Calculated best-place-for-ears turns out to be a bad place!

Well I must say the construction isn't finished at all. Only the bass trapping on the back wall is installed. I've put my speakers on my desk, and put a few panels of insulation behind them, because we still have to start construction of the soffits. I did quick test, just to see if the trapping on the rear wall had any effect. Well, it sure sounds different, but it doesn't sound good at the calculated ideal-ear-position. This is the original idea: (I forgot to draw in the trapping on the back wall in this picture). So I moved back and forth, and then I found that it sounds great (and I mean GREAT!) when there about half a metre between my back and the wall. Great detail in a low end I never even heard before on these speakers! See the attachement at the bottom for the position I'm talking about. The only problems I see with this setup is that my table shouldn't be too wide (or else the door would slam into it) and I should maybe put some highs absorbing curtains on the window when I'm mixing because of the glass reflecting the highs. And maybe my 20" tft monitor is in the way, though I can see both speakers when I'm in that position, and it doesn't seem to have a big audible difference. Here are the big questions: 1. Will the calculated ideal spot sound good when the other trapping (ceiling) and soffits are installed? 2. When the other trapping is installed, will the newly found ideal spot sound even better? 3. Should I change the design because of the newly found ideal spot?

How do you "soundproof" on just one wall? What method are your other walls made of so that you don't need to construct anything on them?

Dou judge a raost beef by its flavour before it is spiced and baked? Yes, address teeh first reflection points. Yes it will sound good once you have spcied anad baked it (designed and built it). Andre

AVare wrote:

Dou judge a raost beef by its flavour before it is spiced and baked? Yes, address teeh first reflection points. Yes it will sound good once you have spcied anad baked it (designed and built it). Andre

Yeah, it's so obvious I should've known! :oops: Thanx Andre!

Pasz, I haven't posted much on this side of your thread since i hijacked your original thread over in the construction forum a few weeks ago, but about a week and a half ago I finally decided to tear my studio apart and re-arrange things similarly to what you are doing since our rooms are about the same size (I have a session next weekend so needed to be done by then). I didn't soffit my speakers but did put corner bass traps behind the speakers. I installed 2" of rigid fiberglass between the front traps, and 1" rigid fiberglass on the side walls for reflection control. I also re-used a bunch of 2" Auralex foam I had to make up my ceiling cloud. I have yet to treat the back wall (no more money for now; it is planned, though). Anyway, the point I'm trying to get to is that after finishing things up this weekend I did a bit of listening in the room and my sweet spot is nearly identical to what you found in your room. For me it is not much if a problem because my desk is huge and that spot is really only a foot or so closer to the back wall than where I would sit up against the desk. I plan to just add a sliding keyboard shelf under my mixer (I only use the mixer for monitoring right now anyay, all "real" mixing is done in Cubase), which would put me into a working postion right at the edge of the sweet spot. Once I treat the back wall I'll determine if the story stays the same, but for now that will be where I am mixing from (at least until I learn that my mixes still suck!!). Keep us posted as you get closer to being finished since I am extremely curious to see if your results change with the remainder of your treatment. I will probably post some pictures in the construction forum in the near future so you can see my interpretation of this. Cheers, Darryl.....