Speakers for a unique small room

When did a 10' x 14' unsealed space become rated as small for use with small speakers only? I think the 1/3 rule for speaker placement would work, Cardas is practically identical in this room size, or at least it is a excellent starting point. noaudiophile has following for a 10'x14' room, if you flipped sides of the room(main wall to right of door) the staircase might actually work to your advantage. As far as convenience that would be up to the OP but should sound better.

I have a similarly sized room, though with some different challenges. the width is closer to 9.5 feet and the length is closer to 19 ft but with a bay window behind it. I also have (and love) that SVS micro. Mine seems to work best along the side wall. 

My best experiences have been with sealed and front ported speakers. I had the LS50s in there for a long time, but never quite got them to work. When I moved them to the basement and the main TV room where they had a lot more room, I started to understand why people like them so much. 

The two best fits for my room came in under what I had set as a budget - the Sonus Faber Lumina II and the Falcon Acoustics Mofi branded LS#3/5a (the sliver badge, I believe). Both sound fantastic. I got the Falcons used with very low hours, and they did take a while to break in. Both work incredibly well with the SVS sub. They also seem less sensitive to distance from the side wall. I basically have them 2.5 feet out from the front wall and the center point on the tweeters right around 6.5 feet apart toed in to a point just behind the listening position which is just under 7 feet away. It’s pretty close to an equilateral triangle. 

Rear ported speakers (or speakers with a passive driver in the rear) struggled even when the port was dampened. 

It is a totally different beast (or sound), and I know that you explicitly mentioned ‘no Klipsh’, but they play really well placed towards corners. I have Heresy IVs that I swap in on occasion when I want something more lively. The Falcons and SFs share almost none of the same sonic characteristics - my sense is that they will be more to your liking. 

Playing around with acoustics in a small room is an adventure, but you can certainly find great sound. Best of luck. 

Hardwood is horrible for music.

reflection is severe. I know, I went through it.

very nice room, bet Motörhead sounds wicked good !

Look at Salk stand-mounts; a lot of options (model wise and wood-wise) and great sound from the lot.

@justinrphillips 

do you always leave the grills off?

if you don’t mind, I do this on my basement speakers.

cut some 1.5” x 1.5” old t shirt squares, tape as many as needed to bring down the highs. , start with 1 square, then 2 or 3 if needed, put the grills on, ….and, there ya go, I don’t like shrieking, piercing highs, makes me feel anxious and just,annoys me.   This way you will alleviate much of the high freq reflection.

have had 2 squares taped.over my basement tweeters for the past 7 or so years.