Speaker Distortion or Room Interaction ?

French Fries,

You have world class gear without a doubt.

And yet you want more, your goal, if I understood correctly, is large scale works at realistic volume levels with low levels of distortion, no smearing or harshness.

Mmm...I can't believe those Eggleston's cannot deliver this. Perhaps one of your drivers is damaged? Perhaps you do not feel it is "party loud" because the sound is so clean? Are the walls and floors of your room too reflective (an eq to tone down the 4 to 8 Khz range might help if you cannot allow for more room treatments)

Have you also considered that you may be playing so loud as to induce intermodulation distortion in your ears? Concerts at extreme SPL levels sound bad/distorted to the ears even when the music is clean (where you are seated has a lot to do with whether you get blasted or not).

If you are certain that none of the above is the source of your troubles at high levels...then perhaps you should consider auditioning ATC or similar speakers. ATC are known for their ability to produce huge dynamics at extremely high SPL levels (similar to live music levels and possibly closer to your described goal). The ATC SCM 150ASL can produce SPL's of 117 db continuously with headroom of another 10 db or so, and all at a THD of a fraction of one percent. This is astoundingly loud for a single cabinet freestanding.

I suspect a high end pair of ATC's (or Meyer's) might be an improvement for you, in the particular qualities you seek, with one caveat: your system is already very very impressive!

I'm not familiar with your speakers, but I have some power hungry Aerial 10t's. I found a very large improvement by going to multiple amps. First, 2 Classe SS amps at 300watts. Each amp was vertically wired so each served a channel. Now I'm using a pair of Rogue monoblocks on the mids and highs, and 1 Classe for the woofers. I doubt any of them ever struggle even at good volumes. But it is now quite possible to overplay my listening room. ( 21 x 15 x 8 ) Even after installing 6 floor to ceiling bass traps and various absorption panels in the first reflection points.

But since this is your living room more amps and treatments may not be possible for other obvious reasons.

thanks to all for your responses. i would like to turn the question around if i may- if YOU have a room like mine,
and you feel your system really can reproduce the sound and the scale of the new york philharmonic, what did you have to do or buy to achieve this?
as an addendum i pulled out "TRITTICO"- prof.johnson's HDCD
of the dallas wind symphony the other day. lots of bass-drum thwacks and tympani, brass, double fortissimos, etc.
hey, my speakers didn't sound half bad on THAT recording...
no distortion, no shrieking, nada. not like the Tchaikovsky Ballet Suites on DG- a 4-D recording that i played before that-
the sound got real zingy and smeary during the loud parts. in either case, i would guess that my speakers have to be working fairly hard during some of those dynamic peaks, so while i enjoy all the sound i keep the remote close by.
NOT ME, but i've heard PLENTY of horror stories about people who crank up high-end stereos LOUD, after the dealer assured them that they could do just that with their "new toy". SO, they throw a big party, and use the volume control like the accelerator pedal on a sports car. then a "fluffing" sound starts coming out of the woofers, and/or there's no sound past the midrange. i'm talking about very large, expensive loudspeakers too. (my interest is not in party music though.) please share your system/experiences.
i mean, if, with your setup you feel at times that you're in a concert hall, i'd like to know about it. thanks!

french fries, we still don't know what spl levels that you are talking about. Live Mahler symphony can reach 105db at row 5 in a good hall. is this what you are attempting to reproduce at home and is this the level at which you are hearing the distortion. Perhaps you are trying to reach levels that are actually higher than concert hall levels due to low frequency compression (the frequency response of the speakers at higher levels is not as flat as lower levels) and pushing your system into distortion (clipping) to compensate.
Bob P.

French Fries,

I am not sure if you saw my earlier post - it may have crossed with yours earlier today.

I have ATC SCM 100 active speakers and an ATC SCM 0.1/15 Sub. My room is similar to your room except for 9 foot rather than cathedral ceilings.

I can confirm absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, that this system in my room achieves SPL levels and dynamic range similar to live rock music and easily surpass SPL's in a classical concert hall (barring real cannons for 1812).

Since I received the ATC SCM 100 actives about six months ago, this is the first time in my life that I have lost the urge to continue to turn up the volume. I admit defeat...my ears simply can't stand to go as loud as this system can (even though the sound remains clean with extremely low distortion levels, well below 1 % THD, no harshness no smearing).

If this is what you truely seek...then look no further than ATC.

There are a few other speakers used by rock recording studios that you might try, such as Meyer, but I have no direct experience to guide you. One advantage of ATC is that they are also liked by some classical sound engineers too, for example Telarc and Hans Zimmer use ATC.

Sorry if this sounds like a shameless plug for ATC (a proud owner speaking)....but I believe that nobody would dare disagree with my contention that high-end ATC speakers are well known to deliver exceptionally high and clean SPL levels with heaps of headroom and dynamic range. ( and isn't this what you are seeking?)