Dome house - where to place speakers?

[Magic]

I have a dome house design. 9 sqm diameter.

Where is best placement for speakers in the three rooms?

 

Height is 4.255 meters at apex. 1.2 meter height on side wall before it starts to curve upwards.
 

Attached are some images. 
 

One image is in living room facing frontwards where view windows are. 
 

Another image is floor layout. 
 

One place is up high on straight wall in middle of floor plan. But I think it’s better to place two speakers above frontal windows. That should cover living room and give good sound towards where a person would be. 
 

I think the bedroom speakers could be on straight wall which faces towards bed. 

Any suggestions on speaker location and which speakers to use would be greatly appreciated. A remote and panel/iPhone control would be good too. 

 

Thanks.

 

M

[The Computer Audiophile]

So cool!

[Magic]

1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

So cool!

Thanks. Any suggestions? :)

[The Computer Audiophile]

Perhaps @mitchco has some ideas. It’s out of my league :~)

[mitchco]

Very cool! I think you have the speaker locations already figured out :-)

[sphinxsix]

17 minutes ago, mitchco said:

Very cool! I think you have the speaker locations already figured out :-)

.?

 

I've done many home installations but never in a space like this. A challenge, definitely - I guess some trial and error may await you.. I would say that most probably - the space has a potential for being great acoustically.

Anyway as for the reflecting/absorbing/dispersing materials in the room - things shouldn't work very differently from a situation in a 'normal' room.

 

As for the speakers suggestion - the information about your budget would definitely be helpful.

 

[Magic]

4 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

.?

 

I've done many home installations but never in a space like this. A challenge, definitely - I guess some trial and error may await you.. I would say that most probably - the space has a potential for being great acoustically.

Anyway as for the reflecting/absorbing/dispersing materials in the room - things shouldn't work very differently from a situation in a 'normal' room.

 

As for the speakers suggestion - the information about your budget would definitely be helpful.

 

I haven’t thought about the budget actually :) What are my choices? I think something with good quality but not outrageously expensive could work.

[AudioDoctor]

Man, this is an interesting question. My first instinct was to make sure the floor is carpeted and then hit the reflection points with treatment panels, that will probably require more panels than a flat wall. If there are corners created by interior walls, perhaps a bass trap there, and along the wall to floor intersection if there is one where you will be listening.

 

[AnotherSpin]

18 minutes ago, Magic said:

I haven’t thought about the budget actually :) What are my choices? I think something with good quality but not outrageously expensive could work.

 

What audio set you have or plan to have?

[Magic]

Just now, AudioDoctor said:

Man, this is an interesting question. My first instinct was to make sure the floor is carpeted and then hit the reflection points with treatment panels, that will probably require more panels than a flat wall. If there are corners created by interior walls, perhaps a bass trap there, and along the wall to floor intersection if there is one where you will be listening.

 

Uh oh. No carpet planned. The floors in living room will be an earthen floor. 

[AudioDoctor]

Just now, Magic said:

Uh oh. No carpet planned. The floors in living room will be an earthen floor. 

 

Dirt?

[Magic]

Just now, AnotherSpin said:

 

What audio set you have or plan to have?

Well, I have a great system from a few years ago. But that’s sitting in storage. So this would be a new one. 
 

I was thinking about wall speakers in back rooms and not sure what to put in living room.

[Magic]

1 minute ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

Dirt?

Yep. Poured mud. Hardens up good :) kind of looks like leather when done.

[AudioDoctor]

Just now, Magic said:

Yep. Poured mud. Hardens up good :) kind of looks like leather when done.

 

Interesting... I have zero idea how that will, or won't, reflect sound.

[AudioDoctor]

My only experience with dome structures and music listening is outdoor concerts at the Lake Harriet Bandshell, and the dome does amplify the sound. I think that's why they've been used historically for many years, such as amphitheaters and such.

 

[AnotherSpin]

1 minute ago, Magic said:

Well, I have a great system from a few years ago. But that’s sitting in storage. So this would be a new one. 
 

I was thinking about wall speakers in back rooms and not sure what to put in living room.

 

Would you describe your old great system and tell are you planning to have something similar, or different?

 

[Magic]

Just now, AnotherSpin said:

 

Would you describe your old great system and tell are you planning to have something similar, or different?

 

this system would be very different. Other system was a home theatre with six zones for the house. Dali, focal and Vienna acoustics speakers.
 

this system is three zones. Two are very small and one larger for living room. No tv. No home theatre. No stereo since there’s no fm/am in forest where this house is going. 
 

it’s strictly music streamed from internet or from audio drive. 

[AnotherSpin]

Hm... probably not many people at this forum live in dome-type earthen houses with mud floors and use appropriate eco-type sound sets. Perhaps if you have a more definite idea of the planned budget, you can count on more specific recommendations.

[Magic]

39 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

Hm... probably not many people at this forum live in dome-type earthen houses with mud floors and use appropriate eco-type sound sets. Perhaps if you have a more definite idea of the planned budget, you can count on more specific recommendations.

I have no idea really.
 

Last time I did this was 10+ years ago. It was a few hundred $200-$400/pr. for round type focal ceiling speakers. Very expensive for a set of larger rectangle wall speakers that didn’t sound good because the back of it was open to the attic space. 
 

I need an amp that will do 3-6 zones. I might add 3 outside zones too. I used a lab gruppen amp last time that worked well. That amp was around $500-800 price range. 
 

Outside zones would be a sauna, outdoor hot tub, front patio area. 

[Magic]

46 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

Hm... probably not many people at this forum live in dome-type earthen houses with mud floors and use appropriate eco-type sound sets. Perhaps if you have a more definite idea of the planned budget, you can count on more specific recommendations.

Well, if it’s 8” wall/ceiling speakers in the smaller rooms i get what I get. Can’t worry too much about the room acoustics at this point.

 

[mevdinc]

What an interesting and lovely living space, enjoy!

Not sure about the home theatre system or having sound in every room, but in terms of music listening I would've thought you'd be better off with digital speakers such as the Kii Threes or the Dutch & Dutch 8Cs.

To avoid reflections and other room induced problems you could try extreme toe-in, speakers almost facing each other. I remember attending one of Ken Ishiwata (RIP) demos and he had the speakers well away from the front wall and extremely toed-in. And it really worked, everyone enjoyed the demo greatly.

[PeterSt]

Headphones. 

[mitchco]

@Magic my suggestion to you would be to hire a pro installer that has some experience in this area. Your space requires a real sound design and therefore takes time and effort to come up with a design that meets your requirements and will sound good.

 

For this kind of space it boils down to two types of speakers. One is a speaker with wide directivity to cover as wide an area as possible or narrow directivity speakers that can be focused at a particular location. These may be different for each of your three rooms. 

 

I provide this link as examples of both wide and narrow directivity speakers: 

https://jblpro.com/en/product_families/installed Obviously, some of these speakers are intended for much larger venues, but there are speakers there for smaller venues and may fit your budget. Looks at the Point Source and Surface Mount categories. These are simply examples to give you some ideas as to what may be possible.

 

Good luck!

[yamamoto2002]

Dome shaped ceiling is acoustically interesting, it causes echo, coloration, and uneven sound levels. Royal Albert Hall suffered it when opened and its acoustic was improved on 1968, they suspended a lot of mushroom shaped diffusers from the ceiling. On listening rooms, there is no such requirement to sound be even on every sheet, It is possible to find the best sounding position of speakers and listening point 🙂

[Magic]

4 hours ago, mitchco said:

@Magic my suggestion to you would be to hire a pro installer that has some experience in this area. Your space requires a real sound design and therefore takes time and effort to come up with a design that meets your requirements and will sound good.

 

For this kind of space it boils down to two types of speakers. One is a speaker with wide directivity to cover as wide an area as possible or narrow directivity speakers that can be focused at a particular location. These may be different for each of your three rooms. 

 

I provide this link as examples of both wide and narrow directivity speakers: 

https://jblpro.com/en/product_families/installed Obviously, some of these speakers are intended for much larger venues, but there are speakers there for smaller venues and may fit your budget. Looks at the Point Source and Surface Mount categories. These are simply examples to give you some ideas as to what may be possible.

 

Good luck!

Ok. I’ll check it out. Thanks.