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matching speaker to room size?

I have a 14 x 16 room with 9 ft ceilings and looking for new speakers. Presenlty using large old Ohm C2 bookshelfs. Listen to broad range from modern and classic jazz (piano, guitar, horns and vocals) to electric blues, tons of female singers, Hawaiian acoustic and fingerstyle guitar, classic rock and even some classical and newgrass like Nickel Creek and Alison Krauss. The one dealer in town suggeted stand mount monitors like Totem One, JM Focal 1007S and similar. I have been more interested in floorstanders like Gallo 3.1, Dali Mentor 6 or Helicon 4. He is saying this will give me too much bass? Is there a way to compute good match from room dimensions? I listen at low to high levels depending on time...Saturday mid-day vs. 11 at night. I have heard all these speakers, not necessarily side by side, trying to make a call but not sure which type to go with so I cant even proceed to which individual speaker to purchase. BTW, I dont have the optoin of bringing any of these home...most were heard on the US Mainland not in Hawaii.
joekapahulu
dwhitt
347 posts
 
if you need monitors, the totem one will fit nicely, they need good power...atleast 100 watts ,,,good amp... if you can use a floor stander,,,i use the arro speaker...by totem...again needs good power...75 to 100watt....i have owned a lot of good speakers, monitors....i like totem from top to bottom....with your music they would be great..i listen to mostly jazz, fusion and traditional, some classic cello, violin...piano and then a lot a female jazz singers and the totem are excellent...some sa they don't have bass but they do if it is recorded correctly and put in the playback mix to be heard....the arro are a small thin floorstander....the totems go well with naim,unison, krell, sim audio, rega, cambridge...have fun..dwhitt
martykl
3,578 posts
 
IMHO, the best way to get full range bass in most any room is an EQ'd subwoofer. Velodyne DD series (or SMS-1 controller for use with non-Velo DD subs) works well, providing PEQ, room analyzer and x-over. SVS will ship a similar device in May, but that requires an external x-over. The SMS-1 costs app $500 and the SVS with an NHT X-2 X-over is about $1K. Reportedly excellent subs from SVS start at app $650, good subs from many manufacturers can be found for under $500.

Good Luck,

Marty
lapierre
547 posts
 
I've listened to Helicon 400 with smaller integrated amp from Sim Auido that sounded fantastic. If you are concerned about too much bass then you should be looking at room treatments.

If you are leaning toward monitors I think you need more power to get the best sound. For example, my musical fidelity A308 amp is rated at 250 watts per channel, and can deliver blockbusting current with low distortion. I pair this with Vienna Acoustic Haydns. My McIntosh MC275 amps rated at 75 watts is run in mono with upgraded tubes approaches 190 watts. It is paired with the Dali Helicon 300.

Enjoy the journey.
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