Can speakers be too large for a room

"I've talked to the guy's Wilson and they told me that the B100 should be plenty af amp for the speakers,"

I use to run a Luxman L580 integrated 105w @8ohm driving a pair of inefficient 86db NHT3.3s ... could never turn volume up past 9 o'clock ... added the Rothwells and could now set volume as high as 1 o'clock restoring headroom and dynamics

Next I swapped the Lux out for a 500w@8ohm 960w @4ohm D500 Phase Linear

I sit 10 feet off the NHT3.3's tweeter's and have listening levels of 92 to 95db with peaks hitting 100db at my seating position

Funny thing is my P/Linear's meters tell me at those DB levels (92 to 95db) I'm only using 50 to 75 watts

If your current system was a quarter mile drag car ... you would be currently operating as if you had a throttle stop on the accelerator cable ... limiting the carb's ability to open up all the way producing maximum usable horse power

Your amp has the power to do the job, you just need to get that volume control operating in its sweet spot and allowing the amp to realize it's full potential for dynamics and headroom

Please accept my offer on the Rothwells ... all it will cost you is return shipping to 06484 CT.

Yes. Hope you have read Floyd Toole's 'Sound reproduction' to assure you have not missed all the issues that could be affecting your sound. The speakers and room are what you are hearing, so it may not be the speakers but their placement, room treatments etc.

I've read through all of this and it's not clear to me exactly what the symptoms are. That's no one's fault, of course, especially considering your statements about being a relative newbie, but I think that a more specific characterization of the problem would bring help that is better focused.

As I understand it, you have no problem driving the speakers to uncomfortably high volumes. But at comfortable volume levels there are problems in the highs. What sort of problems? Are they too weak generally, so that the sound is dull and muffled? Or are sharp transients sluggish? Or are they simply poorly defined and inaccurate. When you say "I removed the walls panel and it did help, but it still needs something at the reflection points," in what way did it help, and what leads you to say that it still needs something at the reflection points?

And what kind of music, among the jazz and blues that you primarily listen to, tends to bring out the problem to the greatest degree? Female voice? Certain instruments?

Regards,
-- Al

"I did not buy the Wilson's because they sound so great. I bought them because I got such a great deal on them. Money talk's"

I would say this statement pretty much gets to the bottom of your issue. The Bryston is more than good enough and the Sophia's are terrific speakers but they just may not be your cup of tea.

Having owned a couple pair of Wilson speakers. . .

First, 100 watts (8 ohms) of power is generally sufficient for most Wilson speakers - they are pretty efficient. Though I think in general terms that more power is frequently better in general.

Second, I have run various Wilsons in rooms smaller than your with excellent results. I have not owned the Sophia's as I personally like the WP better for my listening preferences. The W/P run in smaller rooms than yours have done very well.

In terms of a replacement, I cannot recommend highly enough the Wilson Duettes. However, perhaps your problem is that you don't like the Wilsons in the first place, then perahps the Duettes will also not be to your liking. I ran the Duettes in both nearfield and regular listening positions with terrific results in both. They are much less susceptable to placement, very good flexibility and have external cross over (included) that allow for tailoring the sound to your room via easy to replace resistors (these are included with the speakers and are no more difficult to change than wiring the speakers from your amp - 5 minutes no electrical experience - no tools - well maybe a screw driver).