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Dream speakers and amp for an 11x14 room?

Hi All,

I'm a first-time poster and hate to present an idiosyncratic problem, but I'm getting the impression that the devil is in the details when it comes to high-end audio, so here goes:

I've got an 11x14 living room that serves as a home theater, and currently have a great video projector that I'd like to mate with a top-notch two-channel set up (I've been persuaded to give up on the 5.1 surround idea). My dream is to have a system that's capable of everything - from running quick, delicate, joyful circles around Beethoven's middle quartets to disgorging "Led Zeppelin I" with a massive, terrifying soundstage.

I was initially hell-bent on floorstanding speakers - I've never shopped high-end audio until now, and remember the big floorstanders my father had back in the 80s, with 12-inch woofers powered by a big, late-70s solid-state Scott amp. The Gallo 3.1 were one idea, as well as the FJ (Blumenohofer) Oms. Both of those models attracted me partly because of their wide soundstage and sweet spot (the latter unfortunately lacking in a few other models that have attracted my interest, including the Devore 8s and 9s).

But while I've been impressed during a few recent auditions by the floorstanders, and hate the tiny little images thrown by most bookshelves, the more I read the more it seems that such bigger speakers may be a bad idea for the room in question - I don't have room to be placing speakers three feet away from the wall - two is even a stretch.

A couple of other key constraints: The speakers basically have to fit under the 6 1/2-foot-wide movie screen, whose bottom edge hangs 38 inches from the floor. That's because the screen pulls down alongside the left side of this "front" wall, while immediately to the right of the screen a bedroom door is cut into the wall.

It should be noted that this front wall is of a cheap, hollow construction - courtesy of an enterprising landlord who moved to convert my apartment into a two-bedroom - and I worry that will be a factor when it comes to bass. There's also another bedroom door - immediately to the right of and at a right angle to the first, so as to form a kind of 90-degree void to the right of where the right speaker would be placed.

Opposite this front wall, 14 feet away, is a double-door that opens into a kitchen that's about 10x11. Through all of this, the ceiling height is about 7 1/2 feet and the floors are hardwoods with a few oriental rugs available if necessary.

Now, as a stopgap, I've installed a cheap 5.1 surround system, with a right bookshelf and a center speaker under the movie screen, and a left bookshelf speaker sitting - yes, that's right - in the back corner of a bookshelf that's built into the left wall. This latter speaker seems to have trouble generating a lot of sound, given the few precious inches of space behind it. I've also got a powered subwoofer on the floor under the movie screen.

So given all that data, I guess the first key question is - are there bookshelf speakers, a center and a woofer that could take the places of the cheap ones and sing, despite the lack of space behind them? I really wouldn't want to place them, or any corresponding subwoofer, more than 6 inches to a foot away from the wall (or a few inches from the back corner of the bookshelf, in the case of the left side).

And the second question would be - provided I'm willing to move the easy chair that's in the left corner under the movie screen - is there a pair of floorstanders, preferably less than 36 inches high, much less 38, that could deliver what I'm looking for in terms of sound, given the fact that they'd basically need to be as close as 4 feet together, with one about two feet from the left side wall and the other with a couple of doorways off to its right and back right?

For those of you who have gotten this far and still have a clue as to what I'm getting at, I am both grateful and impressed. Please let me know what information I can provide to clarify the situation. I'm looking to pay up to $3000 or so for a used pair of speakers, probably the same for a used amp. Interested in everything from solid-state to SETs - but seems like I should concentrate on this speaker question first.

Thanks!
coverto
coverto OP
44 posts
 
Hi All,

Just a quick note to say thanks for these great responses! I'm going to study each and every suggestion tonight after work - at first glance they all sound really interesting.

Meanwhile, I figured I'd try to condense and refine my questions for the sake of those who couldn't quite make the slog through that first monster post - my major concerns are that I'd need to basically back any floorstanders up to the front wall - a foot away from it at the most - and that the speakers realistically would only be about four to five feet apart. The left speaker would be about two feet from the side wall, with the end of a couch about three feet in front of it along that side wall, whereas the right speaker would have a pair of doorways immediately to its right and back right, forming a kind of 90-degree void opening into two other rooms that I'm concerned would be a weird factor, with open and shut doors changing the acoustics.

The larger question all of this raises for me is - as much as I hate the idea, should I consider a really nice pair of bookshelves, possibly paired with a subwoofer? It would be more convenient furniture-wise, although that's a secondary consideration. If I went with bookshelves, I'd probably need some that could be placed into corners with very little room behind them - a couple of inches maybe - and which don't require stands, which I hate. I haven't come across any high-quality options that would fit that bill at about $3000 used, and I suspect you're going to tell me that no such set up could compete with some of these floorstanders soundwise, even in my small, odd room?
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,180 posts
 
Front-ported bookshelves/monitors + sub might be the way to go given your placement requirements. The Triangle Titus speakers in my system pics could cut it nicely with a good Rel sub or something similar added. Read up on those on the internet and see what you think.

Some floor standing heritage line Klipsch models, like La Scala perhaps, might work nice also.

OHM Walshes probably won't cut it that close to walls, but Blue Circle Pennies might though I think they are out of your price range.
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
the fj oms are great but the ohm micro walsh tall will do as well for much less money.
goatwuss
877 posts
 
You are definitely going to want to go with a bookshelf and sub approach. Floorstanders will have major problems in the small room, and the sub gives you the ability to move it around the room, and place it where the bass sounds best.

I've tried to put too big a speaker in a room more than once, and it never works out. Instead, work with the limitations that you have instead of not accepting these. In your case, then means a sub + bookshelf approach.

The mark and daniels monitors look pretty interesting
coverto OP
44 posts
 
Goatwuss - after getting all fired up reading through the thread on the Ohm Micro Talls, the idea that only bookshelves will work with my room is an idea I hate to face!

On monitor/bookshelves, I guess my main concern is - will I require stands to get a sound that's comparable to something like what floorstanders like the Ohm Micro Talls would deliver? Because for me stands are out. Apart from the worry that floorstanders wouldn't work in my room, the only point of having bookshelves would be their easy placement on an actual bookshelf.

Right now I've got a cheap 5.1 surround system with the two fronts placed conveniently, but haphazardly, with one in the back corner of a bookshelf nearly a foot higher than the level of the other, which is on a table next to the center. Would I be assuming correctly that this is totally unacceptable if I'm serious about sound?

Also, I do watch a lot of movies. While it sounds like Gallo 3.1s or Ohm Micro Talls would be great for that, I wonder whether I'd be disappointed by the punch, power, etc. that's going to be delivered by a pair of monitors versus the two fronts plus a center that I've got now? If I go the monitor route, would it make sense to just go 5.1 surround? At that point, it seems like I'm spending as much as I would have on a great stereo setup.

I don't want to sound like I'm set against bookshelves - quite the contrary and I'd be thrilled if somebody told me all these worries are unfounded. But at the end of the day, I guess I wonder how much of a quantum leap I can expect - how much of a mind-blowing experience - I can expect from a better pair of bookshelves from the setup I've got now if I stick with the odd placement strategy I'm using now.
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