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If your room is 'normal' size and construction you won't be able to fit large enough bass traps to be effective. You're right to have the concerns you have, it's a common outcome.
Best mitigation is speakers away from walls. Something dense behind the listening position, non reflective behind the speakers and convolution dsp.
There are some great books on acoustics, when you look at the acoustically perfect room you are ultimately trying to create, it's not a domestic room.
As an example, after years of measuring and moving things around the room I have has very little reflections, this is noticeable if you clap your hands in it. It also has controlled bass at the listening position but the rear corners have an extra 6db (that's double) at 50hz.
Bass flows like water across the walls and builds up in corners. It also reflects and doubles at certain frequencies depending on room size. All of this is predictable and software like REW can calculate frequency response from dimensions, including speaker position to help you.
Another basic improvement I believe in is tilting speakers about 5 degrees to the listening position. I personally find it helps with reflections.
Airhead-
Thanks for the insight. I think I’m mainly battling flutter echo, which the ceiling should help with. Just popped some bass traps into the 3D model of our living room and my wife went mental, so perhaps I’ll have to shelf that idea. Helmholtz resonator?
Really don’t want to use DSP as the Tannoys sound so good with no fiddling, switching from DSPed smaller speakers to these guys was a revelation. It’s really easy to do DSP wrong I think. I’d rather have a more fun than “accurate” sound.
Might have to move the sofa off the back wall somehow. I’ll invent some kind of excuse…
dbr
I’m adding rockwool and a microperforated stretch ceiling to our living room to reduce reverb and general reflections. The ceiling is fucked and needs replaced anyway so it’s two birds with one stone.
Anyone know anything about room treatment? My concern is that I’ll absorb lots of high and mid frequency and little bass, resulting in a boring boomy room. Bass traps in the corners too?