Impossible? Small towers, efficient, musical, loud


I've been reading on threads here for different speakers that sound good with rock, which is my primary pleasure. But I am also a lover of high fidelity and do not want to compromise on sound quality, so this isn't necessarily about speakers that just sound good with rock. My situation may be a paradox or impossible, but I'm hoping I can be enlightened favorably. I'm looking for smallish floorstanders that are tube friendly, placement friendly, and can still sound nice and full at reasonable to loud levels.

Room is an open design roughly 23' wide, 12' deep and vaulted ceilings 8-12' high. Listening area is 15' wide as opposed to the 23'. Speakers must go along the wide wall at 10' apart, one speaker is in a corner. Listening position is 10' from the speakers. I can pull the speakers out at most 2' away from the walls, depending on how large the cabinets are.

Associated gear:
Cary Rocket 88R (30w triode/60w ultralinear)
Promitheus passive TVC Ref 4
Eastern Electric minimax cd

The amp and the TVC are new, haven't yet received them yet in fact but will be replacing my current gear.

Current speakers are Usher 6381, large speakers that I believe are too big for my room. With the tiny amount I can pull them away from the walls, staging is pretty flat, though surprisingly I haven't had any issues with bass boom. Hoping to put them up for sale/trade soon and wanted some feedback on what I should be looking at.

I was considering something like the smaller Silverlines (though they may not be good enough) or perhaps some Devore's. Above all I value musical speakers that emanate a sense of realism. I don't require subterranean bass, just a natural, full sound that doesn't sound wanting without a sub. Musicality is key.

Thanks in advance
tholt

Showing 3 responses by martykl

You might want to consider an older generation pair of Merlin VSM, like the SE. These speakers were IMHO voiced a little thin through the mid-bass and I found that the octave to octave balance actaully benefited from near (front) wall placement, though I thought the VSM's wonderful imaging capabilities suffered a little.

The corner/sidewall placement issue will be tough on any speaker, including the VSM SE. Horns and other "waveguide" designs that control dispersion may reduce problems at higher frequencies, but problematic bass issues will be tough to avoid. Sub/sat designs are probably your safest bet, with the sub tightly in the corner and the sats as far out as you can manage.

Good Luck

Marty

The current gen VSM (while IMHO terrific speakers) are pretty much neutrally balanced and you might find yourself with something of the same problem you have now. Also, IMHO none of the VSMs show their best at really high SPL.

Good Luck

Marty
I agree with Goat's general statement re: Merlins not being the first choice for rock music (and, in particular the VSM SE that I suggested) because of less "thump" below app 100hz.. But, but, but...

Your desription of the sound in your room and the required set up suggests that you may have too much energy in the bass region due to speaker/room interaction. Hence my suggestion of a "non-rock optimized" speaker for a rock music fan. BTW, the Merlins are tremendously dynamic through the presence region ("jump" factor), particularly with some tube amps that ride the impedence curve a bit.

Marty

PS One other thing to consider is a tuned Hemholz resonator like the bassbuster. If you have 10 or 20db too much energy from 80ish hz to 150 or 200hz - a reasonable guess - these devices can help a ton.
Oops, your post says NO ISSUE with bass boom - I misread it. My bad. As Emily Litella put it "never mind".

Marty