As has already been stated, small rooms are problematic. The smaller the room, the more important that acoustic treatments become.
A few rules:
The listening position always needs to be at least 18" from the wall behind. Less than that, and the low frequencies there will smear the sound.
The distance from the speaker front to the listening position needs to be around 9' to give the sound time to integrate. Less space is OK for single driver speakers since the sound is integrated to moment it leaves the driver. This distance really depends upon the distance between the drivers, but 9' is probably safe for most speakers.
Some speakers need to be out from the wall behind. This is especially true of dipoles - planars and electrostatics. These need about 4' from the wall behind. This is so the sound coming off the back will integrate with that coming off the front.
Other speakers seem to be at their best shoved up against the wall. This seems to be the especially case with BLH designs.
Given these parameters, we can see how a small room may become a problem depending upon the speaker. If the speaker needs 4' from the wall behind, and we need 9' for integration and the listening position needs to be 1.5' from the rear wall, we have a total of 14.5'. Obviously, if we do not have that, we may have a problem.
We really cannot do anything about the 18" off the wall behind the listening position. That is a given. The options then become a). selecting speakers that can be placed close the the wall, b) using single driver speakers that require less space for integration or c). a combination of the a) and b).
I am using Klipsch Chorus II in a room that is 10.5 by 12.5'. These are 3 way speakers with a 15" bass driver. This works because these can be placed close to the wall behind. I have space for the 9' of integration and for the listening position to be 18' off the wall. My room has extensive acoustic treatments. Actually, my experience has been that once I had the room under control, whatever I put in there sounded pretty darned good. Before the treatments, it was an echo chamber.
Hope this helps.
A few rules:
The listening position always needs to be at least 18" from the wall behind. Less than that, and the low frequencies there will smear the sound.
The distance from the speaker front to the listening position needs to be around 9' to give the sound time to integrate. Less space is OK for single driver speakers since the sound is integrated to moment it leaves the driver. This distance really depends upon the distance between the drivers, but 9' is probably safe for most speakers.
Some speakers need to be out from the wall behind. This is especially true of dipoles - planars and electrostatics. These need about 4' from the wall behind. This is so the sound coming off the back will integrate with that coming off the front.
Other speakers seem to be at their best shoved up against the wall. This seems to be the especially case with BLH designs.
Given these parameters, we can see how a small room may become a problem depending upon the speaker. If the speaker needs 4' from the wall behind, and we need 9' for integration and the listening position needs to be 1.5' from the rear wall, we have a total of 14.5'. Obviously, if we do not have that, we may have a problem.
We really cannot do anything about the 18" off the wall behind the listening position. That is a given. The options then become a). selecting speakers that can be placed close the the wall, b) using single driver speakers that require less space for integration or c). a combination of the a) and b).
I am using Klipsch Chorus II in a room that is 10.5 by 12.5'. These are 3 way speakers with a 15" bass driver. This works because these can be placed close to the wall behind. I have space for the 9' of integration and for the listening position to be 18' off the wall. My room has extensive acoustic treatments. Actually, my experience has been that once I had the room under control, whatever I put in there sounded pretty darned good. Before the treatments, it was an echo chamber.
Hope this helps.