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Best Speakers for Very Large Bright Room

I have a very large family room; 24'x24'x20'.  It has a lot of windows, hard wood floors, large flat marble fireplace front, etc.  The room is so reflective you can hardly understand the TV, it sounds more like a gymnasium than a family room.  We have a large area rug and I am working on my wife to put up acoustical treatments.  There is no wall space, it is all windows and french doors, so we are looking at the ceiling.  

I currently have KEF R300 front, KEF R200C center, LS50 rears, two Sunfire HRS-8 subs, Sunfire TGA-7401 400 watt amp, and Yamaha CX-A5100 preamp.

I noticed that when I turn off the center and use a phantom center I have an easier time understanding movies.  I have old pair of B&W 805 Nautilus I use as PC speakers and plugged them in and it was even better.  If you are sitting in the chair off to the side it is a bit annoying because you hear the speaker, but from the couch it is fine.

Here is my question; would a better bookshelf with better power allow an even clearer sound so I could turn the volume down and finally turn off subtitles?  I know a speaker cannot stop reflections but if it will help I will spend the money.

I was looking at the new B&W 805 D3's, KEF Reference 1's, Paradigm Persona B's, and the Sonus Faber Olympica I's.  They all sound great at the dealer but I have not heard any of them in my room.

Unfortunately I cannot do towers as there is a built in and my wife will not allow it.

Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated!


mobiusmu
erik_squires
15,877 posts
 
Your choices are (always):

1 - Control dispersion 
2 - Control room acoustics

If you are unwilling to do anything in 2, consider an ESL or horn loaded speaker. 

The center issue is a little about your head though. Your head tends to cancel frequencies in the speech area when they are coming from the sides at the same time. The center helps fill this in for you. 

Best,


E
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,744 posts
 
I would look at some di-pole speakers. Di-poles (Magnapan, Martin-Logan ESL, et al) have a positive output in front and a negative output to the rear. What happens is the + and - wrap around and meet at the sides of the speaker and cancel each outer out. The result is a very focused sound to the listening position and minimal reflections from the walls.
I owned some Audio Artistry speakers (Dvoraks) that did this. Enjoyed them a lot.
erik_squires
15,877 posts
 
+1 dweller 

Dipoles and open baffle speakers in general are also a good choice. 

Emerald Physics is a good brand that comes to mind if you want something besides an ESL. 

Best,

E
ohlala
1,234 posts
 
I also have a bit of a racquet ball court of a room. While low distortion speakers with a good dispersion like the personas and KEFs can help I think you will spinning the wheels to solve your problem.  You could toe-in the fronts, maybe significantly, to reduce the amplitude of the first reflection and place a felt mat for under your rug the extend to the frequency range of its absorption. Folded drapes would help; its tough in a shared space. 
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