Is My Room Large Enough?


Need advice.My room is only 11'x13' and would like to make a dedicated listening area there.Want to use a tube amp and thought about smaller speakers such as B&W 805/804/803's perhaps.Trying to get a bit of distance from the walls for the speakers with decent chair position will be a problem and am willing to only use one chair. I listen to mostly jazz,classical and vocals not needing a lot of bass.I don't really listen to rock and I don't want to use a sub. I like the thought of a cozy room using a tube amp,as I have only used larger solid state amps in the past,but maybe this room is too tight for this.What do you think,can I make this work?
amwarwick

Showing 2 responses by tomryan

Hey, my room is almost the exact same size! I have, for 6-7 years, been using a 10.5 x 13 bedroom with plaster walls and ceilings, hardwood floors with thick carpet on a solid wood framed subfloor. I also have an 8 ft cove ceiling which may help. My Proac 2.5s' front panels are 34" from the wall behind them, and are 24" and 30" from the side walls (center of drivers). I sit on a loveseat that is 8" from the rear wall. I use a Transcendent Sound tube OTL 25wt amp on the woofers and a pair of Cary 2A3s on the tweeters. The sound is superb as is the music. I get excellent bass but some overloading when the volume gets to high. However, I think it's kind of like driving. Drive a Mazda Miata and you don't have to go too fast to have a blast. Drive a Lincoln Navigator and you think you're in your living room until about 90 MPH. Actually, quite a clumsy feeling experience, the Lincoln I mean. Your thoughts about a good, musical tube amp mated with good musical speakers in your small room are right on target. I have a hard time going to bed some nights. By the way, if you get a chance, drive an Acura Integra Type-R. what a machine!! Some guy in Ann Arbor has a hornet yellow one and I'm son jealous!
Sorry, Doug, but I'm the laziest auto guy you'll ever meet. I like a "plug and play" sports car and the Type-R (which is out of production) is exactly that. I've always loved the idea that Alpha represents and in the late 1980s almost bought a Spyder (about the best looking affordable sports car ever made), but during two test drives a dashboard wiring harness kept falling onto my legs, the left front headlight came loose and rattled, the right electric door lift didn't work, and there was stain on the back of the driver's front seat that no one could explain. For the same reason I don't have an analog rig (too much maintenance, etc.) I didn't buy the Alfa. I will only buy or lease new cars and my 1999 Saab 93 SE, which has been back to the dealer three times for warranty work, is as maintenance "rich" as I can handle. Yet, every time I see a Spyder in a parking lot I stop and admire and regret my lack of auto guts. Same thing happens with turntables every time I see the 4-5 boxes of records I've got stored in the basement.