How large of a speaker do I need


I am moving into a new place and my new listening room will serve double duty as my living room. It is about 15x15 with an open floor plan-one end of the room open to the rest of the house. Do I need to be concerned about low frequency "bass" leaving the room (ie: lack of reinforcement due to 1 of the walls missing and no ability to shut the door). Thanks for your input.
tbromgard

Showing 1 response by martykl

My experience is consistent with JohnnyB's. My room has one open wall in a
room that is app 24' wide and 14' from front wall to seating, with the large
open space behind the listener. It produces all kinds of problems, notably a
"hump" between 80hz and 130ish hz that peaks at +20db. The
room requires a pair of bass busters to tame this behavior. I also use EQ'd
subwoofers to deal with the mess further down in pitch. Open wall layouts
are unpredictable and you shouldn't presume inadequate bass reinforcement.

As to specific speaker recommendations, I'll always recommend subs (SVS is a
good place to look) and a Velodyne SMS-1 controller for room EQ. Add the
main speakers of choice, the little Magnepan MMGs come to mind and a brief
listen to PSB monitors also showed promise. A pair of 12" SVS subs with the
SMS-1 and either the Maggies or (I suspect) PSBs is a <$2500 speaker system
that will provide excellent bass in even a difficult room as well as fine results
over the remainder of the audible bandwidth.

Good Luck

Marty