What speakers for a 10 x10 room?

In a square or cubic room, a conventional monopole speaker will have severe low-frequency standing-wave problems. However, a dipole speaker will not, because the figure-8 bass radiation pattern will only significantly excite room modes in one dimension.

On the other hand, in a small room few dipole speakers work well because the backwave needs plenty of room behind it to avoid coloration in the midrange and treble. However, not all dipole speakers operate as a dipole all the way up. The Original Quads, the "57's", have a damping pad behind the tweeter panel that absorbs much of their backwave, allowing them to be positioned back closer to the wall than most dipole speakers.

The Gradient Revolution has dipole bass loading, and carefully controlled cardioid radiation in the midrange and treble. The result is an extremely relaxing and natural-sounding presentation that is pretty much independent of the room's acoustics. Disclaimer - I'm a Gradient dealer.

If you're willing to treat the backwave, you might be able to get away with using Maggies in your room. I have a friend who, on my recommendation, tried the little MMG's in an 11 by 11 by 11 (cubic!) room. The result was very satisfying, but the backwave is partially absorbed by draperies.

Best of luck to you in your quest!

Lots of posts on this particular topic - one of which was posted by me a few months back!

I, too owned the Aerial Model 5s and purchased them specifically for my small room (11X12). They really were terrific placed on the factory (24") stands.

I also tried Magnepan MMGs with GREAT effect. They integrated very well into the room and only needed to be placed about 2 feet from the front wall for optimal results. I was so smitten, in fact, that I decided to promptly sell them and upgrade to 1.6s.

The 1.6s are not nearly as easy to integrate due to their larger size and deeper bass response, however, they're not as difficult as one might think. They're a little less than 3 feet away from the front wall and about 6 1/2 feet apart. I sit about 7 feet away from them. Associated gear is:

ARC CD-2 - used as a tranport
MSB Link DAC III with ModWright mods, upsampling and P1000 power supply
CJ PV11
ARC D-115MK2

I'm VERY pleased with the overall sound. There are a lot of misnomers about dipole/stator speakers being difficult to place, need a lot of room to breathe, etc. I'm finding that it's not any more true than any other speaker. For example, many (most) small speakers (not your Aerials, though) are ported to the rear. This can make placement in such a small room extremely difficult if not impossible.

Anyway, that's my story...

Best of luck to you. There are a LOT of knowledgable folks on this site. The good news here is that I'm sure you'll find something that's going to work for you.

-Dan

Thanks for the posts guys! I'll try to incorporate as many of your ideas as possible (guess I'll be busy mooching speakers for a bit) and if anything leaps out as being great, I'll post a follow up.