Some tips to improve my HIFI setup?

I am just getting into HIFI and have seen some tips on speaker placement, but because my space is not exactly a typical example case, it is difficult for me to apply what I have observed. I've made a plan with what I found relevant, maybe I missed some details, if so, let me know and I'll rectify it.

Having said that, would anyone care to give me some tips on how to improve the listening experience? Is there really anything that can be done? I know that the possible speaker positions are very limited.

Amp. NAD C368 + NAD MDC BluOS2i

Speakers. Jamo S 807 B (I know, is a transitional situation)

Walls, columns and unavailable space is marked with an X. Otherwise, I think this image will be much more enlightening than anything I can say.

5 hours ago, PeterG said:

This is not so bad--NAD and B&W are great, and I've seen people showing off much more expensive systems with much worse placement--you're off to a good start.

 

I like that you have plenty of space behind the speakers, but they seem a bit far away and close to the side walls.  You want approx an equilateral triangle of you and the speakers.  Can you get rid of the side piece of the sectional and pull them a bit closer to you?

Thanks for your input! I have made some small changes with the information you have given me and the difference is brutal, I had the right speaker displaced from the centre, I have moved them a little closer and away from the columns, I have directed them in an angle a little more open. Sound is much larger in size.

Tomorrow I will try another single change to continue testing. 

18 hours ago, PeterG said:

This is not so bad--NAD and B&W are great, and I've seen people showing off much more expensive systems with much worse placement--you're off to a good start.

 

I like that you have plenty of space behind the speakers, but they seem a bit far away and close to the side walls.  You want approx an equilateral triangle of you and the speakers.  Can you get rid of the side piece of the sectional and pull them a bit closer to you?

 PeterG What do you mean by ‘B&W’?

On the left side, from the listening position, there is an open room, the entrance to the house, but in the future there will be a door, so I will deal with that problem once it is installed. I understand that your recommendation is to take the speakers out of that space, and put them in front of the columns, but not necessarily in front of them, but in a line where the columns are not right next to each speaker, is that right?

I will also think about the rear wall.

I leave some pictures with the current position, it continues to improve substantially.

I have a problem with the fireplace, it vibrates a lot, with the door open the effect is less, but still exists, any solution?

12 hours ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

Can you take a photo of the adjacent spaces

Do you mean this space?

18 hours ago, PeterG said:

 

 

Yes, but on closer inspection, it looks like I was wrong--I saw the gold/orange(?) drivers and took it for the yellow used in a previous generation of Bowers & Wilkins speakers.

These are Jamo's that I bought to enjoy the NAD until I start my first DIY speakers.

12 hours ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

The columns introduce a fixed limitation but if both speakers are moved to left they should end up being not  directly in front of columns anyway? It is good to have open space behind the speakers, not directly bouncing a rear reflection at you. If it were possible I would then move the couch and speakers out into the space away from the boundary where the couch is sitting hard up against but that may not be possible

I have put the loudspeakers back ‘inside’ the space of the columns without them being behind. The actual result is still an improvement.

I want to keep my living room as such without compromising too much on its layout. The TV cabinet and the columns are a centre around which the whole layout is built.

On the other hand, I have noticed that if I direct the speakers a little beyond my shoulders, eliminating the convergence at the centre point, the image sensation in front of me is significantly greater, is it possible that this happens with these speakers in particular?

37 minutes ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

I'd hang something soft on that side wall to your right and behind you.

This is what I will do next, along with minor corrections to the direction and position of the speakers, within the current limitations. Thank you very much for your suggestions, they are very helpful!

18 hours ago, jcn3 said:

 

while the space is challenging from an audio point of view, it certainly is beautiful.  i'm sure you love living there!

15 hours ago, StreamingOnly said:

Hey, very nice place!

Thank you! It is a nice place.

At the moment the setup forms an equilateral triangle of 2.1m. I am still noticing an imbalance on the right side, which I am solving with -2db on the left speaker, but I feel that this is not the best solution. I imagine that the right wall is causing the imbalance and I'm willing to put something to avoid the direct reflection. This afternoon I will try something and give you my impressions.

That's the first thing I'll do, right wall and bass trap in the corner. About digital correction, for now I'm going to keep my equipment and budget as they are for a while, so it is discarded as a short/medium term measure.

Gracias por los consejos! ✌✌

3 hours ago, DuckToller said:

@Nicoalix Wonderful environment and excellent advice of Team Audiophile Style !

Would you consider to sacrifice the view for better sound ?
You could arrange your couch/sitting arrangement int the open space and to the left wall (seen from the open) and have your system with the TV at the opposite wall (would there be reflections on the TV ?). There may be security concerns to be adressed.
The advanatage would be no reflections from the wall behind your ears and you may get some proper sound as well at the dining table.. You may still have the need to compensate for the missing wall at the right from your sitting position.
There might be a couple of valid reasons not even to try it, but I love to offer different views at times ... ;-)
cheers, Tom

 

I totally agree that other layouts could be a game changer, luckily I have other spaces to create a much more optimized room (I'm truly realizing just how much, right now, after setting up the improvised bass trap), but right now I prefer this layout. I don't rule out creating a dedicated space in the future. Thanks for your point of view!

On 9/7/2024 at 12:47 AM, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

Grandma would be proud ! We could talk about some of the technical aspects of building a bass trap later.

 

Just for fun temporarily place your improvised bass trap in the corner of the room (to the right of where you sit. Shove the couch down a bit to make room). Tell us what you think.

Thank you! 🙏

I am looking forward to taking some time out to apply your advice further. I am now really realising what the sound stage is all about.

I'm back with the idea of making some panels this time for real. It occurred to me that a panel in this position could help to balance the sound and I have the impression that it does. I am wondering about the optimum properties of this panel, if it should have more diffusive, absorptive or what kind of properties. Any ideas?

1 hour ago, DuckToller said:

Afaik and recall your set up, you may suffer from having unbalanced first reflections when sitting on the main listening position.
Did you measure how much you loose compared to the right side ? I think you could do that with your phone for each channel.
In order to achieve a rather symmetrical environment, the first step imho would be to absorb / diffuse your reflections on the wall to the right and to reflect/diffuse more on the left (non existing wall), for example with a wooden diffusor (to be tested).
Perhaps have some diffusion behind the listening position, as well.
And yes, the measurement will help you to believe what you hear  ;-)

I was just thinking that, that panel improves "now", at this moment when I have not controlled the first reflections of the right wall, which is the first step. My approach now is to add 1 panel on the right, 135x60, 4cm thick, 70kg/m3, another one behind me, in the listening position, two on the ceiling (first reflections) and one more on the left. Plus 4 bass traps, two on the right and two on the second level of the room, in front of me, left and right.

The blue block is a woodshed that will go in the future in that position, it is vertical, high enough, I hope it will make a bass trap.

Any suggestions on this idea?

Thank you very much @DuckToller, your ideas are very helpful. The diagram represents more than enough all the hypothetical positions that could be solved, but the idea is to start with the most obvious and move forward through trial and error.

This week I will try to take some measurements, I plan to buy a BEHRINGER ECM8000, do you think it is enough for my current needs? I am open to ideas about the measurement.

Yesterday I made some panels and I am testing them, I have found that this wooden frame helps to compensate for the lack of bright in the right area.

2 minutes ago, DuckToller said:

Just try to verify your impressions with a mobil phone app, for a starter.

Can you recommend me any app?

This weekend I hope to be able to make some measurements with an ECM8000 microphone, I will come back with them.

I'll leave you two measurements here, they are quite different so I'll have to try more. Maybe you'll see some sense in it.

Today I was able to make a couple more measurements, this time I calibrated before the sound card (Steinberg UR22). Everything seems coherent except the waterfall graph, is it possible that it is that bad? or is it a measurement problem? I have not been able to do an SPL calibration.

After doing an SPL measurement with the mobile phone, these are the results.