Hi;

I am really enjoying my new Paradigm Reference Studio 100 speakers.
Listening is mainly classical.

I'm looking at a house where the main floor area is a little on the
small side to fit a sound system along with all the other furniture. I
figure the speakers need to be at least 2.5 metres away from the
listening chair, which means about 2 metres separation, and as clear of
walls/corners as I can get them (1 m minimum I would think).

The rec room in the basement is good sized rectangular and should
easily fit the layout criteria. The floor is a carpet over I presume
underpadding and concrete. The room walls are obviously not the
foundation walls, although there can't be very much between them.
Ceiling is low. Not too much evidence of mold.

How good or bad would my system sound in such a location? Criteria
include a natural sound balance and imaging.

The other choice is to fit them in somewhere on the main floor, which
is pretty long and narrow with hardwood floors.

The architect thinks that I can get away with some ceiling/loft
suspended speakers and a subwoofer hidden away somewhere--I beg to
differ!

wrote in message ...
Hi;

I am really enjoying my new Paradigm Reference Studio 100 speakers.
Listening is mainly classical.

I'm looking at a house where the main floor area is a little on the
small side to fit a sound system along with all the other furniture. I
figure the speakers need to be at least 2.5 metres away from the
listening chair, which means about 2 metres separation, and as clear of
walls/corners as I can get them (1 m minimum I would think).

The rec room in the basement is good sized rectangular and should
easily fit the layout criteria. The floor is a carpet over I presume
underpadding and concrete. The room walls are obviously not the
foundation walls, although there can't be very much between them.
Ceiling is low. Not too much evidence of mold.

How good or bad would my system sound in such a location? Criteria
include a natural sound balance and imaging.

The other choice is to fit them in somewhere on the main floor, which
is pretty long and narrow with hardwood floors.

The architect thinks that I can get away with some ceiling/loft
suspended speakers and a subwoofer hidden away somewhere--I beg to
differ!

Suspended speakers work just fine, assuming they are at ear level when you
listen.

The basement location should be fine although you might wish to put some
sort of device in place to make sure there is never any mold.

The absorbtion/reflection properties of will dictate how the whole thing
sounds and there's no good way to know that before you also have the
furnishings in place.

wrote in message ...

The rec room in the basement is good sized rectangular and should
easily fit the layout criteria. The floor is a carpet over I presume
underpadding and concrete. The room walls are obviously not the
foundation walls, although there can't be very much between them.
Ceiling is low. Not too much evidence of mold.

How good or bad would my system sound in such a location?

I think that potentially could be very good. Of course it depends on other
things you haven't mentioned. Concrete floor with carpet on top is good,
symmetrical, odd-dimensioned rectangle room is good.

The architect thinks that I can get away with some ceiling/loft
suspended speakers...

Ugh.

wrote in message ...

Suspended speakers work just fine, assuming they are at ear level when you
listen.

That depends on how low in the bass they go and how firmly they're
connected. And of course if they are the lower quality type that is
generally made for screwing on to a wall somewhere :-)

jeffc wrote:
wrote in message ...

I think that potentially could be very good. Of course it depends on other
things you haven't mentioned. Concrete floor with carpet on top is good,
symmetrical, odd-dimensioned rectangle room is good.

Okay, so the carpet won't affect the bass on the Studio 100s (floor
standing with reflex port near the base). I suppose the carpet would
compensate somewhat for the relatively unadorned walls that might
reflect a bit too much treble. The ceiling is basically unfinished as
I recall, complete with joists.

The architect thinks that I can get away with some ceiling/loft
suspended speakers...

Ugh.

Especially trying to suspend 40kg floor-standing speakers. Look out
below!

wrote:

Hi;

I am really enjoying my new Paradigm Reference Studio 100 speakers.
Listening is mainly classical.

I'm looking at a house where the main floor area is a little on the
small side to fit a sound system along with all the other furniture. I
figure the speakers need to be at least 2.5 metres away from the
listening chair, which means about 2 metres separation, and as clear of
walls/corners as I can get them (1 m minimum I would think).

The rec room in the basement is good sized rectangular and should
easily fit the layout criteria. The floor is a carpet over I presume
underpadding and concrete. The room walls are obviously not the
foundation walls, although there can't be very much between them.
Ceiling is low. Not too much evidence of mold.

How good or bad would my system sound in such a location? Criteria
include a natural sound balance and imaging.

The other choice is to fit them in somewhere on the main floor, which
is pretty long and narrow with hardwood floors.

The architect thinks that I can get away with some ceiling/loft
suspended speakers and a subwoofer hidden away somewhere--I beg to
differ!

In general terms the larger the room the better overall.

In smaller rooms you need to do more to reduce/diffuse reflections from
all of the room boundaries, especially at HF. A reflective ceiling can
often cause anomalies in the imaging.

My feeling is that getting the speakers *away* from the rear wall is
paramount. The side walls, yes, but they can be treated for HF reflections.

You say the main floor is long and narrow? What are we talking about
here? How long, how narrow? Like the Palace at Versailles or a railroad
flat in Manhattan? ;_) Big difference.

The basement might be best if privacy and the ability to do what you
want is part of the WAF... that might overide other factors.

_-_-bear