Figure 3 in this short article shows the difference in a smallish room, and the rest of the article explains the principles:

How to set up a room



--Ethan

Ethan,

Interesting read. You got some great stuff on your site. I am assuming your article is specific to box speakers. I wonder, though, if things change for an omni-directional speaker, considering Peter B.'s references are MBLs. Does the bass response differ significantly for an omni driver vs. a box woofer?

Also, do some speakers with a weaker bass response, such as book-shelf speakers, love walls?

 

[Ethan Winer]

This are all great questions Caeser.

Yes, speakers that send out the rear as well as the front usually sound better when the sound reflected off the wall behind them is treated with either absorption or diffusion. But this is a treatment issue more than a placement or room orientation issue.

Yes again to near-wall placement. A speaker that's right up against the wall has two advantages: More bass (though possibly too much), and the SBIR peaks and nulls start at a higher frequency and so are easier to tame. If you put 4-inch thick rigid fiberglass on the wall behind each speaker, that will help keep the response more even.

--Ethan