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Small-ish speakers for a very large room?

Hello,

I recently moved into a new condo which has a really large living room. The room itself is probably 35' x 17' with 12' ceillings; but the room is actually a partial loft - the wall opposite the stereo only goes up 7' leading into a 14' x 14' bedroom.

Needless to say, the room sounds pretty cavernous.

I have always built my stereo built around listening - I have a full Lineaum home theater (the Lineaum-brand 2-way tower speakers with the LX-5's as surrounds, and their "matching" center channel). Unfortunately, since I moved, everything just sounds anemic.

It's probably time for a change anyway - so I'm looking into a few different options. Unfortunately, I'm also on a tight budget.

How do people think that the Magnepan MMG's would do in a room this large? What other reasonably priced speakers would do well in a room so volumous?

I have no qualms with going with used speakers - I just want to spend less than $1000 for the pair and less than $500 for the matching center. I'm also not opposed to bookshelf speakers or speakers that would necessitate a sub for home theater.

Thanks in advance for everyone's advice.
hudsonhawk
plato
1,543 posts
 
To me, the MMG's would be too inefficient to work well in your situation, not to mention that they lack slam and impact in general.

I think I'd consider a pair of the Energy C-9 speakers. They're about 94dB/W efficient and have good range and impact. Since this is a discontinued model, I've seen them going real cheap on the web these days. You could probably pick them up for around $600 - $650/pr and that would be a great bargain.

I use the Energy C-7s in my home theater. They're in a somewhat smaller room and have worked out great for my needs. Energy makes a matching center too that shouldn't cost too much.
plato
1,543 posts
 
Oops, I see that you were looking for smaller speakers to fill your requirements. You can probably find some that will work to some degree, but I doubt that they'll work as well as larger speakers in a room the size of yours. So you may have to compromise on the overall impact and sound quality if you find smaller speakers to use.
hudsonhawk OP
137 posts
 
No - those Energy's appear to be a good suggestion. I agree with you that I'm probably not going to get by with anything much smaller than that.

I'll try and find an Energy dealer around here; I've actually never heard Energy's at all, so I'm curious to check them out.

Mostly, by small I mean that I need to keep it wife-friendly - i.e. not Snell C's or 6' tall Magnepans :)
tobias
1,534 posts
 
You can try to fill that huge room volume with sound from a single pair of speakers--but this is no easy task on a budget. Still... the Energy suggestion is interesting, and a PSB tower model might work too.

But if your ears are used to refined sound, chances are it will be hard to find a pair which will be efficient (and large) enough, and which can at the same time satisfy any need you may have for detail, smoothness and the rest of the high end qualities.

In that case, another option, a viable one for music, is nearfield listening. A pair of monitors on stands won't fill the room, but if you can sit near them the effect can be very satisfying indeed.
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