#1883932 - 02/02/08 02:06 PM
New monitors. Placement advice needed.
|
MarcusMax
Senior Member
Registered: 12/15/06
Posts: 66
Loc: Dublin, Ireland
|
Offline
|
|
I recently had another thread running concerning questions re. the acoustics in my studio room. Here is a link to it.
I have since upgraded the monitors to Dynaudio BM5A's. My question is on their optimum placement. The last photos on the thread above will show their current placement. The listening position is at 38% from the front. In order to keep them away from the corners and to have an equilateral triangle between them and the listening position, they have ended up quite close. They are 35¨ / 89 cm apart. At this distance they seem too close to each other and I feel on top of them as well. So I'd like to create more distance if possible.
I could put them wider apart by moving them forwards away from the front wall but then I lose the 38% listening position. The problem is that the front corner bass traps are pretty much immediately behind them, at an angle. So I have no room to move them further apart and back towards the front wall thus preserving the 38% position unless I compromise those traps in some way. I'm wondering would it be better (than the current arrangement) to cut sections out of the traps and to move the monitors so that their backs will be somewhat embedded in them. Or else lose whole sections of the traps equivalent to the height of the speakers?
Or am I best to leave them as they are? It's just that this way I don't feel I'm getting the best out of the sound. The manufacturers recommend a minimum of a metre between them and at 89cm I'm falling a good bit short of that as well as feeling like I'm sitting too close to them.
Thanks for any replies and I hope I heve described my dilemma clearly enough. Once I have placed the speakers optimally, I will be doing some room measuremnets though I'm hoping the improved frequency response of the BM5A's will help the overall acoustics.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1883962 - 02/02/08 02:59 PM
Re: New monitors. Placement advice needed.
[Re: MarcusMax]
|
MarcusMax
Senior Member
Registered: 12/15/06
Posts: 66
Loc: Dublin, Ireland
|
|
Offline
|
|
Another few thoughts: I could also cut the sections out of the traps and place the material flat against the walls behind the speakers so at least there'd be some treatment there. I'm not talking about moving the monitors into the corners or right against the walls, just achieving a metre or so between them, and between them and me.
Also, in terms of mounting, I may not be able to use the stands I have them on now if I do the above because they'd probably end up pretty much inside the traps, so how about putting them on shelves of some sort and then de-coupling them using the Mo-pads?
These speakers are rear-ported. Does that mean that it is especially important to keep the space behind and around them open? If so, by how much, i.e. how far away from both walls behind and to the side of the speakers and also, if the bass traps 'accomodate' them in some way, how much space should there be between the rear/sides of the speakers and any acoustic material?
Edited by MarcusMax (02/03/08 06:13 AM)
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1884936 - 02/04/08 07:27 AM
Re: New monitors. Placement advice needed.
[Re: MarcusMax]
|
Ethan Winer
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 06/12/00
Posts: 5300
Loc: New Milford, CT, USA
|
|
Offline
|
|
In a room that narrow I'd leave things as they are. As for all your other questions, without being there to measure the LF response at high resolution it's impossible for me to say. This is why I'm a big proponent of measuring. It will answer all your questions better than I or anyone else can. 
--Ethan
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1884980 - 02/04/08 08:34 AM
Re: New monitors. Placement advice needed.
[Re: Ethan Winer]
|
MarcusMax
Senior Member
Registered: 12/15/06
Posts: 66
Loc: Dublin, Ireland
|
|
Offline
|
|
Yes Ethan I hear you; I do intend to measure the room just as soon as I find the optimum placement for the monitors, at least as a starting point. I don't have much choice given the room dimensions, as you confirm here. I've even bought an spl meter for this purpose.. The delay in doing that is I was waiting for a delivery of Adam A7's to come in so that I could compare them against the BM5A's first, which couldn't happen due to lack of supply. No point in measuring the room before I choose my monitors, in my view.
I may have to lose some of those front corner traps however one way or the other due to the rear ports in the monitors being too close to them even with the present arrangement.
So the most pertinent question at present is really the last one concerning the space needed to the rear (and sides) of the ports. As it is, there are only 3-4¨ from the back of the monitors to the trap surfaces. Would it be possible to say what space I should have behind them regardless of any other considerations prior to measuring the room? I'm even wondering if choosing rear-ported monitors was a mistake given the space restriction to the rear. I suppose I could change them for front-ported ones but I'd be very reluctant to do so cos I really like them.. 
Thanks,
Mark
Edited by MarcusMax (02/04/08 10:29 AM)
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1885646 - 02/05/08 09:33 AM
Re: New monitors. Placement advice needed.
[Re: MarcusMax]
|
Ethan Winer
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 06/12/00
Posts: 5300
Loc: New Milford, CT, USA
|
|
Offline
|
|
Without being there to measure I really have no idea how the response will change as you move the speakers closer and farther. Since you're there, now you know what to do.
--Ethan
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#1885944 - 02/05/08 03:49 PM
Re: New monitors. Placement advice needed.
[Re: Ethan Winer]
|
MarcusMax
Senior Member
Registered: 12/15/06
Posts: 66
Loc: Dublin, Ireland
|
|
Offline
|
|
Fair enough Ethan. I'll get measuring so. The question was more to do with the speakers themselves than the room and the minimum acceptable space one should leave behind them given they are rear-ported, whatever the context. I guess it's not really an acoustics query as such.
Thanks anyway and I'll post again when I have some measurements.
Mark
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
Moderator: Ethan Winer
|
|
|
