I’ve always had relatively small living rooms where my HiFi is. I usually follow the typical advice on speaker placement, not having near walls etc. and this is also recommended in any manual I’ve seen come with speakers. This evening however I put my speakers about 3" from the rear wall and it sounds like there is actually way less resonance with the room*.
Interestingly GIK acoustics also advise trying speakers close to the rear wall in smaller rooms:
I am currently in the process of setting up the audio kit and installing room treatments so will keep experimenting but putting the speakers near the wall seemed contrary to any previous advice so I’ve just never tried it before.
Has anyone else tried this with smaller rooms? Is there anything else I should be trying like stuffing them right in the corners? (I haven’t been brave enough to try that yet).
*The track I’m using to test is Lean Into The Wind by Doves as that’s the track my room most noticeably disagrees with/produces bass boom.
It all depends on the speakers and the room. And it is easy to try, especially with speakers light enough to manoeuvre easily. If you were to get yourself a copy of REW (free software) and a measuring microphone - the recommended one costs only a little over £100 new, maybe two thirds of that secondhand, and easily moved on at little loss if no longer needed - you can literally see the effect of different positions, and playing with positioning becomes quick and easy.
Pls allow me to share with you my speaker setup, in my 5.2 x 3.6m room, with speakers set up along the longer wall. I used the Cardas formula, from this site:
Distance between tweeter is about 1.8m, and front baffle to front wall is 1m. I’m sat in, what some might say, a near to midfield listening position. I really think this is the best thing that I’ve come across in audio, and made me reconsider whether my recent purchase of the Naim Nova (with KEF R3 Meta speakers) was better than my trust old Marantz integrated amp, connected to a Wiim Ultra.
Also, I suggest you checkout this thread:
The author, Tom Mallin described so eloquently, using pretty high end systems with Harbeth M40 speakers, how he feels nearfield listening (even shorter distance than mine) is so joyful.
Thank you for the responses. After some further experimentation and lots of placing bits of tape on the floor to mark out positions the ‘rule of thirds’ setup I thought sounded best for me plus using part of the bung set that came with the speakers when the bass started sounding muddy:
I have recently moved to a new apartment and my listening room is quite small and thus challenging. I love my Dynaudio Special 40s but they are probably too large for the room. However, experimenting with placement has really improved things. Initially I was getting boomy bass and had to use the bass port foam bungs, but I prefer the sound without the bungs; I was getting frustrated. But, one afternoon I started to play with both placement and toe in. The difference was very noticeable and I am now much happier. So, my advice is not to give up and live with a poor compromise because small changes of a few centimetres in placement can make a big difference.
