Home » Audio » Room Acoustics » Furniture & Room Sound
Furniture & Room Sound [message #67020] Tue, 12 April 2011 10:24 Go to next message
audioaudio90 is currently offline  audioaudio90
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Registered: October 2010
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It's amazing how much furniture can change the sound of a room. We had to clear out a room to paint it and now it's reverb and flutter echoes galore.
Re: Furniture & Room Sound [message #67021 is a reply to message #67020] Tue, 12 April 2011 10:54 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
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Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

Oh, yes, definitely. The furniture has a major impact.

Re: Furniture & Room Sound [message #67032 is a reply to message #67020] Wed, 13 April 2011 10:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
audioaudio90 is currently offline  audioaudio90
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Yes. It's one of those factors that you are aware of intellectually, but really hits you viscerally when you change it. That's why I think it's important to experiment.
Re: Furniture & Room Sound [message #67033 is a reply to message #67032] Wed, 13 April 2011 10:36 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18670
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

Definitely. Most rooms are pretty lively empty. Large (padded) furniture does a world of good damping midrange frequencies and higher. Shelves can diffuse sound, which can be especially helpful along the opposite wall, where the speakers are facing.

One piece of furniture that isn't helpful is a large coffee table placed in front of the listeners, between them and the speakers. This can cause a very large midrange notch. Best to avoid that, use end tables instead.

Bedrooms are sometimes pretty good acoustically, in spite of the fact they are usually smaller than living rooms, dens or home theater rooms. The bed damps the lower midrange, prevents what would otherwise be a floor bounce notch. It's the opposite of a coffee table, in that the bed absorbs sound rather than reflecting it. It is also usually closer to speaker height, so the path length delta isn't as great. Of course, the speaker must be above the bed surface a little bit, maybe a foot or two.

Re: Furniture & Room Sound [message #67315 is a reply to message #67020] Sat, 30 April 2011 10:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Nymeria is currently offline  Nymeria
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Registered: April 2011
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Yes, I've noticed the same phenomenon. I didn't realize a coffee table could have such an effect, so I'm going to try moving it today and listen for the difference.
Re: Furniture & Room Sound [message #67347 is a reply to message #67020] Sun, 01 May 2011 13:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BluesBrother77 is currently offline  BluesBrother77
Messages: 15
Registered: April 2011
Chancellor
I never really thought about the coffee table making that big of a difference either. Maybe we will have to do some rearranging in the living room.
Re: Furniture & Room Sound [message #67352 is a reply to message #67020] Sun, 01 May 2011 17:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
gofar99 is currently offline  gofar99
Messages: 1895
Registered: May 2010
Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi All, Absolutely, I moved my system from one room (spouse took it over for HT use Sad . So I took over the room she vacated - the living room. High ceilings, hard floor (ceramic tile) sheetrock walls (two over top of brick) I think you get the picture. Reflections galore. Careful use of thick rugs, furniture, wall hangings and speaker placement finally did the trick. Smile It was complicated as I use Martin Logan ESLs. They need to reflect.

Good Listening
Bruce
Living room revamp [message #69225 is a reply to message #67020] Sun, 28 August 2011 19:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Jenna is currently offline  Jenna
Messages: 6
Registered: August 2011
Esquire
I am in the process of re-doing my living room. I realize that the layout of a room can affect the acoustics of the room. I have a lot of furniture that includes a sofa and love seat, two bookshelves, a TV stand with a storage unit on either side, a coffee table and two large plants. Should I get rid of some of this furniture? I want to install a home theater sound system in the room.
Re: Living room revamp [message #69229 is a reply to message #69225] Mon, 29 August 2011 09:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Chicken is currently offline  Chicken
Messages: 300
Registered: August 2011
Grand Master
You can set up with everything in there and see how it sounds, but frequently I read of the coffee table being an issue, so that may have to go.
Re: Living room revamp [message #69235 is a reply to message #69229] Mon, 29 August 2011 17:25 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
gofar99 is currently offline  gofar99
Messages: 1895
Registered: May 2010
Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, Fireplaces (brick) and flat screen TVs can be problems as well. I have found that some good hints from Martin Logan on how to deal with some things that can crop up. At least one end of the room (either front or back) should be largely non-reflective. Side walls are best if non-existent (hard to do usually) but keeping speakers about 3-4 feet from them helps. With HT setups the problems are compounded. I mounted my 4 corners suspended from the ceiling. Front center just under the screen and rear center close to the ceiling. I use a pair of powered subs close to but not in the front corners. When they were in the corners they sounded muddy.

For HT setup one thing I really liked was on the Sony HT I had. You placed a microphone at the main listening spot and the unit sent sounds to each of the speakers and calibrated the delays automatically. It drove the cats nuts! Laughing



Good Listening
Bruce
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