Guidance on best stereo setup in a huge room

[Bankies]

We are moving to a new house end of February. At last I can have a dedicated music room. I am used to setup my system in the current room which is a 4 m x 3.6 m. The new dedicated room is freakin huge at +- 7 m x 10 m. My plans are a 3 - 4 m equilateral setup smack bam in the middle of the room. Forumites please give me some guidance on my plans in terms of position and distance of the setup which I can experiment with for the best results. I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the space.

PS: The room is now empty, has no furniture in.

[chrisc]

Whatever you put in it, how is the room for reverberation.  You want to stay well away from the bathroom effect, but not have it so dead you cannot hear someone speak from the other side

The longest room dimension will determine the lowest natural frequency you can hear

Being a large room, you will want to have a couch or multiple seats so that visitors can enjoy your sound, so keep that in mind

As to equipment, obviously larger speakers would be more practical

[Greyman]

I would stick to the basics and start with the listening position at 38% into the long throw of the room, throw up some speakers and do some measurements. The room will let you know where the best spot is...

[Bankies]

Whatever you put in it, how is the room for reverberation.  You want to stay well away from the bathroom effect, but not have it so dead you cannot hear someone speak from the other side

The longest room dimension will determine the lowest natural frequency you can hear

Being a large room, you will want to have a couch or multiple seats so that visitors can enjoy your sound, so keep that in mind

As to equipment, obviously larger speakers would be more practical

Noted thanks. Current carpet and curtians assist with the reverberation. Futhermore I do have some accoustic panels which I will also fit and furnishings! Main thing was just in which direction would be the most sensible setup. The longest dimension would be the side with the large windows.

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[Bankies]

I would stick to the basics and start with the listening position at 38% into the long throw of the room, throw up some speakers and do some measurements. The room will let you know where the best spot is...

Thanks Greyman.

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[Drifter]

That is a pretty interesting carpet ...

I think a bigger room is a better starting point than a smaller room as the reflections have less of an impact.
That said, you have plenty of glass in that room so that may mess up your plans a bit.

I would start with a free standing 3m x 3m triangle.

If you set it up to listen down the long side, it will mean that in the 7m width each speaker will have 2m from it to the wall.
In the 10m length, place the speakers a third into the room (so that is around 3.3m), then you sit 3m away and you will have another 3.6m or so behind you away from the rear wall.

Seeing that you have the space, to really eliminate as much room acoustics as possible set it up across the room, like so:

This really takes the first reflection points out of the equation.

[chrisc]

I don't like those flourescent lights on the timber truss.  Apart from being industrial-looking, the light provided is not a good colour for a domestic room and they can be noisy, unless they have electronic ballasts. 

Seeing the electrical connections are there, what about a row of 5 watt "daylight" LED downlighters either side, spaced 1 metre apart but staggered.  Using GU-10 bulbs, these will be far cheaper than a couple of light fittings.  LED lights do not get hot.  Suggest 5 or 6 each side and aimed more towards the sides of the room instead of straight down

[Bankies]

That is a pretty interesting carpet ...

I think a bigger room is a better starting point than a smaller room as the reflections have less of an impact.
That said, you have plenty of glass in that room so that may mess up your plans a bit.

I would start with a free standing 3m x 3m triangle.

If you set it up to listen down the long side, it will mean that in the 7m width each speaker will have 2m from it to the wall.
In the 10m length, place the speakers a third into the room (so that is around 3.3m), then you sit 3m away and you will have another 3.6m or so behind you away from the rear wall.

Seeing that you have the space, to really eliminate as much room acoustics as possible set it up across the room, like so:

This really takes the first reflection points out of the equation.

Hehehe I actually like the carpet, it's quite thick. That's already a plus to assist with the room acoustics. Decent curtains will sort some of the issues with the windows too. 

Thanks Heine for the advice, Setup down the long side makes sense to me, with the windows furthest in the picture at the back of the system. The front wall where the system will be playing towards is a solid wall with no windows, leaving me with some options for acoustic treatment.

For setup down the long side would it be practical to put up acoustic treatment at the one first reflection point (the other side is windows) since the speakers will be toed in and are 2 meters away from the sidewall on either side?

[Bankies]

I don't like those flourescent lights on the timber truss.  Apart from being industrial-looking, the light provided is not a good colour for a domestic room and they can be noisy, unless they have electronic ballasts. 

Seeing the electrical connections are there, what about a row of 5 watt "daylight" LED downlighters either side, spaced 1 metre apart but staggered.  Using GU-10 bulbs, these will be far cheaper than a couple of light fittings.  LED lights do not get hot.  Suggest 5 or 6 each side and aimed more towards the sides of the room instead of straight down

Heheh thanks Chris, luckily I am not fussy when it comes to lights, fixtures etc. This is anyway a rental house, so no changes unless the owner approves. I will not incur expenses for his benefit. I like to have lights off when listening music at night...... just sets right mood for musical enjoyment! 

[Greyman]

Hehehe I actually like the carpet, it's quite thick. That's already a plus to assist with the room acoustics. Decent curtains will sort some of the issues with the windows too. 

Thanks Heine for the advice, Setup down the long side makes sense to me, with the windows furthest in the picture at the back of the system. The front wall where the system will be playing towards is a solid wall with no windows, leaving me with some options for acoustic treatment.

For setup down the long side would it be practical to put up acoustic treatment at the one first reflection point (the other side is windows) since the speakers will be toed in and are 2 meters away from the sidewall on either side?

It's important to remember the reason why so much effort needs to be placed on the listening and speaker positioning is to give your acoustic treatment a fighting chance. The goal is not to treat the room, but to treat the areas in the room that are having a negative effect at the listening position.

Your first reflection points all contribute to a reflection-free zone, so they all need to work together to achieve the desired results. Treating just the left section within the zone is not an option.

You have space, so you can build big thick panels and have them on stands or wheels and slide treatment in for those critical listening sessions. Symmetry is important.

[Bankies]

The goal is not to treat the room, but to treat the areas in the room that are having a negative effect at the listening position.

You have space, so you can build big thick panels and have them on stands or wheels and slide treatment in for those critical listening sessions. Symmetry is important.

Agreed, when I get to the actual setup after we move in, I will test and go from there in terms of treatment. Maybe just maybe the setup doesn't need treatment / very little if I am lucky. I already have treatment from my old music room that I will use if required.