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Speakers on the long wall

My Vandersteen 2Ci speakers are now on the long wall of a 13' x 20' room with a 7' 7" ceiling, roughly centered on the wall and about 10" from the front wall, with a TV between them. The listening position is about 9–10 feet away, on the opposite side of the room in front of three windows, and one of the short walls has a 6' opening into the kitchen.​

In a previous setup the speakers were on the 13' wall and sounded excellent, but returning to that arrangement is no longer possible. With the current long‑wall placement, the sound is shallow, a bit lifeless, and the soundstage is poor. This seems to point strongly to room interaction.

This seems like the kind of room many have successfully tamed with careful placement and treatment, so practical advice on how to proceed with room treatments and positioning would be very welcome.

Vandersteen 2Ci, McCormack DNA‑0.5, Marantz CD player.

scooterbug
audiokinesis
2,800 posts
 

@lanx0003 , GREAT advice regarding what to do about the closer-than-we'd-like back wall (the wall behind the listener).

A couple of other thoughts come to mind:

First, the front wall's reflections will also probably be arriving earlier than we'd want.  This can reduce the soundstage depth.  Diffusion would be my first choice (I don't like to suck the highs out of the reflections any more than necessary), with absorption as a last resort. 

@scooterbug, yu can use a mirror to find exactly where the front wall treatment needs to go. With the mirror up against the wall, positioned where you can see the reflection of the front edge of the speakers from the sweet spot, that's the area to target.

The speakers are probably getting less boundary reinforcement than they were so the lower end of the spectrum will be weaker, and that might account for the "hollowness".  You may have to juggle a trade-off between bass quality and spatial quality.

The good news is, you have nice long sidewall reflection paths.  So I think you can get pretty good spatial quality if you can address the first back-wall and front-wall reflection zones.

sounds_real_audio
1,101 posts
 

I would adjust them until they sound good, good to you that is. They will sound different then previously but that does not have to be a bad thing, 

Remember this is just as traumatizing for your speakers as it is for you so treat them gently and with patience, and don't force the issue. 

soix
11,257 posts
 

I’d leave the speakers 6’ apart and pull them out until the fronts are 3’ out from the wall and I suspect things will open up and you’ll experience better soundstage depth (you can experiment pulling them out further as well).  Are you currently 9’-10’ from the fronts of the speakers or the opposite wall?

scooterbug's avatar
scooterbug OP
16 posts
 

Yes, the listening position is 9-10’ from the front of the speakers.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.  This provides me with options I haven’t considered before.  I really want this to work again and it sounds like it can be accomplished without too much disruption, and words from the other half, who really doesn’t care 😥

sounds_real_audio
1,101 posts
 

Scooterbug. 

Yes you are correct "other half doesn't care" no need to project out into the room to much. Let the speakers quietly speak to you and they will find their place....

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