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802d for a 10x13 room, 8ft ceiling - am I nuts?

Hello,

After years of patience and savings, I an afford some decent speakers. I have auditioned many (Revel, Sonus Faber Cremona, Dynaudio, B&W, Dali) and have discovered I love the B&W sound.

I am considering either the 803d, 803s or 802d. I love the way the 802d looks, but am concerned that my room is way too small for them. It is 10ft wide, 13ft long and the ceiling is 8ft tall. One side of it has a 4ftwide opening into a much larger room. It is carpeted and has many nooks and crannies, mostly filled with records and books.

I have an MC252 amp that I will be using to power the speakers and I like my bass. My preamp is an old Bozak CMA10-2DL mixer (all discrete circuitry) from the 70's and I play mostly vinyl - lots of esoteric electronic music at loud volume :)

Is the room too small for the 802d's? Should I consider the smaller 803s or 803d even though I love the look of the 802d's?

Help.
skipervarg
shakeydeal
979 posts
 
>My room is 10x15x8 and I had a pair of Von Schwiekert VR4MK2 speakers in there and they sounded great.<

Ok, to all you people who have shoehorned large speakers into tiny rooms, please give us a break! Thank you...

You might think they sound "great", but trust me, you are only getting about 50% of what the designer intended his speaker to do. So don't fool yourself, you certainly aren't fooling us......

Shakey
fin1bxn
140 posts
 
I agree about not getting all I can out of my speakers in my small room, but I cant reproduce with monitors and sub, what I'm getting from my revel F52's. I tried. The monititos/sub gave ame a little better midrange, but no where near the soundstage, impact or cohesivness of my medium size speakers..

I have one advantage, I do have a opening into another room behind me seating position. Speakers are on the short wall about 53" out and 27" from the side wall and I sit 8 feet away with the a 10 foot opening behind me...
pinkus
144 posts
 
Monitor and subs are so overrated. I have not heard a setup where the sub blends in seamlessly with the monitor.

I would go with a speaker that can stand alone without a sub. I think the 804's are perfect for a room that size.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,879 posts
 
If you like large sound stage and accurate imaging, consider a pair of good monitors in a room that size, or a different model floorstander with drivers physically located closer together at listening level.

I had B&W P6s and large Magnepans in my room that size and moved to monitors or more monitor like floor standers. By monitor like, I mean the drivers are physically located closer together at listening level to simulate a point source. That kind of configuration produces the best imaging and SS results in a small room, I have found.
rhljazz
1,250 posts
 
You're nuts. What's plan B if you follow your dream and buy the 802's and it sounds as bad as I and most respondents think? Do you knock out walls or move? Maybe it is best to start out with plan C, that is to match the speaker to the room and your musical tastes, not to the speaker you are absolutely in love with. You will be far and away happier with the result. I would go with the 805's and a small sub that will offer some flexibility in placement.
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