Omnipolars (OMD-15) & room treatment

[headline]

Hello everybody!

It's my first post here. Live in Sweden, 37 y.o., and learning about sound now. Got a new pair of nice speakers, than a good amp, now i need a good room... You know what i'm going through... But it's fun! Especially if i sort this thing out.

The sound I get now is not great all. Bass is generally weak, mids very muddled, highs good but soon overpowering. Sound makes me tired quickly. Especially as the speakers need to play louder to get something less than highs out. Overall, not a balanced sound at all.

I just discovered browsing the web that the room might be the cause of my sound problems. I’m ready to buy some good acoustic treatment. I’m a bit lost what to get, partly because of the ‘special’ speakers that I have. Let me just give you all the info I can think of – maybe you have some good piece of advice for me.

My room is 15.7 x 13.6 x 8.2 ft. The long walls are concrete, the others are soft. Back wall (where listening position is) and one side wall are covered with wood. The other side wall has a double-glass window 7.9 x 3.6 ft.

For furniture there is a leather couch, heavy, and is 7.9 x 3.6 ft. The carpet is thick and 6 x 9 ft. also some shelves on the front wall, in the corner. A plasma 42” in between speakers, with plasma pushed to the wall as much as possible.

The speakers are on the long wall, couch is immediately against the opposite wall. The speakers are 1.6 ft from the back wall, and 4.3 respectively 5.2 ft from side walls.

Can’t move furniture around at all, but can use 3 corners (both in the back and one in front) and put panels on all walls.

The speakers are Mirage OMD-15 with the quirky Omnipolar design with mids and highs shooting upwards and being 70% reflected and 30% direct waves. Cannot figure at all whether I should apply any treatment to the front of them room or not, or what. The manual says ‘Some damping treatment to treat the ROOM, not the speaker reflection points, can work well to reduce this problem… Do not attempt to add dampening materials to the first reflection points of the speakers! Omnipolar Speakers are designed to embrace such reflections and they are a crucial part in the performance of the speakers.’ A review wrote that ‘the Omniguides are canted forward, more sound energy is radiated forward than to the sides, and the least sound is directed behind the speaker’. Specs and manual available online if you google the OMD-15 (system does not let me to place a link unless i have 5 posts!!)

Please advise what treatment you think would improve this room. Am I stuck more or less with a square room with all the insurmountable problems that come with that? Just trying to set my expectations right.

Many thanks for any advice you might have for me.

Cheers!

George, Sweden

 

[jostenmeat]

Hmm. I am really interested in what Bryan or another expert/pro will have to say. I'll just keep you mildly entertained until that time.

You 100% cannot move furniture? Not even, say, couch feet on sliders, so that you can move them off the wall for critical listening only?

Bryan is pretty big on keeping off the back wall. See, muddy bass/midbass collects there, and while that isn't the end of the world by itself, what happens is that it masks your higher frequencies.

Also, lengthwise setup is best. You have it "width-wise". Your room is not square, so that's a good thing.

I harp on it a lot, but I think the most important thing about audio is the placement of listener and speakers. Sort of like calibrating a TV. You don't start with scorch/vivid mode directly across from your brightest and biggest window, and then apply SM adjustments. Likewise, you don't shove your speakers deep into the corners, turned around backwards, and then try to EQ that and treat for that. Yes I know that's an enormous exaggeration, but I'm trying to make a point. Now, this paragraph is very important particularly in the case that you are keeping your current speakers as is.

Otherwise, to help you get a bit better of an idea how bad your room is do the following. YELL, sing, shout, clap, bang pots and pans, etc. Do you have serious slap echo?

So, anyways, please experiment big time with speaker placement, IMO, particularly with SIGNIFICANT space from front wall, sidewall, and YOU off the back wall. AFTER you have found the best placements possible, then you start considering treatments and EQ.

 

[bpape]

I would agree that placement is key. Where are the speaker located (dimensions) in the room.

You mention that the listening position is up against a wall. That would account for some of the 'muddled' sound as you're where bass builds up. The strange thing is that you find the bass weak. Normally against a wall, it's very boomy. What is the wall surface behind you?

Bryan

 

[headline]

Thanks guys.

i spent hours moving speakers and i had to set for this position. the others were simply worse and moving the speakers to the middle of the room did not do anything.

i clapped in the room and banged - hard to say without a reference point, but i'd say there is echo, maybe plenty of it. i'm stuck with the position near by the back wall but have place for panels.

good to hear my room does not count as square. there is hope then.

cheers!

George

 

[bpape]

Just remember that clapping and banging is a relatively narrow band phenomenon. Also, it's putting the source and the listener in the same position which it will never be in real listening.

The omni-s can function within 2-3' of the wall behind them very well. No need to go all the way to the middle of the room. How much space can you get behind you and what surface is behind you?

Bryan