Is this the worst possible room for a HT imaginable?

[soled!]

It's 9' x 9'3" and about 9'6" tall. I don't know a great deal about room dimensions and acoustics but remembering reading the a perfect cube is pretty much the worst possible shape for a room's acoustics. So is there any hope?

I've got a Polk sat/sub system and a 46" LCD, so at least my equipment is on the smaller side. The floors are hardwood with drywall on the walls and ceiling.

Any thoughts on what I can do?

 

[Gimpy Ric]

Try those acoustical wall treatments. That room will sound very bright without something soft to soak up some treble. Maybe an area rug also.

Good Luck!

 

[soled!]

Thanks. I'm definitely gonna get a big thick area rug. Will wall treatments help with the weird room dimensions? What would you recommend? What about more "half-assed" measure like a decorative wall tapestry or something like that?

 

[Johnd]

Suggestion:

Start with the rug, heavy door and window treatments to absorb reflections, and if reflections persist, then look into panels. Posting pics and the equipment would also help. Cheers.

 

[soled!]

Thanks. I don't have pictures of the room, but could probably do a google sketchup drawing of it. I'll try for tomorrow. But it's really a simple room. 9'3" long with a regular size window centered on one end, and 9' wide, with an entrance door in the middle of one side and a closet door at the end of another. It's about 9'6" tall. Drywall on walls and ceilings and hardwood floor. Solid wood doors on both entrance and closet.

The window overlooks a brick wall so I figured the TV - a 46" LCD will go directly in front of it. I have the TV currently set up on a very low profile IKEA TV bench that's only like 22" high and 59" long - it's called the Oppli, and works great for me. I figured I'd lay a medium sized couch at the other end of the room with a big thick ugly rug in between, and maybe some tapestries or if necessary more proper wall treatments on at least two walls. I could also place heavy drapes on the window, but do I need to if it's directly behind the TV and front speakers? Incidentally, my speakers are Polk RM6600's - a mid-end sub/sat system that I've had for almost seven years.

 

[Glenn Kuras]

With that room being that small and that shape it will be hard to get it perfect, but you can make it pretty nice. Start with the following

1) Cover all corners floor to ceiling with proper bass traps.
2) Cover all early reflection points, left/ right wall and back wall with thinner panels.
3) Maybe add some diffusion to the back half of the left and right wall. You could also put some diffusion around the panel on the back wall.

Hope that helps get you going.

Glenn

 

[Glenn Kuras]

I want to correct #3 on my last post.
Because of the distance to your back wall diffusion really is not going to give you much of a benefit. I would stick with absorption.

Sorry about that, but hey I can admit when I am wrong. RIGHT?

Glenn

 

[soled!]

Thanks Glen. Now I have to go look up and learn what all these things are I have some idea, but haven't done a ton of research on the practical solutions. I certainly appreciate your help.