Room size.......?????

Argus1 -- Wed, 10/08/2008 - 20:11

I am doing some home remodeling and will be able to build a dedicated A/V room. The size I have is 13 1/2/ by 24. Is that to small to use given I am using 4 NHT 2.9 with a sub. The plan is to put a 52" plazma on the wall for video. I plan to use this more for music (NHT 2.9) that TV. Please give some feed back.

Steven Stone -- Wed, 10/08/2008 - 22:58

Back in the good old days before "Ultimate AV" there use dot be a publication with the word "Guide" in it that had a column by an audio interior designer/architect. He developed an Excel spreadsheet that would identify frequency nodes based on room dimensions. I used it to build my main room. Tip: the height of a room, and your ear height when listening, matters as much as the width and length.

I still have the spreadsheet, so if you email me I'll send it to you.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

larry markert (not verified) -- Wed, 12/03/2008 - 15:26

Steven if you could send me the room guide I would appreciate it

Thanks, Larry

Robert Harley -- Thu, 10/09/2008 - 11:36

I built a room from scratch with the dimensions 14.5' wide, 21' long, and with a 9' ceiling. Your room's overall size (volume) is fine. I don't know how good those dimensional ratios are for best modal distribution, but the spreadsheet Steven mentioned is excellent.

Tom Martin -- Wed, 12/03/2008 - 16:23

The book Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest has good information on room sizing. But the original post seems to be about integrating speakers with a given room. For that, you might consider RPG's Room Optimizer software ($100):

http://www.rpginc.com/products/roomoptimizer/index.htm

They also have a program for sizing your room if your are building one.

CEO and Editorial Director, Nextscreen LLC