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Wide dispersion speakers for a large room

I'd like some advice/suggestions for speakers to use in a large room (25 x 40) with a cathedral ceiling. They'll be placed on the long wall. Imaging ability isn't terribly important as I'll be listening from different locations in the room.

My budget is $3500. Because of the room, speaker placement will be no more than a couple of feet from the wall, but nowhere near any side walls.

Are there any designs or brands that suit my situation better than others? (e.g., are ribbon tweeters better or worse than dome). I'been thinking hard about the Revel Performa3 F206, ProAc D20R, Spendor D7. These are all close to my budget if bought used.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
alex_s
erik_squires
16,058 posts
 
oh, of course, another brand I consider wide dispersion is Magico.  Really wide listening sweet spot.
fastfreight
786 posts
 
Hi Alex_S,  I have an almost identical room, even longer:
Family room(cathedral) >Breakfast room>Kitchen  25 x 55.

The space is both awesome and challenging.  I put my stereo speakers
on the end wall, even though the tv is on the side wall.  This fills the entire space and imaging IS important.  I tried them on the side (please dear)  but could not live with it.  But I do get moving around vs dedicated listening position.

I have the Revel Studio 2's with dual REL Carbon Limited subs.  While I would surely enjoy the Salon's, the Studio 2's fit nicely in the room and sound fantastic.  They disperse nicely and are not fatiguing.  The subs totally improve EVERYTHING and I needed two to make the magic.  You can find the Studio 2's used for a decent price, but it will blow your stated budget.(but isn't that always the case ? :)  The Revel's do like power.
Auralic Vega 2 DAC > AudoNet Pre 1 G3> Classe CA-2300.
Happy New Year!  Ken.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 

I'll be listening from different locations in the room.

So what about a Walsh Ohm Tall 4000?

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,450 posts
 
Tannoy’s are well known for wide dispersion with their 15” woofer / dual concentric design. They are 96db efficiency so you don’t need gobs of power to drive them. 
Not sure if you can find them in your budget. 
alex_s OP
3 posts
 
Thanks for the response, guys. I have a Rogue Sphinx (100 W/channel) as an amp and Zu Omen speakers, but these are in a smaller room. Moving everything to the larger room is the plan. This will be a two channel system but I'm open to adding a sub or two. Although my budget is $3500, I'm adding $500/month to my audio savings account, so I can eventually spend more on speakers.

The idea of higher efficiency speakers makes sense, as does having them be fairly large. Unfortunately, my wife doesn't want anything overbearing.

For serious listening I'll be about 10 feet from them, while the max space between speakers is about 10 feet. At other times, I may be well off axis. I listen at lower levels but occasionally like to turn the music quite loud. We listen to a mix of orchestral, opera, rock and saloon singers (Etta James, Sinatra, etc.), so piano and vocals need to be done well.
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