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Speaker - Room/size dilemma

Need some advice. Like many other (married) folks here, I'm trying to find a reasonable balance between room esthetics and sound quality. We listen to music in our living room. It's a 16'X18' room with a two-story ceiling that is almost 20' high. So the room is basically a large cube. The other challenge is the speakers need to be placed along the18' wall, roughly a foot or two away front the side and the back walls, basically near the corners since we have a fireplace in the middle of that wall. The couch will be about 15' away from the speakers. All in all, the speakers and the main listening position form a 15' equilateral triangle. I guess I'll need  to look for high dispersion speakers with good off-axis sound quality. Almost the opposite of what I have in there now which are ML Aerius i speakers. I still have the pair of Definitive Technologies BP20 speakers which I had originally purchased for this room and I think they better fit that application but I really prefer the clarity and focus of the MLs albeit with a much more constrained sweet spot. The MLs are being driven by a McIntosh MC2200 and I have the Def. Techs in another (smaller) room hooked up to a Vincent SP-331 hybrid amplifier. My bottom line question is what would be a decent option for this cubical size room, trying to stay within a $3K budget. The bi-polar design speakers seem to meet most of the requirements but sound a bit diffused to my taste. Anyone has experience with the newer/slimmer Def. Tech. tower models? What about the Magnepan 1.7? Thanks in advance. 

128x128kalali
erik_squires
16,260 posts
 
It kind of depends how you listen. If your biggest concern is having a full sound between the speakers no matter where you are, sure you want a wide dispersion.

However, in a reverberant, untreated room you sacrifice smooth frequency response and natural/accurate sounding imaging. In general, the closer your speakers are to boundaries, the less dispersion you want, or the more room treatment you need.

My suggestion is to reach out to GIK Acoustics FIRST. Figure out what you want or are willing to do with the room treatment, then choose speakers.

In that room, the ML’s would be your better option if you could keep them away from the rear wall and at an angle.

Good room treatment makes your room more speaker friendly, plus, you may trade speakers many times, but no one ever trades in good acoustics. :)

Best,


Erik
erik_squires
16,260 posts
 
Here's an experiment you can run yourself.  Listen to your speakers from around 2' away. Then listen to them in their proper location.

The difference in clarity, detail, air, etc. you hear is all due to room acoustics.

Best,


Erik
soix
9,680 posts
 
1-2 feet from the back wall and near the corners is a tough ask of most audiophile speakers.  I'd skew toward speakers made to be placed in or near corners and near or against the wall.  Two that come to mind are Sjofn (the clue) and Von Schweikert VR22.  I think (the clue) may be available on an in-home trial basis, and I'd recommend going with a double stack given the size/height of your room and your budget.  These speakers are flat out amazing at their price point.  Disregard the Stereophile review BTW.  It was completely botched due to improper placement and reviewer laziness.  People who have heard them at shows properly set up have been blown away -- me included.  Best of luck.
willland's avatar
willland
846 posts
 
If you can tuck them in the corners then Klipschorns would be just about perfect.  Even though McIntosh/Klipschorn would be a great combination, you will never even come close to using all the 2200 has being how efficient the Khorns are.  You would get great dynamics in your room and the Khorns, as large as they are, may even pass the WAF because your bride may think they are just beautiful pieces of wood furniture.

Bill
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cleeds
5,980 posts
 
erik_squires
" ... Listen to your speakers from around 2' away. Then listen to them in their proper location.

The difference in clarity, detail, air, etc. you hear is all due to room acoustics"
Not exactly. That's because most speakers are designed to be used in a room, and not an anechoic chamber. In particular, dipolar speakers are very much designed with a room in mind. (Whether that room is similar to the room they'll actually be  used in is another matter, of course.)
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