# How does an open-plan room layout affect the sound?



## Richard546 (Dec 26, 2011)

I have moved into a house which has an extension, which I now use as a Hi-Fi/TV room and practise room for sax. The house's original doorway and window have no door or glass. These gaps are shown in green on the plan.

My Hi-Fi sounds OK, but the room has too much reverb.
I am going to improve the acoustics of the room with a thick rug, and possibly add some acoustic panels/bass traps.

*Should my priority be to change the layout to two separate rooms?*
How much effect does the Kitchen/Dining Room have on the Hi-Fi room acoustics? Would the sound be improved if I added a door and blocked the "window", or hung a thick curtain across both gaps.

I'm not sure whether the open-plan kitchen/dining room is:
*An advantage* - the Hi-Fi room dimensions are fairly small/square, so the extra space makes the Hi-Fi room sound larger.
*A disadvantage* - it makes the the Hi-Fi room sound too large with a long reverberation time.

Height of both rooms is 2.2 metres.
Thanks for your help.


----------



## wgmontgomery (Jun 9, 2011)

First, welcome to HTS!!

One thing that I noticed is that the room is almost a square; that's not good for low frequencies. It creates room modes/standing waves. Every room will have room modes, but they differ based on things like the room's dimensions.

Here's a link to a room mode calculator.

I'm sure that there are other factors involved, but this is what jumped-out at me. Room modes can be tamed (to _some_ degree) with bass traps, room correction etc.


----------



## Richard546 (Dec 26, 2011)

Thanks for very much for your help.
I'll check out the Room Mode Calculator.

I've read that speakers are best when firing down the long dimension of a *rectangular* room.
I wonder whether positioning the speakers across the corner of the room would be best. I know that this isn't the ideal position, but the speakers would point towards the doorway and window openings.
*Would this create a "longer" room?*

I know I need to try it out, but I would welcome people's comments.
Thanks for your help.


----------



## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

I don't know if your diagram is exact, It shows the speakers would be positioned about halfway down the walls which would probably make it worse.
You want to position the speakers and listening position near to the golden ratio of 1.6 or 38% check here as well http://www.realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm 
Note: the 38% listening position can be from the front or rear of the room.


----------



## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Either can work but both have the same issue - you can't treat the wall behind the seating due to the bookshelf or the door or both. That's a prime place to treat, minimize some modal issues, tame some of the excessive decay times, etc. 

Opening the room can be a blessing or a curse. Again, the issue becomes if you set up so the other area is to your back it's basically out of bounds in terms of treatment. I would think moving the bookshelf, walling over the old window and installing a door would be much more cost effective and give you a lot more options.

Bryan


----------



## Richard546 (Dec 26, 2011)

Thanks everyone for their help - Lots of things to think about and ideas to try.

Another idea I've been given is to hang a thick curtain across the open door and "window" to tame the high frequency reflections from the other room, but to allow the bass to "escape".

Your comments would be welcome.
Thanks.


----------



## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

You could try the curtain but I don't expect you'll get much benefit from it. They tend to be thin which really affects the absorbtion. Even the acoutic drapes don't really do a whole lot for absorbtion. If you lined the whole room you would get more, but just the doorway...probably not worth it.


----------

