Some tips to improve my HIFI setup?

28 minutes ago, Nicoalix said:

 

 PeterG What do you mean by ‘B&W’?

Bondage and Whips 🫢

or maybe Bowers and Wilkins brand

I suggest starting here https://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/monitoring.htm

The photo does not look too bad but agree the speakers need to come away from side walls (especially on one side of solid wall opposite the column)

A more ideal situation is to try and get some symmetry....this is a bit hard since the speakers are skewed to one solid side wall. If it were possible I would tend to move the whole setup away from that side wall including the listening position which will stay in the middle of the speakers

The side sofa thing is okay in some ways for killing "first reflections" from the side wall but is asymmetrical compared to other side. The other side appears to have more open space (??) so may not produce a large side reflection ?? I would probably experiment with and without it if you can move the setup away from that side wall. generally I don't like first reflections from side walls

Ideally get speakers setup equidistant from side walls and away from side walls (as per Barry's recommendations) and treat the side reflection points with soft furnishings etc

Similarly not ideal to be sitting up against a back wall. Can produce problems with reflections and "comb filtering". Not a disaster but maybe an attractive soft rug /wall hanging behind you. The soft cushions of the sofa already against rear wall will be helpful also

56 minutes ago, Nicoalix said:

On the left side, from the listening position, there is an open room, the entrance to the house, but in the future there will be a door, so I will deal with that problem once it is installed. I understand that your recommendation is to take the speakers out of that space, and put them in front of the columns, but not necessarily in front of them, but in a line where the columns are not right next to each speaker, is that right?

I will also think about the rear wall.

 

all other things being equal and they may not be, I would like to move both speakers and the couch to the left, being more symmetrically arranged in the space and not have anything hard up against any boundary wall (not the speakers, not the couch). The actual distance the speakers should be away from side walls will be determined by calculations described by Barry D, and then the limitations you have in placing the speakers where you want, but those distances away from side walls ideally should be the same for each speaker ie symmetrical (you dont want one speaker 1 foot from left side wall and 10 foot from other side wall.) The columns introduce a fixed limitation but if both speakers are moved to left they should end up being not  directly in front of columns anyway? It is good to have open space behind the speakers, not directly bouncing a rear reflection at you. If it were possible I would then move the couch and speakers out into the space away from the boundary where the couch is sitting hard up against but that may not be possible. Compromise and experiment is in order. Look at Barry's ideal setup and work backwards from there as to what is both possible and practical for you. same then applies for room treatments. Ideally your listening position and speakers should form either an equilateral triangle or perhaps even better an isosceles triangle.

As Barry says for speaker placement you can start by measuring for the 1/3

points -- one third the room's length and one third the room's width.  leave 1/3 behind the (front of) the speakers, and 1/3 between the (inside

edges of the ) speakers. Then, leaving the front inside corners at the 1/3 points, rotate the outside of each speaker forward (toward the listening position), so the

speakers are aiming at the center of the wall behind the listening position.  This is a *starting point* and the toe-in may need to be increased for some speakers. 

You will not likely be able to match this so experiment within your limitations and compromises

5 hours ago, PeterG said:

 

 

Yes, but on closer inspection, it looks like I was wrong--I saw the gold/orange(?) drivers and took it for the yellow used in a previous generation of Bowers & Wilkins speakers.

Yes I believe I had those, speakers that is !

7 hours ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

The columns introduce a fixed limitation but if both speakers are moved to left they should end up being not  directly in front of columns anyway? It is good to have open space behind the speakers, not directly bouncing a rear reflection at you. If it were possible I would then move the couch and speakers out into the space away from the boundary where the couch is sitting hard up against but that may not be possible

Can you take a photo of the adjacent spaces

1 hour ago, Nicoalix said:

I have put the loudspeakers back ‘inside’ the space of the columns without them being behind. The actual result is still an improvement.

I want to keep my living room as such without compromising too much on its layout. The TV cabinet and the columns are a centre around which the whole layout is built.

 

On the other hand, I have noticed that if I direct the speakers a little beyond my shoulders, eliminating the convergence at the centre point, the image sensation in front of me is significantly greater, is it possible that this happens with these speakers in particular?

Okay I can see that you are limited by both a split level behind and steps at side.

It would appear then, yes, keeping the speakers 'inside' the columns (so not directly firing back on columns) is necessary and is probably ok. then experiment shifting speakers back or forwards a little depending on the triangle created with the listening position. Try equilateral, and isosceles (two equal sides fanning out from you, one shorter side between speakers). generally adjust toe -in so tweeters are pointed to your ears but some speakers need fine adjustment, in or out.

I'd hang something soft on that side wall to your right and behind you.

I would also experiment with DRC digital room correction because at the end of the day you are sitting in the corner of a much larger space which is not optimal and not correctable by changing the room or your location at the moment

One last thing to consider would be to totally change the axis, placing your TV and gear along the side wall on your right, then placing your couch facing the TV and have your back to the fireplace..oops no...you would have your back to fireplace..........maybe the TV next to fireplace?

1 hour ago, Nicoalix said:

At the moment the setup forms an equilateral triangle of 2.1m. I am still noticing an imbalance on the right side, which I am solving with -2db on the left speaker, but I feel that this is not the best solution. I imagine that the right wall is causing the imbalance and I'm willing to put something to avoid the direct reflection. This afternoon I will try something and give you my impressions.

I agree dropping the (whole of) the right speaker by -2dB is not a great idea as its like using a sledgehammer for the unwanted problem and adding a new problem of further unbalancing the direct sound. DRC will at least finesse the results adjusting only the frequencies deemed necessary and by whatever amount.

Also remember that its only the first or early direct reflections that are a problem coming off that right side wall and they are reasonably easy to deal with by placing something soft at the reflection point (the point where if you placed a mirror on the wall you could see your tweeter from your seated position).

Those reflections are only relevant for the higher frequencies that act more like rays (or like billiard balls bouncing off cushions of billiard table). Thats fine, you want to block them (usually) and its also fine coz soft furnishings will absorb much of these higher freq, smaller waves/rays. Specific treatment for a specific problem.

Big bad bass waves however dont act like straight shooting high frequency rays and definitely will not be absorbed by soft wall hangings. Those big bass waves will slosh/swamp into that right hand corner of your room like a big wave in a bathtub sloshes up the corners of your bath. A resonance will be created (standing wave) that will keep on 'ringing' in time and smearing the direct sound making thing muddy and burying details, sound boomy whatever

Your choice would be to place a physical bass trap in that corner or try DRC

OTOH if most of the music you play does not often excite large resonances in that corner, happy days

7 hours ago, Nicoalix said:

The bass trap has worked really well. Every little change is very significant. I've been listening to a lot of mp3 music on 200€ studio monitors all my life, this is all really new to me! I really appreciate the advice.

 

By the way, the trap is full of grandma's blankets.

 

Grandma would be proud ! We could talk about some of the technical aspects of building a bass trap later.

Just for fun temporarily place your improvised bass trap in the corner of the room (to the right of where you sit. Shove the couch down a bit to make room). Tell us what you think.