Symmetry

[ssman]

My room is 10x16. Two questions:

Is it a good idea to have the back of the speakers about 3 to 4 feet from the wall?

How important is symmetry in the entire room?
Meaning everything else is symmetrical (speakers around desk, futon/couch in front of speakers) except for a tv on one side.
Is symmetry more important in the region between speaker and listener, or between listener and back wall.

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by ssman

My room is 10x16. Two questions:

Is it a good idea to have the back of the speakers about 3 to 4 feet from the wall?

How important is symmetry in the entire room?
Meaning everything else is symmetrical (speakers around desk, futon/couch in front of speakers) except for a tv on one side.
Is symmetry more important in the region between speaker and listener, or between listener and back wall.

Well in a 16' room, you want your mixing position to be 6' from the front wall. So the distance your speakers are from the wall depends on how far apart you want them.

It's best to have an equilateral triangle between the speakers and listener, so if 4' (from tweeter to tweeter) apart, they (tweeters) should be 4' from you, and that would make them (well the tweeters) around 2'6" from the wall.

You want it to be as symmetrical as you can. It's obviously more important between speakers and listener, but is still important elsewhere.

[tmix]

Panda pretty much said it.

[pandamonk]

Have your speakers/mixing position something like this:

[ssman]

would this be a good placement for fiberglass cubicle panels?
Pandamonk, you're advice is much appreciated


Also might as well ask this here:
My purpose is not mixing, I bought studio monitors (adam a7) to listen to music, watch movies, etc. as regular speakers. (I chose powered monitors because of cost effectiveness, and because i reasoned they'd be better sound quality in the room sizes i'm in) SO would I still angle them toward the ears or have them parallel to the back wall like you usually see them in home theater setups.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by ssman

Is it a good idea to have the back of the speakers about 3 to 4 feet from the wall?

As explained in the article How to set up a room, the only way to know which location really is most flat is to measure the low frequency response at high resolution using room testing software (or hi-res test tones).

--Ethan

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by ssman

would this be a good placement for fiberglass cubicle panels?
Pandamonk, you're advice is much appreciated


Also might as well ask this here:
My purpose is not mixing, I bought studio monitors (adam a7) to listen to music, watch movies, etc. as regular speakers. (I chose powered monitors because of cost effectiveness, and because i reasoned they'd be better sound quality in the room sizes i'm in) SO would I still angle them toward the ears or have them parallel to the back wall like you usually see them in home theater setups.

That's fine, but you'd want the side absorption panels to be between the speakers and listener, to catch the side reflections. A good way to find the position is to hold a mirror against the wall and when you can see your speakers from your listening position, that's where your side absorption panels go.

Still angle them toward your ears. The further you get from them, the further apart they should be. You might get away with reducing the angle (non equilateral) but i wouldn't by too much.