Audiophile Sound in Small Rooms? 

Stuff like this is way more helpful to most than reviewing a $2k DAC (or whatever).

I also pushed my speakers back to the point where they disappeared . They fell off the balcony.

fifteen foot is considered roomy in many British homes, I don't consider it small in the slightest

I tried this and your LOTS suggestions where I took my time and moved my seat and speakers till they disappeared in both my main and secondary rooms. I’m sitting much closer than would normally be my preference but it’s wonderful when the speakers completely disappear and you get immersed in the performance. The way you describe is simply superior and easier to follow and get results compared to most everyone else. Thanks a bunch!

I was just about to fill some speaker stands with sand, and I thought "if that sand ever gets spilled I'll never get rid of it all." So I went to a garden supply shop to buy some clean river pebbles. It was such a small amount I needed they gave me them for free, and they work great.

Man, I absolutely love your gentle and honest approach. This was really enjoyable to watch so thank you for the content my man.

Very good and helpful video! I've always been saddled with smaller rooms for my HiFi listening, and have done a lot of experimenting to see what I could do with what i had. The results have usually been pretty much everything that you demonstrated here. Putting the speakers on stands, moving them out from the wall behind them, and angling them in usually always gives the best results. Sitting closer to the speakers helps to remove a lot of the room's not-so-good acoustical problems, and can create a very nice sound stage and really does help the speakers to disappear. I think you have done a wonderful job of helping people to learn how to work with what you have!

It's a good topic. I think too often we talk in terms of the ideal when it's rarely attainable in real life, at least for most of us. Thanks for the vid.

guys of a certain age have experienced the feeling of new record day and many others have not. The 70s were some good times to be a teenager... vinyl records and real musicianship were at their peak. And other reasons.

I’m from the UK and listening to this being called a small room is funny. This is on average a medium room over here! I have Spendor D7.2s in a room this size and they sound incredible, I get everything I want from them from a wide range of music including AC/DC. They’re attached to a Hegel H390 and the source is an Auralic Aries G2.1. You don’t need a tiny system in a room this size if setup well, I have mine along the short wall not in the corner. And yes, my speakers have space both behind and to the sides, there is enough space in a room this size!

Getting real! Great video. Thank you for the corner recommendation. You are the only person who has addressed my L shaped room which can have speakers on stands in the corner. And my 10'x10' office could use your second idea. Thank you!

I have a 12x16 living room where my first system is located much to my wife's chagrin - she hates my music and will not even allow me to play it in her presence without a row. So when she's out I have to lift my left hand Mordaunt Short Avant 609 left hand speaker out from behind the end of the couch and then shift the flat screen tv to expose the right hand one that hides behind it. These floor standing 2.5 ways are heavy but deliver hugely and the work is worthwhile as long as my back holds out and I can get everything back before she gets home!

So great that you're addressing this! My listening room is even smaller: 11x12 and 8.5 foot ceilings. I made one of the longer walls a front wall, speakers about 19 inches forward, drivers aiming just behind my head, and put my chair about 2 feet in front of a closet, being part of the back wall. Removed the door from the closet and used a sliding fabric screen in place of said door. When I slide open the screen, stage seems to improve (possibly) due to the combination of the increased space and dampening behind me (lots of soft stuff in the closet, plus also bass trap?) and the screen (possibly) controlling some of the reflections toward the room entrance. Some GIK treatment to address room gain / bass, and a couple of diy diffusers for early reflections and voila....sounds...pretty.....pretty good.

Been waiting for a video like this THANK YOU!

For many in the UK, that small room would be considered quite big.

From 25+ years of personal experience. Do not have an audio stand (or anything) between your speakers, get the gear off to the side and low. Have NOTHING on the floor between you and the speakers except for any floor treatment. Declutter the room. Try to duplicate one side if the room to match the other side, a.k.a. keep the room symmetrical in shape and size. Play with speaker placement. Then spend $ on acoustic treatments. You can make a $1500 speaker/amp/source sound amazing. Also, and most importantly, listen to lots of music. Listen to audiophile recordings, research what recordings are audiophile. Listen, listen, listen....

Good stuff - I moved my speakers close to the sofa in my last house. Near-field is always good at reducing the influence of the room acoustics - most of the sound gets to your ears before it starts bouncing around the walls!

Wow, I've used the "angle away" technique with some success, but never heard it mentioned. I've mostly switched to car audio because tweaking around with my speakers to get the "perfect image" becomes too impractical in small room, but these tips are solid. I now enjoy 3D stereo imaging over the hood of my truck. 😉

Good to see you back at it Ron. Thanks.

great review, I utilize LOTS at home in my budget friendly music room and it helped greatly!

Near field works really well, coaxial coincident speakers like ls50 would lack height so not all speakers do well in near field. For cheaper room treatments you can frame 3 towels on top of each other this would absorb deaden sound. Cheers and Happy Listening.

For me KEF Ls50 Meta's are the absolute kings when it comes to nearfield experience. If you also use some tubes and a pretty airy DAC like the Ares II you get an amazing nearfield experience, the R2R Dac and the tubes gives you some extra soundstage.

Love this. Keeps things in perspective

Most excellent info. As many of us don't have large rooms to work with and benefit from this video.

If you have smaller bookshelf speakers, getting adjustable speaker stands also help so that you can raise or lower the speakers.

Very helpful information. This works great in my room even with budget gears.

Brilliant helpful advice!

Small office with near field JBL 305p monitors on desk stands. Bass boom and muddy lower midrange were a serious problem. Added $20 of corner bass traps and $15 of absorption panels in the problem area and I am now enjoying my speakers all over again.

I have my setup in near field now because my entire apartment is 15 x 15 and there are two doors limititing where I could even put my speakers. I did put up a bit of acoustic treatment as this room is lively and it helped. I have Focal Chorus 706 speakers and a Rogue Sphymx V3 with an Oppo Blu Ray player and a Cambridge Audio DAC MAGIC100. I get amazing center image and the width is wider than the speakers. About all I can do

back in the mid eighties i lived in a small house with a liv rom of ten by 20. at one end i placed my new polk SDAs with Carver M1 amp ,added a couch at the proper distance from the speakers and turned it on . after five minutes the interior walls melted and i had a big listening space .

A Very good video there Ron! I run a vintage system, sans the turntable as it's a Rega P6 from 2020 and the cartridge and phono stage is from 2018, the rest, vintage. Receiver is a NAD 7240PE from between 1987-1992 or so, and I think mine is the later variant and the speakers are from 1979, a vintage pair of ADS L810, though billed as bookshelfs, they are a tad too big to be true bookshelf speakers, but do contain 2, 8" acoustic suspension woofers however, with a soft dome midrange and tweeter for a 3-way setup. As is, the system has balls, lots of moxie and sound very good and natural, even though my room is roughly 11x15FT and is a pass through for the kitchen, bathroom and laundry and the front 2 bedrooms. My couch sits away from the east wall by roughly a foot and a half or so, speakers no more than 21" from the front wall and I have to say, it does that well. The room has other furniture in it but as often noted, it's far from perfect, but for a rectangular room, it goes quite well all things considered. Do the speakers disappear? Nope and that's not the ultimate goal, but imaging is and I even get image depth in this space. Shortly after I was given the speakers, they did something I'd never experienced before, they gave me the impression of shooting out sound from them and as I had to go past them to get something from my office at the front of the house, I felt I was having to dart past the trajections. It was uncanny to say the least. Anyway, overall imaging is decent despite it not being perfect and my rocker/recliner sits right in front of the left channel speaker, but I sit on the couch most when listening to music anyway. Room has no special treatment, other than the speaker grills placed against the side walls to help with first reflections. Gotta say, speakers are mildly towed in, about 21" from front wall, and off the floor by some 15 or so inches, and tilted back slightly, which was recommended and they do image well and sound quite natural. All in all, it's a good listening experience for me in a small space. I have also thought about a complete rearrangement of the space, but have not done anything as of yet.

The dimensions of my listening room are 10'Lx12'Wx9'H, what I did was, used heavy blackout curtains on the sidewalls and the front wall between the speakers. The speakers just disappear with minimalistic recordings and with normally processed recordings, the soundstage is very transparent.

That was informative. I'm still near field I changed my setup until the middle of my living room I'm about 9 ft off of my back wall literally posted in the middle of my living room and have about 8 ft behind me and I haven't changed this setup yet I like it.

Kudos! I like to see content like this for the average person.

Very helpful video. Is a full Bro3 review coming soon??

This really does work. My situation is similar but not the same. I have my system in the living room, which is larger than a "small" room, but between "LOTS" advise and PS Audio's guide, I ended up moving my speakers pretty much to the middle of the room. So not as close as in this video, but much further than what PS Audio was originally recommending. I'm getting an amazing 3D audio out of 2 channel system. A solid central "ball" of sound behind the speakers for the vocals and the wide and pretty deep stage for the instrumentals. Placement and setup of the speakers is the first thing to get right. Equipment is secondary to that, as you can get phenomenal enjoyment out of a VERY modest setup if you have it tuned to the room properly. Thank you for the videos and advise!

If you are stuck with a putting small speakers on book shelf use a door wedge under each speaker and adjust the tilt of them. This can give you great depth. It also makes the speaker see the front and rear walls as non parallel. In this situation have a subtle toe-in. Thanks for the great video. :)

this is pure gold

how do you like the b03? its my first pair of speakers not taken from a dumpster. i love how i can see the tightness of the skin on the bassdrum for the first time.

Thanks for helping us try to get the best out of what we have. It's definitely a give and take on everything.

After buying my very first near field setup for my work desk (very open warehouse space - 10 foot long desk) my eyes and ears were truly opened to the beauty of near field. Using a decent set of Q Acoustics book shelf speakers and a decent class D desktop amp, I am blown away at the sound quality I can get for the money. Thanks for this video Ron, always a good reminder that setup matters. 👍

i do something similar. i've got a symmetrically patterned rug that i can use as a reference and i pull my stand mounts about four feet into the room and throw a blanket over the tv. nice job ron.

Fantastic, thanks for Your insight - and the entertainment of course.

What's worked for me? Some basic acoustic treatment, especially necessary if the room is merely empty. If it's stuffed with full bookshelves - not so much. Bass is always a problem in small room. What's said in the video also matches my eperience - using smaller bookshelf speakers and maybe a small sub leads to better results in small rooms.

Great video. Thank you. 😎

Front ported, rare these days, or bottom slot ported like the Wharfedale Evo range makes speakers much less affected by walls and corners, an amplifier that doesn't drop off badly at lower volumes, basically class A....I recommend Arcams SA20 which I have in my 12ft X 13ft listening room (with Evo 4.2's) Or buy some small near field speakers and put a small sub somewhere, lots of soft furnishing/carpets and an amp of no more than 40w into 8ohm so that you drive it a bit

You are one of the better, if not the best, audio guy on RU-vid. As an audio enthusiast (not an audiophile, God forbid), I kind of stumbled into nearfield listening by necessity. Hear me out on this. The smallest room any of us have is our ears, but headphones fill that room up very nicely. One thing they can't do is allow us to feel the music with our bodies they way speakers can. I have some quality bookshelves and even a sub (very unconventionally placed, by the way) in a rather small room, 19 feet long by 12 feet wide, and I have to use the narrow part for my listening area. I'm getting great sound, so it can be done. But I did think on the smaller side when it came to my speakers and that's made all the difference. In effect, I have a big set of headphones. Only now, I get the visceral feel of the sound waves hitting my body as well as my ears. Keep up the good work, you are really good at what you do.

Great editing and advice.. Thanks Randy! Im sure this will motivate some people to try a few things. =)

Enjoyed this, thank you for taking the time to make it. Live in Italy, room is basically 16ft by 16 ft, 9 foot tall, concrete block with slurry coating for smoothness. Some wooden furniture and a big fold away. No asking for advice, just saying what works of rme. Wharfedale Linton and 2 REL T5i subs. Loki from Schitt and a Yamaha CD driven by a Technics SU V620. I play mainly music from YT off the laptop thru an IFi Zen DAC. No issues loving the sound. Overkill? Likely but what else I'm I gonna dabble with? I had Zu Omen DW in that room but recently got the Linens and am soon to modify the crossovers. The Zu are going upstairs to be fed by the TV and Rega TT. Still trying to decide if I wanna run the Realistic vintage receiver tho it requires a transformer for voltage or get something newer. We'll see, tho I do have an old Kenwood Integrated amp, damned if I recall the name that is sweet and... 220V that I can put back into service.... Sorry to ramble

I tried this with the Falcon Acoustics Q7 some weeks ago. Boy did I feel joy. Life time well spent.

Finally somebody talking about this.

Thanks Ron for explaining this

Thanks so much for this video.. super useful..

My setup:- 1989 vintage (fully serviced and maintained) Technics SU-600 'New Class A Series' Integrated Amplifier (specs available on t'internet) 2 x mid range 2 way Sony bookshelf - Main 2 x Mid range Pioneer bookshelf - Secondary 15' x 15' room with approx 10/12' ceiling height All hooked up to my Nvidia Shield K1 tablet (upgrade planned shortly), providing video to my 42" TV, and audio through a Dragonfly Cobalt which then provides input to the Integrated Amp. Placement:- The 2 x Sony's are placed below the TV/Hifi stack (on a rack) angled out a little wide. I use these as uppers, mids, and mid bass (yes, I am looking to obtain a 8" or 10" sub to gain a sub bass sound, but so far, I can hear down to approx 45Hz - Amp is rated 5Hz to 70KHz). The 2 x Pioneers are on speaker stands, placed at approx 45 degrees angle from my head, and approx 6' away from me. Overall, a crisp, clean, full range sound, with (for me and those that I have demo'd to) a wide sound stage. This current setup sounds REALLY good for the relatively low budget that has been spent on it (goes to show what an old and still available for cheap amp can do). Live music videos come alive, and the type of music I listen to, ranging from Classical, to Melodic Techno, to Chill/Ambient, to others, really come out very well. The way I put it hahaha is like, 'Listening to a well made set of headphones, without needing to wear, headphones' 🤔😏😏 Also, being a teen in the 80's, I love the LED bar type frequency/graphic visualisers, so, I bought myself a 'BDS PP-131 2U' - 31 bar Pro/DJ spectrum analyzer, both as a little treat for myself, but also so that I can 'See' what I hear too (hence knowing my speakers drop off at around the 50/45Hz range (though naturally, I CAN adjust the tone controls and enhance down to approx 30, but I don't want to do that obviously hence the desire to obtain a decent 8/10" sub to handle that and possibly down to 20Hz...) So yeah, there you have it, that's how I have mine set up, but yes, it is true, often, placing the speakers wide and angled direct to each ear (L + R) CAN give you a wide sound stage where various instruments play direct to each ear, and you can hear the subtle differences including maybe (depending on the track) the sweep from right on your right, through to in front and then sweeping round to your left ear... You just need to do as I did... Take your time, placing, sitting, listening, moving, sitting listening.... Your time, and effort, WILL be rewarding in the end... 😏 AND as you say, you CAN do it without spending the value of yours, your wifes and your kids kidneys in the process too! 🤔😉😉 😎🇬🇧

Thanks! Great info. I'm a near field listener having chosen appropriate speakers etc.

i have a pair of elac b5.2 in my small room coupled with a decent used denon i ve got for 100 bucks and they sound really awesome. putting some music on with qobuz and they actually dont sound like 200 bucks speakers whatsoever. next month i ll probably build a diy subwoofer for them aswell. heard alot of people really praise the value you get from ultimax subs. do you have any experience with them?

What’s the couch 🛋 at the end of the video ? Looks like something I could enjoy ? Thanks, great content as usual !

Thanks alot for LOTS.

I sit right up against the back wall and find it’s best to either get really close to the back wall with the head or sufficiently far away (sit well back or sit on the edge of the couch). Likely to do with the delay between direct and reflected sound. Unfortunately I don’t like the dead sound of sitting up against an absorber (tried many depths, with and without diffusion patterns on the surface).

Thanks! Exactly my use case. Was on the fence about going with a better quality 2.0 or 2.1 set over a cheapo 5.1 since I have a fixed budget.

I am wondering if MTM floorstanders like Q Acoustics Concept 50 or 500 could also work near field, as the speak drivers are placed close to each other. And this would save on stands and subwoofer.

My audio room is a 3rd bedroom. 8'x10' speakers Falcon M10 Ended up favoring near field, I know everything in a room this small is. But, speakers are 4' away and pointed right at me. Sounds pretty darn good

Ron --- I'm not sure if it was one of your videos where two phono preamps were reviewed, one Solid State, the other Tube. But they were considered outstanding for the money, in the $3- 4K range (?) depending on gain and other options. Am I correct in that this is one comparison of yours, and if not might you know who did it? I just seem to recall it being you. Thank you.

I listen to a lot of classical. I simply move the speakers a bit and get a great center sound stage. It puts a smile on my face! That's good enough for me :) I have Klipsch RP-600M speakers and R-8SW subwoofer, Manley Jumbo Shrimp tube pre-amp and First Watt F6 amp.

I'm sure the most important thing is of course the wood paneling. I often find that music sounds a whole lot better with wood paneling

I tried the BR03 whilst already owning a pair of BR02’s….the 03’s went back and I purchased another pair of 02’s for surround duty’s. They are staying as my front stage too!

we Brits need videos like this.... and deaf neighbours would be a bonus ;-)

brother, what would you have to say about nearfield subwoofers? Im interested in your take on it

Thanks Ron! I’m thinking of using your link to buy this amp for a pair of Polk R200 in my garage, to be upgraded in the future. Would this power my Polks decently for now? Thanks.

What about the space the drivers need to time align or sum together? I was told 2-3 meters for BMR V2’s I wanted to use in my small room with a set of aegir’s.

Im facing some wireless audio connectivity problem like noise while high volume😑 ! Its comming from the Bluetooth audio receiver .any suggestion what should I do. Or suggest me a wireless audio receiver 😀

I'm listening to this on an A08pro:) sweet little VU meter. Work good with Fluance SX6 5.25 bookshelves. They boom in a small room.

HElp... I have floor standing speakers that are in a bedroom. so they bed is most likely going to be in the way . Bedrooms are the only room with a door in this house (balance is open concept) and I need to "contain" the music at times. This is solely to play vinyl as other system in the open space is for cd and tidal kind of stuff... I don't know if I should put the speakers on a platform but then the tweeter will be higher then ear level or if I should just not worry about it and have the bed be in the way. There is only a chair and a nightstand in this room with an antique wardrobe , room is kind of large wood floors no carpets yet. Or should I keep this in the guest bed room which is much smaller 12x12 but nothing blocking the speakers

Hey got a question. I live in a small apartment and my living room is smaller than your kids room. Do you have any suggestions for a good sub I can buy? I already have the Sony SSCS5, and they are on a shelf, but I'm going to move them closer, like you did in your room. What do you think of the Jamo S808? If I move these Sony's closer, and buy those stands, I could put the Jamo Subs under a chair or something...they can't go under my sofa which is what I sit on for listening...so any suggestions?

Indeed, every room will have its challenges.

Room treatment can not solve all problems, but can minimize the biggest, like echo in room with tile or concrete walls/floor.

This really has me re-evaluating my planned speaker upgrade as I don't think the open baffle ones I'm enamored with will do well in my 13x16 room with a fairly thin wall isolating my neighbor. I'm usually playing at an SPL of 50-60.

The main problem in smaller rooms is bass response. The long waves striking short walls and reflecting back to the listener are very damaging to SQ. I like your idea of placing the mattress on the back wall to tame some of that. 3 feet from the back may not quite be enough (4 is better), but in a small room, there may not be a choice (don’t want to end up in the middle of the room in a huge bass null.) Nearfield allows lower volume, which should help with some of the reflections. I’ve never tried it, but there’s supposed to be a way (using multiple subs front and back) to entirely eliminate bass reflections from front and back walls. If true, it could be a huge help in getting good bass in small rooms. Great discussion and very well done!

My non-dedicated room is 15x13 with my speakers approximately 7ft off the front wall. Room treatment is minimal. I’ve achieved a HuGe Soundstage. deep & wide with superb imaging…ProAc Response D2’s + Rel S/510 absolutely superlative combo.😘👌

My listing room is 14 x 16 with 8 foot ceilings. Though not the smallest of a listening room it isn't the largest. I have had to adjust mystery listening habit by listening at a lower volume. My systems in part is a pair of Klipsch Forte IV's driven by a Yamaha A-S3200 with an Audio-Technica turntable. I am currently streaming using an Amazon echo but plan replace that with an Eversolo DMP-A6 master.

I dig you man. Period. Yer a good guy. Dig ya

I notice a lot of absorb behind the saphires in this video. Is it necessary to attenuate the rear emissions in an open baffle driver?

I liked your Texas size small room!😁

Beolab 3 , Beolab 11 , drove by Beosound Core and Overture in my small room works a treat

So my room for listening, is 13x28 so is it better to direct the music across the narrow side or the long dimension, which is what I’m doing currently.

I use LS3/5a in my small room, works for me.

Your small rooms in the US would probably considered pretty large in the UK. Our houses are pretty small generally so room sizes are pretty small generally. All relative I guess.

Hey Ron, Quick M3 question. As a M3 owner, partially thanks to you, I was curious if you used the small spikes, large spikes, no spikes, or aftermarket feet on your sapphires. I personally don't think it makes a huge difference, I'm more just curious. Thanks buddy, glad to see some more content.

Hi Ron. Thanks for the videos, especially LOTS!!! I have a fairly small room and have well over 100 hours trying to make my left speaker disappear. I’ve used LOTS and the soundstage and imaging is amazing. I’ll take any advice as I think I’ve tried everything but the left speaker just won’t disappear like the right one. My room is treated with absorption panels. Running Musical Paradise tube pre, 2 Rotel amps in bridged mono pushing Vandersteen 2C’s. I was originally thinking the speakers were too big for the room but the right speaker completely disappears. Listening mostly to rock on CD’s and vinyl. Sorry for the long comment. Thanks again for everything.

I'm in a 16x22 foot room, it's weird because I currently have a "wall of sound" but with a clear center, and pretty wide soundstage , I've heard things directly to my left/r. Is it the echo in the room? It's still pretty empty, it's echoey

How about using ProAC tablette signature edition in such a room ? They dont mind the room mostly.

Great video! Two questions, How do you figure out how far from the side walls you should put the speakers and also how do you measure how high you need the stands to be? Thanks!!

My listening room is a helluva lot smaller. I have a chair that sits me at ear level from my speakers which are about ten feet away. Love the soundstage imaging I’m hearing.

What happened to the Borea review?

What do you think about a decent rug? My room's a little bit smaller than yours it only has one small window and hardwood floors. There's also just one chair and one small desk in there. I have two B&w 607 running through a Yamaha 501 with Onkyo CD player. I was considering some small room treatment right now the speakers are about 12 inches from the wall towed in just a little bit towards me my listening chair is against the other wall. There's probably maybe 6 ft from my chair to the speakers. Any suggestions on the clean up the sound I have done some placement I also do have stands for the bookshelves filled with metal washers little ones that a buddy gave me. Right now the system seems kind of right all my adjusting knobs are set to neutral

Great tips, Ron. Years ago I had my system in a small room. I chose speakers designed to be used against the wall, Linn Kans. They were brilliant infinite baffle designs. Now I have another small room for my office and also auditioning music on Tidal to play on my main system on CD. I’ve spent the last couple of years swapping various pairs of speakers to match them to my room. The best I’ve found, balancing a big, open sound, whilst keeping a grip on the bass are Monitor Audio Bronze 2. Unlike the current model 100, which supersedes mine, the 2’s have a slightly smaller mid/bass driver and a forward facing port. In my experience, these two factors have been key to how well these speakers work in the space. I have them mounted on stands about 9 inches from the wall. Another contributing factor to the quality of the sound in the room, is the ability of the power amplifier to keep a grip on the bass drivers. In my experience, the more the amp controls the drivers, the better the spakers sound.

Speaker toe in can make the sound too harsh or bright ?

Got KEF q150s and Aiyima A07 and T8. Sounds amazing for around $500.

I have the same paneling!

My listening room is much smaller at 11.5 x 10 ft. I have a pair of towers and a sub in there. Properly treated and positioned, yes you can make it sound like a much bigger room. Diffusers. Lots of it.