Sound is too big for my room.


I just got an original B&K st140 amp and PS Audio 4.5 preamp. I use them with my Music Hall MMF CD25 and JM Lab Chorus 706 speakers. The sound in straightire (passive mode) is great. The B&K has really tamed the highs. Everything sounds like natural, live music. The B&K really brings the bass out in the speakers. WOW! The soundstage has disappeared as it seems like the players are in my room. The problem is it sounds so live their are no boundaries to the sound. Most of the imaging is to the rear of the speakers and along the width of the room and Im in a small 10'x14' room. I think my room is too small for this set up and Im considering going back to my Arcam A65 integrated. Any tips or should I just sell?
bundee1
This is just guessing,I might just offer this I think weak link would be the B and K.I know its good,but I doubt its the in the same arena as J.M. stuff.A upgrade in the amp would make a difference.I would not go to a lower wattage amp,but then again the Arcam 65 is very good sound and might be better to use then the B and K.
It's probably not the best match for the room. However, I have a small room with a big sounding system in it (smaller than yours) and what you can do is use absorption, more than normal. Because in a small room like yours the reflections happen much quicker and more often so the room is filled with much more sound which will cause brightness and aggressive sounding midrange. So you would need mid to high frequency absorbtion (4” fiberglass panels will do). You will lose some ambient information, but will have a more intimate (like in a studio) experience, which is far from "bad sound".

Rives gave me this input, and no one else seemed to have this advice. It just goes to show how little information there actually is on acoustical environments.

Rob
Try those wall hangings on the wall behind the speakers not behind you (the listener)
THe size of the sound has nothing to do with electronics. The speakers are the key. I used to have electrostatics and their sound was so large they made me feal I was inside soloists mouths and inside the piano. That was due to the physical size of the panels. I'm not familiar with your speakers but beside the advise you've received previously about speaker placement you need a speaker system where the tweeter and midrange are not physically very far apart in the cabinet and not large arrays of midrange speakers. You might find a pair of very high grade bookshelf speakers supplemented by a sub woofer would be easier to place and give you better imaging and not overload the room accoustically. That's another thing, I have a 16x 40 foot living room but if I play music loud the imaging goes away due to reflections and standing waves in the room. I've yet to start of the room treatment path but need to.