Room size
Your room is close to my listening room, 24x14 w/ vaulted ceiling. Mating the speaker to the room is the best way to start building a sytem. My first speaker was Vandersteen 2C which was ok but a little too big to really breath and bloom in this size room, from that I went to Alon 1's which is a bit smaller floorstander that was a much better match for my room. I currently am using Totem Mani 2 monitors which is the best match yet. Plenty of bass and I am able to power them up to get the best out of the speaker. You will need a rather muscular amp to drive these though, I am using a Bryston 4B. My room seems to sound better with the smaller speaker being driven with a bit more power, rather than the larger floorstander with the volume lower. One thing you won't have to worry about is the Totem filling the room, but you will need an appropriate amp. |
Thanks for all responses so far. Zenblaster, the Mani 2 is the speaker I have been seriously considering. My original post was in reference to comments like " needs a large room to breathe" , or " will overpower a small room." I was just never sure what was considered large or small. Sounds like the Mani 2 has potential . Thanks again. |
Onhwy61 made very good points. Kind of what I was getting at in the end of my post, but better stated and more thorough. I agree, it will depend largely upon the room, construction, contents, treatments, system location, room openings, etc. Unlike him, though, I have not heard larger speakers sound up to their potential in a smaller room, and have much more frequently heard problems with that kind of arrangement. That's not to say he's wrong and that it cannot be done, it simply has not been my experience. More often than not I've found it visually and acoustically overwhelming with a distortion of scale, in relation to the room, that tends to inhibit my suspension of disbelief. I've also experienced these kind of setups can often limit soundstaging potential. Notable exception have been asymmetrical corner arrangements. Again, this is in my limited experience and YMMV. I use a sub as well, but tend to turn it off more for music as I think, in my case the single sub is slightly detrimental to imaging, and my speakers already go down pretty low. Two or more would be better, IMO. |
Jax2, it's also been my experience to hear many systems with very large speakers in smallish rooms sound bad. My earlier point is that on occasion I've heard great sound under the same circumstances, though the former experience is more common. Jamo, Gradient, Quad, Snell, Mirage, Allison and many other speaker manufacturers have all done interesting work on how speakers interact with a room. I strongly recommend reading the Robert Greene website on the subject. |
