Can good soundstage be had in small room


I have a rather small living room measured at about 11 x 18 feet. I currently have a modest set up that does a good job at replaying music, but I think I am ready to move up.

The problem is that since my room is pretty small, even if I get a nice system, I won't be able to get good soundstage regardless how good the equipments are.

With the room as it is right now, to maintain a listening position of about 9ft from the speakers, the best I can do is to place the speakers at about 1.5 from the front wall, and even then I have to sit right up to the back wall.

So my question is can I get a nice soundstage given the limited space between my speakers and the front wall?
lvb
You should get a pair of near field speakers since they're less sensitive to the wall behind them. I'm currently using ATC SCM10 passive monitor speakers. If you have no other furniture in the room then you can consider larger coaxial or horn speakers. However, the placement will be harder than the near field monitors.
Yes, check out the web link below for Cardas method of speaker placement.
http://www.cardas.com/insights/index.html
Select "Room Setup" on the right side bar. I 'm using this method in my smallish dedicated room 15.6 x 10.5 x 8(LxWxH) with very good results ie: with quite a wide and deep "perceived" soundstage. Speakers are Platinum Solos and they are toed in slightly towards the listening seat.
Good luck.
The short answer to your question is yes, you can get a good soundstage in a small room. To accomplish this you need to pay close attention to room treatment. Most dynamic speakers can work well close to the side wall if the first reflection points are well damped. Damp the wall behind the speakers as well, and maybe the ceiling at the first reflection point. Carpet the floor. Add some diffusion behind the listening position using furniture and plants. Once that's taken care of, careful speaker placement will give you rest of it.

My sound room isn't much larger than yours - it's 12x19. I use a pair of really big speakers - Coincident Total Victories - set up on the short wall. The speakers are about 1.5 feet from the side walls, and the front face of the speakers is about 4.5 feet from the front wall. the speakers are toed in so there is about 7 feet betweeen the center of the tweeters. I listen about 7 feet from the speakers.

Given this setup I get a measured flat response (+/- 2db) all the way down, and the soundstage is one of the best I've heard.
Your room is pretty close to the golden ratio with 18/12= 1.64 (golden ratio is 1.618). It might not be quite a Golden Cuboid listening room, since I don't know the room height, but take a look at

http://www.cardas.com/insights/index.html

I would go for the near field listening stup shown in diagram C, which is a combination of diagrams A and B. This should be a good starting point. Your room is about the same size as mine. I have my room setup this way with some small Mission 751 monitors. I get an excellent sound stage. It might look a lttle funny at first with the speakers that far out and that close to you, but once you put on some music you're hooked. Also for good sound you want to sit not that close to a back wall (just as shown in diagram C)

Good luck.

Rene
Sorry about the previous post: I meant 18 feet by 11 feet gives you a ratio of 1.636.....A very good starting point for a room.