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Impossible? Small towers, efficient, musical, loud

I've been reading on threads here for different speakers that sound good with rock, which is my primary pleasure. But I am also a lover of high fidelity and do not want to compromise on sound quality, so this isn't necessarily about speakers that just sound good with rock. My situation may be a paradox or impossible, but I'm hoping I can be enlightened favorably. I'm looking for smallish floorstanders that are tube friendly, placement friendly, and can still sound nice and full at reasonable to loud levels.

Room is an open design roughly 23' wide, 12' deep and vaulted ceilings 8-12' high. Listening area is 15' wide as opposed to the 23'. Speakers must go along the wide wall at 10' apart, one speaker is in a corner. Listening position is 10' from the speakers. I can pull the speakers out at most 2' away from the walls, depending on how large the cabinets are.

Associated gear:
Cary Rocket 88R (30w triode/60w ultralinear)
Promitheus passive TVC Ref 4
Eastern Electric minimax cd

The amp and the TVC are new, haven't yet received them yet in fact but will be replacing my current gear.

Current speakers are Usher 6381, large speakers that I believe are too big for my room. With the tiny amount I can pull them away from the walls, staging is pretty flat, though surprisingly I haven't had any issues with bass boom. Hoping to put them up for sale/trade soon and wanted some feedback on what I should be looking at.

I was considering something like the smaller Silverlines (though they may not be good enough) or perhaps some Devore's. Above all I value musical speakers that emanate a sense of realism. I don't require subterranean bass, just a natural, full sound that doesn't sound wanting without a sub. Musicality is key.

Thanks in advance
tholt
jax2
3,031 posts
 
I have a room that is very similar to yours. I cannot speak for rock as I'm not really a fan, but I use very efficient Coincident Super Eclipse III's which I feel are well suited to the room. One suggestion; have you tried bringing your speakers closer together? You may find the soundstage improves. You are probably listening right up against the back wall from your description. Check out this thread for some further input on this - specifically for options on treating the room. I'd highly recommend the Coincident speakers, but I'd qualify that by reiterating I don't listen to much rock. I'd imagine they'd do very well, but you should ask someone who uses them for that purpose. They do well with both tube and SS amplification. I have also used Silvirline Sonatina's and they did work quite well in my room too, and I did like them very much, but I prefer the Coincidents for their fuller range among other qualities. I would check to see if you can get the room working in your favor before you go changing speakers though.

Good luck!
tholt OP
552 posts
 
Appreciate the feedback.

Jaybo, I will be holding onto and playing with the Ushers for now as they are my current speakers.

Jax2, I wish I could bring the speakers in but I can't. thanks for the link to the other thread, helpful. I read about the Master Set technique last night and will give it a whirl. Intriguing

FYI I have 4" thick acoustic panels behind the speakers -- one is doing double duty in the corner as a quasi-bass trap-- and Cathedral panels in the corners of the room. These all provided nice improvements: less boom and hard edged frequencies thus more clarity and ease.

To my ears my room isn't too problematic, soundstage is just rather flat. I know that a level of acceptance and compromise is in the cards. My aim for the smaller floorstanders is to give me some flexibility and freedom to move them further into the room, or more accurately, further away from the walls. I also want to try tubes and am afraid the Ushers won't like them, though I have yet to experiment. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
You mentioned that your ceiling is vaulted. Is the listening position under the short side or the tall side?

It sounds like you have absorption panels behind the speakers. Have you tried diffusion instead?

In my room I am 8 feet from the speakers and they are about 7 feet apart by necessity. My soundstage is very focused and can sound deep, but doesn't go that wide. I've experimented quite a bit with speaker positioning and that is where I ended up in my 12 foot span. Your soundstage issues may largely (though not necessarily completely) be around the positioning of the speakers in the room.

I also want to try tubes and am afraid the Ushers won't like them, though I have yet to experiment.

I thought you already were using the Cary, but I see you are not. What is the rest of your system that you're forming these impressions by?
tholt OP
552 posts
 
Jax2 - listening position is under the short side. Can't change it.

Have not tried diffusion, no. I went with absorption because there was a ton of room boom and slap echo

I've had various components throughout my system. The only constant was the Ushers. I agree 100% about speaker placement in the room affecting soundstaging, hence one of the points of this thread. I feel if I could get smaller cabinets and thus get them away from the walls more, I could get a more dimensional soundstage. The Ushers are 18" away from the back wall, the one in the corner is roughly 2' away from the side wall. Width isn't the problem as speakers are 10' apart and fill in the space between nicely.
queg
55 posts
 
Considering the room, have you considered speakers that are actually designed to go against the wall/corners? Thinking Audio Note AN/E or J.. maybe Klipsch? I have Silverline Sonatina 1st generation.. they're laid back and throw a wide & deep soundstage when out from the walls.. against the walls they're kinda boring.
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