speaker choice for new 20x30 audio room


Finally getting an opportunity to set up a dedicated audio room. Its a separate out building from the house. 2x6 construction, fully insulated 20' wide 30' with 10' ceilings. Full HVAC and adding padded and carpet floor over 6" existing concrete floor. After heavy texture and new paint, I plan to add acoustic treatments, just he basics for starters, bass traps, wall panels, ceiling clouds and going with a rule of thirds layout for speaker placement. 

For now I will be running everything from an Emotiva Pre-Amp, Peachtree 500 Amp, Bluesound Node for streamer and a Pontus II DAC.

Budget for the new speakers will be $5000 to $10,000. this will be a dedicated listening room, We listen to everything from Dianna Krall to Metallica Classic Rock, Blues, Country.. you name it. Just looking for recommendations of speakers I should be considering for this specific room dimension.     
 

carzmaguy88

@carzmaguy88, CONGRATS! This may be too little, too late but I hope you considered the electrical supply to your new dedicated sound room (6, 8 or 10 AWG; hospital-grade outlets; 20 amp. breakers; dedicated line or two; proper building grounding; underground service; etc.). I don't know enough about this to give specific recommendations. However, I know this is important. If it's not too late, now would be the time to think about this.

I wouldn't worry about acoustic treatment until you get your sound room finished and settle in with your audio system, furnishings, pictures and/or paintings on the walls, etc. Don't know if you planned on radiant heating or not. Well-padded carpeting over concrete floor foundation sounds like it may very well be the best choice, considering your four-legged buddies. Hardwood or laminate with some area carpets, here & there, would render a livelier room. Seems the walls will be sheetrock? Ten-foot ceiling is great! Will that be sheetrock, as well? Any exposed beams, coffered ceiling, etc.? All facets to consider but not angst over too much.

There is a veritable plethora of speaker choices out there to consider. IMHO, more than any other audio system component, they are the most intensely personal choice, especially when it comes to the eclectic taste in music you have. Personally, when it comes down to considering contenders around the 10K price point, I think you'll be in full range speaker territory, for the most part. I am not an audiophile who considers sub-woofers the spawn of Satan when it comes to full range or close to full range speakers, per se. However, IMHO, the closer you get to a flat or accurate 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response range, the less and less important sub-woofers become, unless you're a head-banger or listen to a lot of pipe organ music. Again IMHO, subs can be more trouble than they're worth to dial in, sometimes, with high-end full range speakers. For the kind of dough you are contemplating, I would make every effort to narrow down the contenders and do some serious educated seat-time with them, under controlled conditions, before pulling the trigger. Of course, if you don't mind unboxing, possibly re-boxing and lugging around large 100 pound plus towers and maybe putting up with the hassle & cost of sending them back, critical listening in your own sound room would be the best way to go. Also, think about to spike or not to spike speakers.

Someone on this thread made a point of mentioning that you should seriously consider speakers with a good off-axis response or wide dispersion. I second that motion! That's one of the best ways to fill a good size room with great sound. Also, I would imagine there will be times you'll be enjoying your hi-fidelity with a human friend or two or three or more. Revel definitely fits that profile. A pair of Sonus Faber Olympica I spent time with recently fit that bill, as well. Although I've never spent time with the Aerial Acoustics 7T, I have spent serious seat-time with the 6T and would have bought them in a heartbeat if I'd had enough juice to feed them properly. Paradigm and Focal are other manufacturers you may want to have a listen to, as well.

At any rate, enjoy the ride and CONGRATS again!

Thank You again! I have a lot of study and demo time ahead of me to decide. I am really intrigued by the Legacy's a few of the members have mentioned, as well as several of the others!

Great advice on the Dedicated 20 amp circuit and Hospital Grade Outlets. I did the same thing for my home system and it was a great upgrade. I will have the electricians out at the same time I add the HVAC unit, so everything will come together nicely. 

Appreciate all the information! 

@carzmaguy88,

You mentioned Cornwalls. I have the Cornwall IVs in a 16 x 23 room with 10’ ceilings. They are great.

One advantage to them over some of the suggestions is efficiency. If you want to file a 20 x 30 room with mid level or low level efficiency speakers, you are going to need watts--tons of them to create headroom. Just something to keep in mind.

You may know that already so I'll shut up. :)

Internally lined your HVAC ducts with 2” rock wool to attenuate the noises from the A/C equipment.

Wait for PS Audio's new speaker to come to market. Looks like a serious contender for a large space. "Only" 29K/pair :)

The PS Audio aspen FR30 utilizes four 8-inch cast-frame, aluminum cone woofers with 12- ounce magnets. The woofer’s motor structure features a split-magnetic gap and double Faraday rings for improved linearity and wider bandwidth, and the woofers’ articulate, agile response complements the speed and transparency of the planar-magnetic midrange and high-frequency drivers. The woofers are augmented by four 10-inch side-firing passive radiators, for the authoritative low-frequency extension. The FR30 presents an easy-to-drive load with an 87 dB sensitivity, making it ideal for use with a wide range of amplifiers.

PS Audio aspen FR30 Loudspeaker