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On 25 Feb 2005 05:00:28 -0800, wrote:
Hi,
"What size room is best (for a listening room)?
To this question rec.audio FAQ answers: "For smoothest bass response, a
listening room should be as large as possible".
The FAQ also provides with ideal proportions of the room, speakers
position, etc, but it does not tell about the *minimum* requirements
for the size of a room that can still be accepted for decent listening
of hi-fi stereo...
I am living abroad at the moment and I have to rent a room. The one
that I have now is pretty small. I would like to buy a stereo (cd
player+amp+2 speakers) for about $1500 and I am considering if it makes
any sense to buy hi-fi if the room is so small - about 3m x 4m. Maybe I
could rent a bigger room, but not too big because of terribly high room
prices in London...(I prefer to spend on hi-fi than on rent, but on the
other side I need the room of the right (?mx?m) size)
Two questions:
1. What are the minimum room size requirements that can still be
accepted for a listening room?
2. Does it make any sense to buy a hi-fi for a temporary room when in
the future this hi-fi will be used in different room?
Thank you for your help!
Andrew
What's more important than size is dimensions and the ratio between
height, width and depth. That will affect things like nulls and
standing waves.
Here are three such ratios as listed on the Sound On Sound website:
"Several sets of preferred ratios have evolved which work well
practically as well as theoretically. Three of these a
1 : 1.14 : 1.39
1 : 1.28 : 1.54
1 : 1.6 : 2.33"
Obviously, you are going to limited in your ability to match one of
these ratios, but if one apartment puts you closer than another, it
might be a deciding factor on you chosing one over the other.
One of my favorite rooms for sound was a bedroom that I had in
Germany. It was only about 4.5 meters by 3.5 meters (don't remember
exactly how big it was), but one wall had a 45 degree slope to the
ceiling starting about a meter from the floor. The speakers were on
that wall and I got a particularly smooth and deep bass response. I
think it's generally agreed that "unsquare" surfaces can help break up
standing waves which can cause boominess.
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