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Small-ish speakers for a very large room?

Hello,

I recently moved into a new condo which has a really large living room. The room itself is probably 35' x 17' with 12' ceillings; but the room is actually a partial loft - the wall opposite the stereo only goes up 7' leading into a 14' x 14' bedroom.

Needless to say, the room sounds pretty cavernous.

I have always built my stereo built around listening - I have a full Lineaum home theater (the Lineaum-brand 2-way tower speakers with the LX-5's as surrounds, and their "matching" center channel). Unfortunately, since I moved, everything just sounds anemic.

It's probably time for a change anyway - so I'm looking into a few different options. Unfortunately, I'm also on a tight budget.

How do people think that the Magnepan MMG's would do in a room this large? What other reasonably priced speakers would do well in a room so volumous?

I have no qualms with going with used speakers - I just want to spend less than $1000 for the pair and less than $500 for the matching center. I'm also not opposed to bookshelf speakers or speakers that would necessitate a sub for home theater.

Thanks in advance for everyone's advice.
hudsonhawk
hudsonhawk OP
137 posts
 
No - those Energy's appear to be a good suggestion. I agree with you that I'm probably not going to get by with anything much smaller than that.

I'll try and find an Energy dealer around here; I've actually never heard Energy's at all, so I'm curious to check them out.

Mostly, by small I mean that I need to keep it wife-friendly - i.e. not Snell C's or 6' tall Magnepans :)
tobias
1,534 posts
 
You can try to fill that huge room volume with sound from a single pair of speakers--but this is no easy task on a budget. Still... the Energy suggestion is interesting, and a PSB tower model might work too.

But if your ears are used to refined sound, chances are it will be hard to find a pair which will be efficient (and large) enough, and which can at the same time satisfy any need you may have for detail, smoothness and the rest of the high end qualities.

In that case, another option, a viable one for music, is nearfield listening. A pair of monitors on stands won't fill the room, but if you can sit near them the effect can be very satisfying indeed.
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Not my cup of tea, but, maybe something like Klipsch Heresey's might work for you.
hudsonhawk OP
137 posts
 
Those are points well taken, Tobias, in fact they illustrate my main concern - that I won't be able to fill up the room with sound on my budget without taking a step back in terms of musicality.

PSB is a brand I plan on looking at; they have a dealer near me who has a nice b-stock sale going on right now. I have some hope that I might be able to find something good there. I have a pair of their bookshelves that I use for my studio monitors and like them well enough.

I realize there's no magic bullet, I just wasn't sure what else to look at that would actually be musical. How about NHT and Canton?
beavis
272 posts
 
Contact Louis at Omega Speaker Systems (marathonspeakers@juno.com) to get his recommendation.
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