OK, Mike.
Sorry that I didn't write back sooner - just been busy lately
So your current room is "less than ideal". That's not a knock. Just think of it in the sense that if someone set out to design a room specifically for audio, they would change some things
Your room is likely highly reflective when it comes to sound. You have hard, flat surfaces everywhere. Your room is also large enough that reflected sound (echoes) will travel far enough that the delay between the direct sound and the reflected sound will be long enough to "confuse" your brain and "muddy" the sound.
In a room such as this, there is basically one good option and one reasonably good option. The good option would be to acoustically treat your room so that it will be a better environment for sound.
This doesn't necessarily mean buying products that are specifically only for acoustic treatment. Since it sounds as though this might not be a permanent residence for your audio system, I'm guessing that you probably don't want to invest in a whole bunch of acoustic panels that you may or may not be able to use in a future room.
But what we can do is use "natural" materials to improve your acoustic environment. The first thing would be to lay a rug on that hardwood floor. It doesn't have to cover the whole floor. What you're really after is a rug centered half way between your seat and the speakers.
Think of the sound "bouncing" like a billiard ball. The sound goes from the front of the speaker, "bounces" off the floor and comes back up to your ears. You want to put a rug in the area where the sound would "bounce" so that it gets absorbed, rather than actually reflecting off of the floor and reaching your ears.
The same idea applies for both side walls. You want to reduce the sound that "bounces" off of the side walls and reaches your ears. You could hang heavy drapes or wall hangings at those positions on the side walls. Another option is to put a bookcase at those side wall positions and place differently shaped objects on those bookcases so that the sound is "scattered". Another option is to put large, leafy plants there to , once again, "scatter" the sound rather than let it reflect strongly off of the side wall.
Also, at the back of the room, directly behind you, you'll want to "absorb" or "scatter" the sound as much as possible to avoid a strong reflection off of the back wall. So same ideas - heavy drapes, wall hangings or something that will "scatter" the sound.
If you can opt for plush furniture, that will help. You'll want to have objects in your room that absorb and scatter sound. Basically, what you are trying to achieve is a situation where the sound coming directly from the speakers to your ears is many time stronger (louder) than any reflected (echo) sound. This is what yields articulate, detailed, clear sound. No matter how accurate and good your speakers are, if you are getting lots of strong reflections from your room surfaces, those speakers will sound "muddy", indistinct and unclear.
If you honestly cannot change the furniture in your room at all in order to improve your acoustics, then the reasonably good solution is to purchase speakers that are more directional (ie. they don't "spread out" their sound as much). This is often called "controlled dispersion" and, again, the whole idea is to reduce the amount of reflected sound vs. direct sound reaching your ears.
Now, another issue is going to be bass. Bass is very hard to control in ANY room. We use acoustic products called "bass traps" to try and mitigate some of the worst effects that the room has on bass frequencies, but the basic problem is that bass sound waves are very long, which means that when they reflect off of the walls, ceiling and floor, they "double back" on themselves, which causes all sorts of problems. Sometimes, the waves "double up" , which creates a "peak", meaning an inappropriately loud bass note at certain frequencies, while other times, the bass waves will "cancel" each other, leading to a "null", which is a complete lack of a certain bass note.
Whether you hear "peaks", "nulls" or something in between depends entirely upon your seating location relative to the position of the subwoofer and the walls, floor and ceiling around you.
"Bass traps" are typically just large, sound absorbing wedges that go in the corners and edges of your room. The idea is simply to reduce the reflected bass waves so that they do not interfere with the direct sound coming from your subwoofer or large speakers.
So again, you can opt to purchase some bass traps, which would be a good solution. But they honestly can be quite large and impact the looks of your room, which you may or may not be willing to do.
The reasonably good solution for bass is to use two sources of bass (ie. two subwoofers) and position them so that - at your seat - you get relatively flat (no peaks or nulls) bass by virtue of their combined output coming from two different locations. Typically, the best positions for two subwoofers would be at the middle of two opposite walls - so basically directly in the middle of the front wall and the back wall; or directly in the middle of both side walls.
I am a fan of combining basically ALL of these solutions. Try to improve your overall acoustic environment by introducing furniture and objects that absorb and scatter sound. For sure try and get that rug in place and something on the side walls and on the back wall. Introduce bass traps if you are able and willing. I'm DEFINITELY a fan of using two subwoofers! As for the speakers, if you have a good acoustic environment, then I'm a fan of a speaker with wide, even dispersion so that you get a nice, wide "sweet spot" and the sound remains the same whether you are sitting directly in the middle seat or off to one side or the other. But in a less than ideal acoustic environment, I favor using speakers with controlled dispersion so that the "throne" seat gets very clear, detailed sound. And while seats to either side won't sound quite as good, they will still benefit from hearing fewer reflections.
A final note before I actually recommend some speakers
Decoupling - VERY important.
Your speakers and subwoofers are going to shake. There's no way around it. Manufacturers like to talk about how inert their cabinets are, but - the real world being what it is - your speakers and subwoofers are going to shake!
The shaking is the result of the speaker cabinets moving in sympathy with the movement of the speaker drivers (the tweeters, cones and domes that are actually making the sound). And at certain frequencies, the cabinets of the speakers will actually resonate and produce relatively loud sound of their own.
Most of the time, people just plunk their speakers and subwoofer directly on the floor. Most speakers and subs have little "feet" or maybe even "spikes". Sometimes, the claim is made that these "feet" or "spikes" isolate the speakers from the floor. That is completely false, I'm afraid.
If the speaker/subwoofer is touching the floor, then it is going to shake the floor - simple as that. If you put little "feet" on the bottom of the speaker, all of the speakers' weight is now "focused" into those 4 little points! That is NOT isolation.
What we need to do is to put some sort of "shock absorber" in between the bottom of the speaker and the floor. You do not want them physically shaking the floor. If the floor shakes, then the walls will shake and so will the ceiling and so will the whole house! That results is unwanted sound and unwanted sound is also called distortion.
Bottom line, we want to put a "shock absorber" in between the speakers/subwoofers and the floor (or shelf) and that is called decoupling.
So with all of that knowledge in place, for $2000, this is what I recommend:
Two
HSU VTF-2 MK3 subwoofers.
The most impressive part of home theater is great bass. So I say, do NOT skimp in this area! Bass is also extremely important for realistic music.
For your budget , the pair of HSU VTF-2 MK3 subs would easily be my top choice, but if their physical size is too large or the price is too high, you could opt for a pair of
SVSound PB10-NSD (barely any smaller and barely any cheaper); or, if you're willing to give up just a bit of the absolute lowest bass notes, you could go for a pair of
HSU STF-2, which are definitely smaller and cheaper. Another potential option would be to get one HSU VTF-2 MK3 and one HSU STF-2. That would reduce the cost, give you the greatest portion of the sonic benefits of two subwoofers and allow the VTF-2 MK3 to handle the lowest of the low notes that the STF-2 cannot quite reach.
Regardless, I recommend very strongly that two subwoofers is the best choice for you. It's the best choice for almost anybody, really! But in your case, it's a particularly good route to take because it will allow you to lay a really great bass foundation, which is vital for experiencing truly thrilling movies and music.
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