Paradigm Premier 800F - Speaker Placement?

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Markie_900

Enthusiast
Hi there,

I recently bought a pair of Paradigm Premier 800Fs and I've been playing music quite extensively these past days. I am an entry level HiFi enthusiast that just got myself my first pair of true all-rounder after doing quite a bit of research. I am using the speakers both for music and movies. As seen in the attached picture, the only downside with my current setup is the room they are placed in. Because of the fact that my projector screen covers a huge portion of the front wall, I am very much limited as to where I can put my speakers. Listening at both moderate and higher levels, elevates the bass response from my left speaker and I get a "boomingness" that messes with the music. I am sure this is because of the speaker placement and not the speakers themselves. The left speaker is very close to the side and back wall. In order for me to give you a fair review of what I think of my speakers, I would love if you could give me hints as to how I can reduce the low frequency "standing waves" coming from the left hand side of the room. Do I need to use some kind of bass traps to put along the sides or do you have other recommendations?
 

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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
You are definitely getting some boundary gain from the speakers being placed so close to the walls, and that will be manifest as boosted bass. This isn't quite a standing wave issue, although that maybe contributing to the problem. I am not sure that bass traps will help you here, and you may need to get in touch with an acoustician for that. If you pulled the speakers forward, that might help to reduce boundary gain being generated from the speaker's proximity to the backwall. Something else to consider doing is putting some acoustic absorbers on the right wall in the speaker's acoustic reflection path. That isn't going to help with bass much but it will reduce diffraction effects from the speaker being placed so close to the surface, and it should help make both speakers sound similar.
 
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mtrot

Senior Audioholic
Given that expanse of hard wood flooring, I'd experiment with placing a carpet in front of the system, as it seems like that room should have a lot of reflections and be pretty "live".
 
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Markie_900

Enthusiast
Given that expanse of hard wood flooring, I'd experiment with placing a carpet in front of the system, as it seems like that room should have a lot of reflections and be pretty "live".
This is something I've considered doing. As you can see, the other side of the living room looks like this. Any ideas as to what I can put on the side and back wall?
 

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M

Markie_900

Enthusiast
You are definitely getting some boundary gain from the speakers being placed so close to the walls, and that will be manifest as boosted bass. This isn't quite a standing wave issue, although that maybe contributing to the problem. I am not sure that bass traps will help you here, and you may need to get in touch with an acoustician for that. If you pulled the speakers forward, that might help to reduce boundary gain being generated from the speaker's proximity to the backwall. Something else to consider doing is putting some acoustic absorbers on the right wall in the speaker's acoustic reflection path. That isn't going to help with bass much but it will reduce diffraction effects from the speaker being placed so close to the surface, and it should help make both speakers sound similar.
Thanks for the reply. What do you mean with putting absorbers on the right wall in the speaker's acoustic reflection path? The back side of the living room looks like the following (see attached pics). I have windows on one side and on the other side, I have a "thin" wall whereas the back wall is "hard". Any thoughts or ideas as to what I can put on these walls?
 

Attachments

S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Thanks for the reply. What do you mean with putting absorbers on the right wall in the speaker's acoustic reflection path? The back side of the living room looks like the following (see attached pics). I have windows on one side and on the other side, I have a "thin" wall whereas the back wall is "hard". Any thoughts or ideas as to what I can put on these walls?
That listening position is not acoustically ideal. It is near lots of hard surfaces. I would see about putting acoustic absorption panels on the surfaces behind the listening position. Look at some Acoustic Art panels for something that won't be ugly. The more soft things and irregular shaped things you can put in a room, the better. You have a bunch of large, flat, hard surfaces. The curtains do help though. One thing you can do is get even heavier, thicker drapes.
 
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