I have been using a pair of 801 ser.II's for 8 years now in a 14 x 18 x 13 ft room, however it opens up on either side of a large fireplace into another room. I would have to say that with very carefull speaker placement, decent room acoustics and some treatments, along with the right kind of amplification (control), it can be done. I still get too much bass about 20-25% of the time, but otherwise they sound way better than many other expensive speakers I have auditioned. I have recently moved to more tube friendly speakers, but I am keeping the 801's for now. If your room is boomy to begin with and you cant use treatments to help with this(spousal issues), then I wouldn't try it. Hope this helps, Jim