Creating Your "Bubble": Setting Up A Medium Sized Room For Great Listening

The Fantasy

Our listening environments. Most of us fantasize about a cavernous listening room, free from boomy bass and early reflections. Our massive system would sit well away from the room boundaries, as would our favorite listening chair. The drink caddy would be the only thing allowed near the seating during our audio therapy sessions. The thing about large rooms is they also give you a larger margin for error. Error in speaker placement, error in acoustic treatment. They are in a sense more forgiving. This makes getting them to sound good at normal listening levels much easier than a small room.

The flip side to this advantage is it takes a bigger speaker, possibly multiple subwoofers, a larger amplifier, and a lot more acoustic treatments to get to the desired sound pressures in that large room.

The Reality

The reality for many of us is quite different. The average listening room is about 15 feet by 12 feet with 8-10 foot ceilings. Not small, but not large either.  The margin for error in listener and speaker placement is smaller.  We have been told either directly or inferred through reading reviews, etc. that we need 8 feet of space between our speakers and ten feet of space between our listening position and speakers. Following this information places the speakers and the listener near the room boundaries, creating all sorts of room modes, and reflection issues. This may look good, or fit into our assumptions of what should sound good, but are you getting the best listening experience? Probably not.

What a situation like this calls for is defined by the recording industry as mid-field listening. Mid field listening is done at distances of 6-12 feet from the speakers. Most of us are realistically working within the range of 6-9 feet before we start encountering serious boundary interactions.

It takes more work perhaps, but a mid field listening setup can produce a visceral, holographic and tonally even listening experience with less amplifier, less speaker, and fewer acoustic treatments. By work I mean careful speaker placement. Really nailing down the best place for your speakers and the best place for your seating is critical.

Ultimately, we will be creating a "bubble" with properly set up speakers and listening spot, acoustic treatments, and a tweak or two to really dial in the holographic experience.

The Bubble

Step 1: Speaker Placement

I have tried many different methods for speaker placement, most of them do not work as well nor are as simple as New Record Day's method that was recently revealed in one of his great YouTube videos. It's a little counter intuitive, but for a reason (I'll let him explain it). It takes 2 hours or so (I may be really slow at taping off the floor however...)  to really go through, but the end result is worth it.

Take the time and really do this before considering the next recommendation.

Once you have your speakers and seating placed and sounding fantastic, we need to figure out where to place some of the acoustic treatments.

Stillpoints Aperture II in Cherry wood with Cream Grille on a custom stand.

Step 3: Acoustic Treatments

In this example, we will be using 4 acoustic treatments. These will form an area in front of, behind and to the sides of our listening area. 

I recommend The Stillpoints Aperture II panels. Why? Acoustic treatments have a sonic signature. Out of all of the treatments I have experimented with the Aperture II's allow my system to sound the best. The Aperture II's also take a little guesswork out of what type of treatment to place where. They absorb, diffuse and have a little bit of bass trap built in. They keep the sound and soundstage lively, balanced and in tact. One can use a combination of absorbers, diffusers and bass traps from other manufacturers if that's what you have on hand. You are not limited to just 4 treatments either. This is an example and I am taking a minimalist approach.

I place the panels as follows:

• One centered between the loudspeakers with the main area centered at listening height
• One on either side of the listening position at the first reflection points
• One centered behind the main listening seat

12-15 room listening "bubble"

Another example below uses 6 acoustic panels.

This example uses 6 acoustic panels total.

I like the mid field approach for several reasons

1. It gives every critical component (speakers and your listening chair) acoustical space from room boundaries. This helps with bass response and early reflection issues.
2. Like near field listening, it takes much of the room out of the equation. Unlike near field listening, the additional distance between listener and speakers allows the sound from the speakers to become more cohesive, and is just less "in your face".

What The Bubble Can And Cannot Do

The "Bubble" will open up your soundstage, improve depth, imaging and detail. How? Most of the sound you will hear from your system will be what is directly radiated from the speakers. Reflected sound, which tends to blur detail and smear the sound, will be greatly reduced. If you have severe bass issues, you may need bass traps. Bass is more of a sound pressure issue than a sound wave issue. The pressure can be a function of the volume and shape of your room, and on some occasions speaker placement can only minimize this issue, not eliminate it. 

Step 4: Tweaks To Enhance Resolution & Soundstage

Into The Twilight Zone... Below I will break down products that will make your space appear, at least to your ears, to be sonically larger.  They also have the added benefit of enhancing resolution and detail as well. All without adding brightness or artificially altering the tone.

The Stein Harmonizers come with their own stands, but for the others, they are small enough to sit atop the acoustic treatments you have placed around you. 

Stein Harmonizer System - The classic tweak. 4 Battery powered boxes allow you to adjust their effect.  Harmonizer H2 system is $2395.

Bybee V2 - This small, rather utilitarian looking device has an effect similar to the Harmonizer system. Adding resolution, richness, air, space, liquidity. Perhaps a little on the more liquid, warmer richer side of things. $399 each.

DMT X1 - The 3 x 2 x 1 walnut box is filled with material that has a very similar effect to the Bybee products. $199 each

Bybee Quantum Clarifier - Smaller and less powerful than the V2 or DMT X1, it may just strike the perfect balance of effect and price. $100 each

Bottom Line

1. Really work on optimizing the placement of your speakers and seating. 
2. With a few acoustic treatments, create a "bubble" of sound where the energy that your ears pick up is the direct, radiated from the speakers.
3. With your system now hitting new heights, widths and depths try out some room enhancing tweaks to see if they do indeed take things further by making the walls in your room disappear.

Thanks for reading this far and as always, if you have questions please don't hesitate to call or email.