The room is 20 feet by 50 feet and 12 feet tall. Running parallel to the long side of the room, there are five rows of shelves: Three in the middle of the room, and one against each wall. (Five rows of shelves; four aisles for people to walk...) All of the shelves are nine feet tall and are filled with books. The ceiling is covered with pressed tin patterned squares, (This is an old storefront building) and is not flat.

There is one Speaker on each long wall, laying sideways on the top shelf, facing the other on the opposite side of the room. The speakers are Halfway between the front and back of the room (25 feet from the front or back, depending on your point of view.) The back of the speaker is immediately next to the wall, and the "top" (really the side) of the speaker is about 2 feet from the ceiling.

Because of these room characteristics and the placement of the speakers, I am satisfied with my relatively cheap components. The system sounds good at softer volume levels where it is left all day, listening to classical, jazz, acoustic folk music or bluegrass. It also sounds good to me when I turn up the volume after hours with all kinds of music. There is actually a "sweet spot" in the middle back of the room, although the imaging is not as good as it could be if I had a dedicated listening room with the speakers placed away from the wall pointed toward the listener... Elsewhere in the room, the sound of the two speakers mixes well unless you are in the wall aisle next to one speaker. The sound to me is realistic and engaging. At the bars where I listen to most live music, the speakers are usually placed higher, many times next to the ceiling. The sound is also good with pipe organ music. The organ is usually up in the choir loft at church.

Despite their limitations, I like cassette decks. The local college radio station plays an incredible variety of music, and I am always recording the shows.