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Room Size (1 Viewer)

Daniel_S

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Feb 2, 2004
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So what effect does room size have on your speakers? If you have a smaller room will they sound worse? Right now I'm in high school and am confined to a small bedroom measuring about 10' x 10' x 8'. So what effect would this have on the way my speakers sound? Would there be any type of speakers or set-up that would be better suited for my room size?

TIA

BTW: If it makes a difference I will be doing 60 % music, 30 % video gaming and such, and about 10 % DVDs (or even less).
 

Nathan Bjork

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Feb 7, 2004
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Im also in high school with the same room size as you. I have Some Midsized speakers in my room JBL S38II's (main, 8" 3.way)S-CenterII(dual 5" 3 way), and N26II (surround, 6") Sony WM-500 (12" 150w). The speakers sound 10x better than my friends setup that he has in his 20x15 living room. I have not found out why a smaller room (rather than space) is worst than a large room. In a smaller room you can get alot more and feel alot more bass, and the mid-highs seem to be very selective from what speakers they are coming from. I listen to mostly music and some DVD's/XBOX, and I have no complaints for a small room. I did notice however, after reading your post I remebered a setting on my AVR for a small room setting, and that really made a big differnce. So if you can find a setting for room size or distance to your speakers, thats what makes the differnce.

I am young though and may be completely wrong, but all I know is, I would rather watch a movie in my room than at the theaters.
 

Daniel_S

Agent
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Feb 2, 2004
Messages
25
Thanx for that input, Nate! I don't know why a small room would have any effect on speakers either but I have read that a small room makes speakers sound "boomy".
 

Ian-Fl

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Messages
285
Acoustics are what's important in a room. There are two types of sound in a room, direct and reflective sound.
If there's too much reflective sound or reverb you have to reduce it. Soft materials like beds, rugs, tapestries, and pillows will absorb sound. Hard materials like hardwood floors will reflect sound.
You can buy acoustic panels that diffuse sound instead of absorb it, but they're expensive. You can also make diffusers such as stacking hardcover books in corners.
 

SethH

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Dec 17, 2003
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I don't think I'd worry too much about since your situation is will only last for a few more years at most. Just buy what sounds good too you. If you'd like to understand the affect of room size go and read up on some noise-cancelling headphones. They use the technology that you're trying to avoid. The idea is that depending on the shape and materials in your room "old" sound waves will bounce back and cancel out "new" sound waves causing problems with what you hear.
 

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

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Daniel, one of the primary effects a room can have is the way the speaker’s bass sounds. To put it simply, the smaller a room is, the more bass is enhanced. Whether or not this is a good thing, of course, will depend on the particular speaker. But a rule of thumb is, if your speakers sound good in a small room, when you move them to a much larger room you will notice the bass will sound weak – i.e., they’ll sound more bright. Conversely if your speakers sound good in a large room, when you move them to a small room they will sound bass-heavy.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 

Justin Ward

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 6, 2002
Messages
673
My room is about the same size as yours. If you have an adjustable subwoofer volume it really helps to tame the bass.
 

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