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My Home Speakers, My Car, and Me...The Ballad of What's Going Wrong?

Okay, so tell me what's going wrong.

My new dedicated room is 13x12x8. It's small. Bare walls. Hard tile floor. Windows on the front wall.

I have some loaner speakers in there at the moment while my other speakers are on order. Right now I have Dynaudio Focus 340s. They are 7ft apart from one another, 29" from the side walls, and 19" from the front wall. I am sitting 9.5ft from the speakers with a glorious center image.

I have ran room correction via my Linn KDS/3, called "Space Optimization." It works very well.

Yet, here I am listening, and verything I put on gives me anxiety. Literally a vibratory feeling that sucks.It's maybe half of a song in and I'm feeling this way.

And I think to myself, "When I'm in my car, cranking my music, why don't I feel the same?" I feel fine in the car. Perfect, even.

So, why would I be feeling this way in my room?

I question if I naturally need to sit further back from the speakers (which I can't do: I'm out of space/room). It seems my best speaker experiences are when I'm at a friend's house and either I'm a really good distance away from the speakers, or the room is very large and/or the speakers are much further apart. All of this, of course, is contrary to what I experience in my car.

Then I think, well, let me try some near field listening with my speakers, and I end up with the same anxious feeling. 

There's really only one more thing I can try, and that is to move all of my gear into the parlor, which is a much bigger room. I couldn't leave my stuff there, because the wife wouldn't want it, but at least I could experiment to see if a greater distance from the speakers will be better. However, that doesn't answer my question of why I feel fine in my auto with the music blaring in such a confined space.

Could it be that a sealed up listening space, full of soft stuff, is optimal?

Here is a diagram of my room (if it matters).

http://imgur.com/PC8LyVX


Thanks for nay thoughts. It's driving me batty.
evolvist
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

Have you tried turning off the Linn "Space Optimization" room correction? 

I had the opportunity to work with DiracLive room correction in my system.  It did weird things to the frequency response as well as the phasing.  The result was that the audio sounded like it was right at my head (almost like listening to headphones) instead of far out in front of me.  Sometimes it would cause an effect like one speaker was out of phase (like donvito suggested).  Since you have so much hard wood/wall reflections, the room correction could be over-compensating these reflections and it could affect phase.

In any event, I really tried DiracLive with all sorts of configurations, adjustment levels, mic placement.  In the end, I just did not enjoy the result and found that non-corrected audio just sounded better and more natural.

I'm not saying this is your problem, but it's something you could try.  Maybe in a more treated room, the "Space Optimization" correction could work better?

hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,823 posts
 
+1 auxinput    Give the rug a try and knock down the slap echo in the room.  This may take some time and surely patience, but take your time.  Implement an acoustic room change and then listen.  Keep doing that over and over until things start to sound settled with a soundstage developing in front of you. Patience!
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
a small room will create issues for bass, less so for treble

I suspect it is hard surfaces - treat walls, corners, stuff it full of furniture...

Is there any room that did not benefit from a rug in between the listener and the 2 speakers?

you can also walk around clapping your hands - amazingly more effective than you'd suspect
evolvist OP
167 posts
 
+++10 guys! 

I'm determined to get to the bottom of this. I come from a world of headphones for 35-years, so I'm not exactly a noobie, but when I changed rooms this totally threw me for a loop. 

My hope is that I find a solution, but also that somebody will come across this thread in the future and it can help them out, too. 

So, I went and and purchased twelve 12"x12" diffusion panels,  twelve absorption panels of the same size, and two small bass traps for my front wall (I kept the receipt). I have a rug. So, I'll see how much I can do tonight. 

One thing about Space Optimization from Linn, it really is quality. The actual SQ is fantastic. I simply think I'm running into issues that software can't cover. 

We'll find out. :-)
glennewdick's avatar
glennewdick
1,500 posts
 
also some thought to speakers that work well closer in the corners or close to the wall something like the AudioNote speakers for example they take advantage of corner placement. there are many others out there that do the same. Also maybe someone with more experience with room treatment can chime in but i'm thinking those angled corners just behind the speakers can't be helping much.
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