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Help building new system: devore, verity or Sonus?

I'm getting a dedicated room for my gear, but the room is tiny, at 11.5' by 11.5' with about 9.5' ceiling.

I've been listening and reading up on a lot of speakers and the one's I'm most curious about are Devore Fidelity's The Nines or Super 8s, Verity Audio Finn (possibly Rienzi) and the Sonus Faber Liuto.

My current system is a McIntosh MA6600 with Dali MS4 Euphonia's, Clearaudio Turntable, and MHDT DAC with Mac Mini and Denon 3910, and Harmonic Tech. cables. I listen to folk, singer-songwriter, jazz, classical, female vocals, classic and indie rock, as well as solo guitar work. I Prefer smaller scale groups and intimate recordings.

My previous experience with the Dali's in a small room makes me feel they will be too much. I will treat the room as best I can, but WAF is a big issue.

I want to build my system around my speakers, and am in the NYC area, so can demo a lot. I'd prefer to buy from a dealer probably. I am looking to build a system that is very natural sounding and has some life and emotion to it, with no listener fatigue. I like: nice, taut, round bass that isn't boomy, muddy, or over-pronounced; sweet highs that are neither syrupy nor hyper-detailed and analytical; lush but not over-romantic mids.

I'd like to spend under $7,000 on the speakers. What do you guys think about the McIntosh with the speakers I listed? I am happy with the McIntosh, but would consider changing to something else if I found it didn't pair best. It's a small room so don't want anything that runs super hot.

Any other speakers I should try out? Any particular speaker/integrated amp combos you guys love?

Sorry this is so long, and thanks in advance for the help!
brookjoo
nrenter's avatar
nrenter
766 posts
 
My room is about the same size as yours (except for higher celings).

I will treat the room as best I can, but WAF is a big issue.

If you don't feel the need to really focus on room treatments, you're wasting your time and money. You may as well buy headphones and be done with it. Room treatments do not have to be ugly (but they won't be feast for the eye, either). IMHO, it's still to spend that kind of money on speakers, drop them in a small room, and not put room treatments as a high priority.

Can someone chime in with technical reasons they think these speakers may not work.

I've never heard these speakers, but (one of) the general issues with floorstanders in a small room is that you have very little control over the interaction of the low end and your room. Granted, you can use a parametric EQ to help things out. I prefer to use monitors and a pair of subs.

You'll also want to make sure your speakers (and associated amps / pre-amp) resolve at low volumes. My system was designed for a small room (and I've very happy with the results).
brookjoo OP
26 posts
 
Nrenter: Thanks for the info. What I mean about room treatments is that I will do what I can with conventional means to treat the room--rugs, fabric wall hangings to minimize reflection, and avoiding glass and other reflective materials in the room--but I can't start loading up on diffusors and bass traps, etc. I disagree, however, that it would be better to just get headphones though. With careful positioning and equipment matching I am confident I can get a smaller floorstanding speaker to excel in that room, its just a matter of which one. Sub integration can in fact pose just as much a challenge.
nrenter's avatar
nrenter
766 posts
 
ok...Good luck.
jdoris
972 posts
 
Hi Brookjoo. I've a somewhat similar room situation: 13'x 13' x 9.5'h, although the room is openish on two sides, which may make it a bit larger acoustically. Like you, visuals preclude my doing more elaborate room treatments. We have similar tastes in music, and I'm also considering an upgrade with about your price constraints.

I currently have small towers that do a lot of things well, particularly smaller scale music: North Creek Eska's. They are an MTM design for small rooms, and near-wall placement -- another advantage if WAF is an issue. I think the North line would be worth a look for you, though they will be hard to audition, as they are mostly kits -- though easy to assemble, if Lee Taylor builds the boxes.

My main complaint with the Eska's is a certain lack of heft in the lows, which seems to limit the drama for some music. I've been in contact with several manufacturers who say their stuff can work in my room: among the possibilities, North Creek's Big Cat, Devore Nines, Zu Essence, Green Mountain Audio Eos, FritzSpeakers Carbon 7, and Selah Audio Cima. Not easy, but I'm trying to audition them.

I'll be very curious to hear your thoughts and experiences. John
toudou's avatar
toudou
85 posts
 
Brookjoo, I'm running a pair of Merlins VSM-MX in a 13' X 13' room, a perfect square, with excellent results. Many attempts were tried to use the speakers in a conventional way, but it was just impossible, until they were set up diagonally!
If you do a search, you would find some articles detailing the advantages of using a diagonal set up in a small room.
Good Luck to you.
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