Speaker placement and/or orientation affect nodes in room?-Acoustics Forum-Acoustic Fields Forum

Hi All,

Our church (32’w x 60’l x 16’h, with a-frame on top of this rectangular prism, that is 39′ at the ridge), made of hard surfaces (tile floor, wooden ceiling, drywall walls), has acquired an Allen electronic organ, with significant speaker array (2subs at 16hz+, 8 speakers at 30hz+, 8 speakers at 40hz+), dba typically 80, low at 40, high at maybe 120).

The speakers are on lofts, 16′ high, at one end of the church , on either side of the altar, pointing straight up into the a-frame wood ceiling.

Nodes are pronounced in the room, especially at low frequencies, with wavelengths near width of church (or with half or quarter wavelength of width).

My question – is the orientation and location of the speakers vitally important? For example, if I point the speakers so they shoot a little more to one side, instead of straight perpendicular to the walls, would the more complex sound path mitigate the standing wave nodes? Or, by separating the speakers a bit, say 6″ apart, might that help?

It’s a bit of a pain, getting up into the lofts, so I’m wondering if an empirical “just try it” approach will be a waste of time.

In brief, do the dimensions and shape of the room determine the location of nodes, or does the location and orientation of the speakers (tweaked just a little bit) also determine the strength and location of nodes in the room?

Note that people can sit most anywhere – it’s not like there is only one place where it really matters, like in a recording studio , for example.

Thanks.

Cheers,
-Bruce