PSB towers might work, not bright at all.
Seeking advice for speakers for my Family Room
Hello experts,
I am starting out on my quest to finally get some quality speakers, mostly making do with off-brand in-walls, in-ceilings for the most part for my family room.
And wanted to get your advice on what speakers to get for my kind of use case.
USE:
So, these will be used in my Family Room where I will be using them for 60/40 movie watching/listening music. Ocassionally, we would like to be able to pump up the volume and listen to either multi channel audio or 2 channel music for parties etc.
ROOM:
The room has a lot of hard, reflective surfaces (tile flooring, some, tile on the wall behind the TV, it also is a large room (36' wide x 18' deep with 9' ceilings). However, my main listening position/couch and media cabinet and the floor standers will be in the left 15' portion of the width of the room and at 13' away from the speakers/TV. Pictures attached below.
EQUIPMENT:
My receiver is Denon x3700H and I have a Polk PSW-505 12" sub. Eventually, I am open to getting an external amp to use with the pre-outs of my receiver, something like this Class D amp Purifi based VTV stereo amp. But first, I wanted to get my speaker selection nailed down.
SOURCE:
At the moment, I have tried only YT Music (at 256kbps AAC) since I already have a subscription for this. I am not an audiophile and neither is my use case for critical listening. So, while I understand there are better SQ options for streaming music, I have my reasons for sticking with YT music (lyrics, music videos etc)
SPEAKERS AUDITIONED:
I have tried the Klipsch RP-280FA with the Klipsch RP440C center channel and found them unbearably harsh/bright. Tried several modes, but couldn't even get through 2 songs without having to stop. This was at loud volumes...
Next, I tried the KEF R11's and these were MUCH better, but I still found the highs a bit bright.
Other contenders (based on what I am hearing are considered a bit more warmer speakers) I have not tried yet but would like to get some advice on before just going through the hassle of ordering, setting up, trying etc:
-Wharfedale EVO 4.4
-Sonus Faber Lumina V (would have to wait a long time to even get these)
Maybe later, I might look into room treatments, but I am thinking I will leave that for later, that can be a slippery slope/money pit, but for now, I am looking for speakers that don't sound harsh/bright at loud volumes for extended periods of time. I will probably get a matching center as well (for HT/movies) that would need to provide clear dialog.
Thanks,
KG
ROOM PICS:
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- 61 posts total
@carlsbad yes, that is exactly what I intend to do down the road.... @vinylvin I do have the Polks all the way around in my media room, I was going to try and bring those down to the Family Room and try them out.. @auxinput Will look into Marantz and the discrete analog output @tony1954 @ricmci @markpop1227 @audiotroy Sounds like I need to attend to the room acoustics first (rather than later). Will do that and report back. @singere Meanwhile I found a dealer who actually had the Sonus Faber Lumina V's on the floor, I went by to audition them and I loved them! They didn't have too much in room treatments, so I think with some room treatments (larger rugs, shades/curtains for all windows, some more art or acoustic panels on the walls) with the Lumina V's should be a whole lot better. @ronboco I never auditioned Focal's, just went by what I had heard/read about them being brigher (slightly?) than the SF, but man these SF's sounded so good and looked fabulous too. @searchingforthesound Yes, that is the plan. Another vote for Marantz. @jonwolfpell @dbensky Thanks for the suggestions/offers, never even heard of some of these speakers. I am still a newbie in this space..:-) @soundmd Excellent suggestion on what exactly to do for the room issues. It makes sense to put the speakers wider so that they are in front of the windows for the window treatments to absorb the sound. Will look into acoustic panels, larger rug and artwork on the side wall. The back wall is going to be an issue. Will work on the other things first and see if that makes it acceptable. For speakers, i guess it jives well that I loved the SF's, they have the soft dome tweeter! @sandthemall I pretty much expected to hear it reg the room. 4-5 times larger than the current one? Wow, so the entire surface in front of the speakers should be rug? I think I can sell that to the wife. Actually, that will help solve the problem of the couch's feet making marks on the white tile! I started looking into vcoustics: https://www.vcoustics.com/, sounds like a whole new thing to research.
For this, do I need to hire an acoustician to tell me what type of acoustic panels go where etc? Sounds like that might be overkill and i would get 80% of the return by just doing the basic things: -Much larger rug in front of the TV/speaker area going under the couch' -Add curtains on the windows to the sides of the TV -Larger wall art on the left side wall -Re-evaluate. I don't know if I can/want to do anything about the back tile wall. This was the look we wanted... -Ceiling treatment? What kind? -Do these wall art panels need to be a certain thickness to be effective at sound absorbtion? |
KG,
Glad you're addressing room acoustics before making any equipment changes. You can spend a fortune on equipment, but if your acoustics are bad you'll never get great sound. I don't think you have to go overboard on treatment either. Adding a larger rug and heavy drapes will go a long way on lowering the room glare. A 2" canvas covered art panel will do some good and won't stick out visually in a Family room setting. If this were a dedicated listening room I would go with 4" or 6" thick panel; I'm considering the spousal acceptance factor here. You could use a much larger artwork here or perhaps a two piece diptych. These really are a relatively low cost way to go. Do all these changes one at a time and you'll see how each one helps. Let me know how it goes. This is one of the fun parts of this hobby, these small changes can add up to big improvements. Hey, where is your sub located? |
Room treatments should be number 1 on your list. GIK acoustics makes some attractive panels with scatter plates or the art decco series looks like pictures hanging on your wall. I’d get those little triangle things to put in the top corners of the room. Having good room treatments will make the entire place more relaxing even in silence. Conversations, especially with 4,5,6 people in the room, will be much easier heard and more easy to understand (speech intelligibility). After room treatments, hunt down some warm, laid back speakers. Something with silk dome tweeters would be my recommendation.
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- 61 posts total