Lsi 9s in Small Room -- A Brief Review
First, thanks to Toxis, Mantis, and others for their help. In April I replaced my R system with Lsis: 9s, 7s, C, Dayton sub, and NAD T773 receiver. A huge improvement.
I knew that there were still acoustical problems because there was a lot of echo slap and ring, boomy bass, and muddiness at some frequencies. Using an RS SPL meter confirmed the problems. Running a test cd with a reference level of 70 db and from 30 to 300 Hz, using only the front 9s and sub, there were spikes and troughs of up to 30 db over ranges as narrow as 15 Hz. The room is carpeted and drywall, 14x14x9, with windows on one wall.
Making corrections and rerunning the test after each correction led me to:
1. Move the speakers 3 feet from the wall.
2. Move the sofa 3 feet from the wall.
3. Adjust the toe-in to 20 degrees.
4. Make the distance between the two front speakers and between the listening position and the speakers almost the same.
5. Speaker tweeters at ear level.
6. Diffusive material at first reflection point, except
7. For the rear wall where I mounted 2 GIK 4" 2'x4' acoustic panels (sound absorbing) right behind the listening position, about 2.5' up from the floor.
Results: with a reference level of 70 db and between 30 and 300 Hz, variance was between 65 and 75 db, except for one trough down to 51 db at about 180 hz. No muddiness, bass dramatically improved, and can play music at much louder levels before it becomes uncomfortable.
Lessons learned:
1. I could have saved a lot of time if I would have followed the recommendations at the Polk commercial site and on the acoustic forums to start with.
2. The acoustics are as important as the equipment.
3. A relatively small room can still sound spectacular.
4. Listening to speakers at Fry's and other mass retailers is useless.
5. The GIK acoustic panels are a super bargain at $100 a pair.
6. I screwed the pooch when I earler posted that the Dayton was OK for home theatre, but not for 2-channel. The problem was the room acoustics. The Dayton is fine and really does go down to 25 Hz. Not as precise as an SVS but better than a more expensive Paradigm sub that I have in my living room.
6. The Lsi 9s really are something special.
Again, thanks all,
Gary
I knew that there were still acoustical problems because there was a lot of echo slap and ring, boomy bass, and muddiness at some frequencies. Using an RS SPL meter confirmed the problems. Running a test cd with a reference level of 70 db and from 30 to 300 Hz, using only the front 9s and sub, there were spikes and troughs of up to 30 db over ranges as narrow as 15 Hz. The room is carpeted and drywall, 14x14x9, with windows on one wall.
Making corrections and rerunning the test after each correction led me to:
1. Move the speakers 3 feet from the wall.
2. Move the sofa 3 feet from the wall.
3. Adjust the toe-in to 20 degrees.
4. Make the distance between the two front speakers and between the listening position and the speakers almost the same.
5. Speaker tweeters at ear level.
6. Diffusive material at first reflection point, except
7. For the rear wall where I mounted 2 GIK 4" 2'x4' acoustic panels (sound absorbing) right behind the listening position, about 2.5' up from the floor.
Results: with a reference level of 70 db and between 30 and 300 Hz, variance was between 65 and 75 db, except for one trough down to 51 db at about 180 hz. No muddiness, bass dramatically improved, and can play music at much louder levels before it becomes uncomfortable.
Lessons learned:
1. I could have saved a lot of time if I would have followed the recommendations at the Polk commercial site and on the acoustic forums to start with.
2. The acoustics are as important as the equipment.
3. A relatively small room can still sound spectacular.
4. Listening to speakers at Fry's and other mass retailers is useless.
5. The GIK acoustic panels are a super bargain at $100 a pair.
6. I screwed the pooch when I earler posted that the Dayton was OK for home theatre, but not for 2-channel. The problem was the room acoustics. The Dayton is fine and really does go down to 25 Hz. Not as precise as an SVS but better than a more expensive Paradigm sub that I have in my living room.
6. The Lsi 9s really are something special.
Again, thanks all,
Gary
Post edited by trees on
Comments
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Wow, didn't know I was a big help but thanks!
I totally agree with you, the 9's are truly a wonderful speaker for the price. I'm impressed with all your tweeking so specifically. It really makes me wanna figure out how much more I could improve my sound with no money involved.
I'd like to learn more about your acoustic panels... where did you get them?
And it's good to know you realized something that I tell my customers every single day. I swear I hear daily, "Oh, I don't need speakers that big. My rooms small." (me) "How big of a room do you need to appreciate good sound?" Done and done.Never kick a fresh **** on a hot day.
Home Setup: Sony VPL-VW85 Projo, 92" Stewart Firehawk, Pioneer Elite SC-65, PS3, RTi12 fronts, CSi5, FXi6 rears, RTi6 surround backs, RTi4 height, MFW-15 Subwoofer.
Car Setup: OEM Radio, RF 360.2v2, Polk SR6500 quad amped off 4 Xtant 1.1 100w mono amps, Xtant 6.1 to run an eD 13av.2, all Stinger wiring and Raammat deadener. -
Glad you like the LSi9!! They truly are a GEM of a speaker. I will always cherish my time with them. My first true babies!!
Enjoy them!!Magico M2, JL113v2x2, EMM, ARC Ref 10 Line, ARC Ref 10 Phono, VPIx2, Lyra Etna, Airtight Opus1, Boulder, AQ Wel&Wild, SRA Scuttle Rack, BlueSound+LPS, Thorens 124DD+124SPU, Sennheiser, Metaxas R2R -
Yes...
The Lsi's where my first really great sounding speakers. I'm also a polie at heart. I still own polk speakers around the house inwall and inceiling.
Glad you learned alot in here. Most of us have and will continue to.
DanDan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
Toxis,
Here is the link to the GIK acoustic panels. I got the 4 inch because of their ability to absorb sound down to (and most likely below) 125 Hz.
They are not particularly attractive as they are covered in canvas, but the black is not too bad looking. The top and bottom edges are a little uneven.
I'm not married so I don't have to deal with the WAF.
http://www.gikacoustics.com/ -
Those acoustic panels looks quite interesting - my only concern is that my room has so many openings that it's hard to know how much impact these would have. Sketch of my room below, maybe 2 panels behind the LSi9's up front and 2 panels behind the 7's in the back. Hmm, for $270 it's very tempting... convincing the housemates is a different story.
Dodd Audio ELP [ Tubes ] // Harman Kardon AVR330 // Parasound HCA-1203A // Denon DVD-2900
Polk Audio LSi9, LSiC, LSi 7 // HSU STF-2 // Signal Cable Interconnects (SG BW/A2/MP) -
The links below could save you a lot of money on acoustic treatments, if you have a hammer and some spare time. I'm going to build some in the next few weeks.lomic wrote:Those acoustic panels looks quite interesting - my only concern is that my room has so many openings that it's hard to know how much impact these would have. Sketch of my room below, maybe 2 panels behind the LSi9's up front and 2 panels behind the 7's in the back. Hmm, for $270 it's very tempting... convincing the housemates is a different story.
http://home.comcast.net/~audio-worx/page2DIYpanels.html
http://www.angelfire.com/sports/RCcars/acoustic_panels.htm
nice review! I have my two channel system in a small room and it can definitely sound good in a small room if you put the time in to experiment with placement. I wish I could hear some LSi's sometime. Congrats on the new system!Sony KDL-40V2500 HDTV, Rotel RSX-1067 Receiver, Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray, Slim Devices Squeezebox, Polk RTi6, CSi3 & R15, DIY sub with Atlas 15 -
lomic,
You may have already done this, but you might want to do some reading at the forums dealing with recording studio/home theatre acoustics before you start installing panels. Just Google "acoustic panel" and you will have lots of choices.
Not being an expert, but having done some reading for my own set up, you might want to see if the experts recommend putting some panels behind the sofa and some diffusive stuff (bookcases filled with books or wall hangings) on the front wall, depending on the rest of the acoustics.
Good luck,
Gary -
Hello All,
Glenn here from GIK Acoustics. I was going through the stats on our website and saw a few hits from polkaudio.com. Thank you for bringing us up in your forum. I am here and can answer any questions you folks might have about our acoustic panels.
7. For the rear wall where I mounted 2 GIK 4" 2'x4' acoustic panels (sound absorbing) right behind the listening position, about 2.5' up from the floor.
Thank you very much for the order.
Results: with a reference level of 70 db and between 30 and 300 Hz, variance was between 65 and 75 db, except for one trough down to 51 db at about 180 hz. No muddiness, bass dramatically improved, and can play music at much louder levels before it becomes uncomfortable.
Wow that is great. Most of the time get people to get more then two, but wow that is really great.
5. The GIK acoustic panels are a super bargain at $100 a pair.
Yeah it is quite a deal. Just think for under $1000.00 you can have great acoustics. I wish I could spend that much on speakers and get the same return.
Glenn
GIK Acoustics
www.gikacoustics.com
Atlanta GA
