2. speakers
  3. 1433299406

Help - new house - new setup?

I have just moved house and the new room is about 20x18 with 28 foot ceilings and glass/openings on 2 of the walls.

My system was CAT SL1 with spectron musician amp playing through VS VR4jrs. Front end Michell Orbe and Oppo 105.

I went all HT and got Halo A51 and JC1 monos with a Marantz 8802.

I was expecting a big improvement but the sound is lost in this room and sounds poor.

Someone suggested JL audio fathom to take the weight off the VR4rs so I got a 212 which has improved bass substantially but SPLs are still weak.

I feel I need to upgrade the JR4s and would like to spend up to 10k on some new speakers or Albert is advocating 5k to upgrade the JR4s.

Any suggestions would be most welcome as I live in the sticks and my nearest decent dealer is 250 miles away.

I am considering ML Montis/Summit, Revel Salon, Wilson Sophia 3, Thiel cs 3.7 and Legacy Whispers among others.

My main concern is having a speaker that will give the SPL level necessary for this room.
musicalal
zd542
5,339 posts
 
There is one thing you can do that will help you figure this all out. Set your system up in a different room that's more like the one you used to have it in. You should be able to tell almost immediately how much of an impact the new room is having. I know I sound like a broken record, but I still think removing your CAT preamp had a larger impact on SQ than you may think.
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
Zd you're right; I was thinking he was using two stereo amps. Tough to biamp with a pair of monos!
jdoris
972 posts
 
Don't think of your room as a problem, think of it as an opportunity to try some stupid big speakers. :)

I like a couple of Douglas' suggestions: the Montanas and the Legacy Whispers.

If I had a huge space, I might very well do Montanas. There's a lovely pair of XPSs here for 8k (no connection); those and good subs would make some some big music. (I'm pretty sure Peter designed the XPS with HT in mind, btw.)

John
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"06-04-15: Jdoris
Don't think of your room as a problem, think of it as an opportunity to try some stupid big speakers. :)"

At least someone here is thinking clearly. For a moment there, I thought we were fresh out of audiophiles.
mechans
3,048 posts
 
My thinking is that the best system is the one that sounds the best to you. I can't get overly concerned about the high ceiling absent that issue, the guy just wants to build a system he will like. I say start with whatever loudspeaker you like that is appropriate for the floor dimensions given there being open adjacent areas balconies and a vey high ceiling. Then buy an amp or amps to drive them that you like and then get a really nice pre-amp. Decide what sources you want to use possibly before the pre if you are going to want to use a built in phono stage. Happy hunting, auditioning and system building, it may take a while.
More to discover