Room Acoustics and Speaker interaction.

Unfortunatly, I will only be able to have about 12 inches behind the speakers. Thank you Bob for sharing your links with me.

Hi Schipo,

I understand what you are saying......but, here is my wife's answer to your suggestion:

"My husband already has a dedicated listening room which houses his "reference" system in. He is free to do as he likes in "that" room and is welcome to do his "serious listening" in there anytime he would like. As to "my" den, he is welcome to have a nice set of speakers in here as long as they fit into my decor and are unobtrusive.....which means they will NOT be pulled out into the room. This room is small enough as it is....I do not want to be tripping over his speakers besides."

So there you have it. I have a few obstacles I am dealing with......a very small room, one that is square no less, and my wife.......(just kidding, honey!)

Good point Nvp. We spend a lot of quality time together in this small den, and we both truly enjoy listening to music together. We both would like to be able to do this together in this small den. However, she does not want this to look like a stereo room, due to the fact that she has already allowed me to have a dedicated listening room for my reference system elsewhere in the house.

Yes, indeed. There have been some great suggestions made by all of you here. It looks as though I have some more research to do. I appreciate everyone's contributions in trying to help me get good sound in this little room.

Hi guys,

Yes, I have tried some speakers in this small room already.

I've tried my late 1960's vintage 12" Tannoy Monitor Golds in custom cabinets that had dual front ports. Very boomy on the bass notes.

I've tried my late 1960's vintage Wharfedale W25's which are in a sealed enclosure, two way speaker with 8" woofer. No problems whatsoever, except that due to age, the cabinets are not up to my wife's approval for this room.

I've been thinking about the little Harbeth P3esr which is a sealed box, but it is a lossy design though. Or possibly the Harbeth M30.1 which is front ported, but a little larger than my vintage Wharfedale W25.

I've also been considering the DeVore Gibbon 3XL which is front ported.

There are no dealers near me for any of these speakers, however I will be attending the AXPONA show in Chicago and will be able to at least hear the Harbeths there for the first time.

So in answer to some of the questions from posts above....yes, this little room can have a booming bass problem as evidenced by the use of my Tannoy Golds, but at the same time, no problem exists with my sealed Wharfedale W25's.

So that is what lead me to ask about speaker design. Is the problem with ports, vs sealed design? Or is the problem with the amount of air the 12" gold driver can move vs the 8" driver of the Wharfedale?

I won't be buying anything until after the Chicago show. I appreciate everyone's willingness to help me with this and the sharing of everyone's thoughts and ideas. This IS a GREAT forum with very HELPFUL people. Thank you to EVERYONE.

Hi Chayro,

Probably absolutely nothing.....I honestly really do not know. As I was talking about different speaker designs (sealed, ported, etc) and knowing that the Harbeth is lossy and specifically part of it's design, where some other speakers are not, I was simply just mentioning it.

As I do not know if this fact would play a role in my situation, I was hoping that someone that has more knowledge and experience with them than I might chime in.

Best regards,

Hi Nvp,

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually did try this with foam a while back. Although it did reduce the bass output, it also messed with the rest of the sound. It just didn't sound right. It lost its naturalness, it's intimacy, and to my ears, I didn't like it.

Maybe I need to experiment more with different materials, etc. I still think its a good suggestion and me be helpful with other speakers or with different materials.