Down sizing


Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could help. My wife and children have recently relocated me and my audio system to a small room in the house (approximately 9’x11’). It is nice to have an office/audio room to myself, but the room is much too small for my current setup (Speakers: Dynaudio 1.3 MK II; Amp: BAT VK-200; Pre amp: Rouge 99; CDP: Cary 303).

Given my situation, I wanted to scale down my system without losing any of the sound quality of my current system. Since my room is so small, I can move into lower powered amps (tubes?) or even a quality integrated amp. At minimum, I need to change speakers. If I place the dynaudios where they sound best (far out into the room), I sit on the other side of them.

I would appreciate any guidance you can give.

By the way I listen to some rock, pop, but mostly jazz.

Thanks
xmore
I've been in your situation in almost the EXACT same size room. Lots of good advice so far. I did a lot of trial and error, but the best results that I achieved were with a pair of Aerial Acoustics Model 5s on the long wall. I used the Audio Physic speaker positioning suggestions and the results were nothing less than stunning. I drove them with a Classe DR-9/DR-5 combination. Ported speakers and/or those with any significant amount of bass will drive you nuts. I believe that this is why the Aerials worked so well...sealed enclosure with not much bass below 70Hz. My musical tastes are also similar to yours and it was very satisfying. The second best speakers that I tried were the Magnepan MMGs. The 1.6s (which I also tried) were just too big.

Best of luck. It can definitely be done, but you'll have to be very careful about speaker selection. Luckily, you've got a great resource here on AudiogoN.
If you don't mind SS and you realy want to use as little space as possible, maybe you should look at the Linn Classik integrated. It also has a CD player and tuner built in as well as several available inputs. I have only read reviews, but that have all been positive. Sometimes I am tempted to get one and forget about my disease (audiophilia).

Mike
Dear Xmore, Just move your equipment including the wonderful Dynaudio 1.3 MK II speakers into your new room. I'm confident that you will be very satisfied with the sound even with less-than-optmum speaker placement. If you could place the rest of your equipment in an adjacent room and have the speaker wires going to your 1.3's this could make your listening situation even better. cordially, Richard...audiophile since 1953....
I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. So far I have rearranged the room and place my system on the long wall. This works much better. Pop and rock is still a little bass heavy but my jazz sounds great. I will probably still make some changes in my system, but now I don't feel as desperate. Thanks again for the suggestions.
I would think that the 1.3 is a good speaker for a small room, but in any event I wanted to add that you should not overlook tubetraps or some other serious acoustic treatment. Small dedicated rooms (I have one) pose a big challenge with all their nodes, but have great potential because if setup right the nearfield can be an absolute teleporter to the musical event of your choice. But you have to acoustically eliminate the room as much as possible. The advice to use the long wall is good, and you should check out the placement information on the Audio Physic website, as my experience leads me to think that the 1.3 in the nearfield, well in to the room, with your chair close to the rearwall and enough room treatment, would make the walls melt away.