Big speakers in small room at moderate volume levels

Note to self on small rooms

from @audiokinesis

So apparently good soundstaging over a wide sweet spot matters a lot to you. It does to me too. I like to feel immersed in the music, including the soundscape on the recording, and I like to share that experience with others without it being limited to the one or two best seats.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/curious-what-people-think-is-the-best-value-high-end-speaker-...

Yysantabarbera you are back to square one, with a similar viewpoint to what we recommended when we first talked on the telephone.

Micromega M150 as it is compact, has room correction which will make a small difficult room sound great with a pair of Kef Reference Ones.

This is a reasonably priced setup that is compact in size and sounds fantastic, the M150 is one hell of a great integrated,  we will be bringing in the KAV 300i as it seems to be a killer integraed the Krell doesn't have room correction though which is a disadvantage vs the Micromega.

Food for thought. This package will come in reasonably in cost, will work wonders for a small room, and only requires an ethernet cable and one power cord. Simple elegant and fantastic sounding.

The Kef Reference ones work fabuslously well in a small room, wide dispersion, adjustable bass loading, and not too much deep bass and they sound big.

Use a good power cord, a set of good isolation feet Isoacosutic or Critical mass, a good ethernet cable and speaker cables and you will have one fanastic compact mini reference system.


Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

my recollection is there are about ten of active or semi-active here on the forum who have Treo or Treo CT in a wide variety of rooms and systems....I would suggest send a PM and invite some into this conversation, which they may have missed. I know there is a supremely happy guy in Atlanta running the Carbon Tweeter Treo with Lyngdorf...

I listened to Margo and company last eve in the mid 60 db range in our condo system - clear as a bell with sweet detail and the unmistakable image of the ambisonic microphone array... BTW the QRP pressing of this, at least my copy is immaculate....were they all that good.

sounds like your local dealer foray was valuable...have fun...

your GIK pile of toys arrive yet ????

Jim

Is there any way of searching people's posted system profiles for specific components?

@audiotroy I know your suggestion is a winner with the KEF Reference 1, it is my fall back plan if all else fail. However, the plan of getting the Blade 2 from my large living room downstairs is becoming closer to happening. Wife is saying the other day we need to have some music around the kid, she likes the way the Blade 2 looks, and I love the sound of the Blade 2. This is happening once I feel the kid is a little wiser (see below). So getting the Reference 1 for the office is not that exciting in the context of 3 KEF’s in the house. I will call you on the Blade. You were the first person to discuss the Blade with me by email, maybe 6 years ago.

I am also starting to think I may not need any type of DSP for the office. This is because of the suggestion made to me by sound engineer Mike Major at GIK Acoustics. He told me to open my room door to make the room acoustically bigger. It has made a huge difference so far. He also said opening the window behind the left speaker would also help but I cannot torment my neighbors that way. My GIK acoustic panels should have shipped from Georgia to California 2 days ago. Those panels will help deaden the room and give me more options. My room is getting "bigger", speaker wise.
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7605

I can safely open the office room door now because my toddler, who is 2 years and 6 months old and already at 38 inches tall and 45+ lb. A big kid who can do damage to speakers. He has decided that when I am in the office and working that I am boring and and he leaves me to it. He is growing fast because when I started this thread I had to keep the door always closed to avoid him causing damage inside the room.

I spoke to a local KRELL dealer on Friday, he introduced me to KRELL via an in-store demo a few years ago, he is willing to give me a package of the KEF REF R1 and KRELL K-300i. If I go that way, I will get the demoed KRELL from him and get the KEF REF 1 from you. Seems fair to me.

Now with this supposed "magical" growth in my room I am going to consider 2 larger speakers that I have heard, the Magico A3 and Vandersteen Treo CT. All of this is to try and not buy the KEF Reference 1.

I am rather optimistic the Treo CT will work in my space. When I heard them the same day as the Magico A3 (1 hour apart), I thought the Treo CT had a more rounded sound than the Magico A3 and not as deep bass (a good thing). I think audiophiles call that a musical sound, which maybe more suitable for longer hours. I thought the A3 sound was more to my liking but I am not sure that 8 hours of the Magico A3 would be as good as 8 hours of the Treo CT. I am going to bring that Magico into my room to demo it. That is a lot of grunt work but I will do it (a 2 hour drive in LA traffic one way).

As you see I am still with the same small group of speakers that I triangulated with earlier on the thread.

if anyone cares, I will be hearing the following components in January to give me some more choices for my audio tool chest.

- Harbeth SHL5+ (maybe similar to the Treo CT but softer sounding, will do a home demo)
- Lyngdorf 2170 integrated (just in case I need DSP)
- Anthemt STR integrated (same store as Lyngdorf, may listen to it)
- Simaudio 390 (same store as Lyngdorf, in event I do not buy an integrated)
- a 390 and Benchmark AHB2 (I recently sold) maybe great with the Treo CT
- a 390 and a Jeff Roland amp maybe perfect with the Magico A3.