Johnss
That makes sense. Do you have a fave test cd?
I haven't done this work yet but I think that I need to. |
no only is the room size important, but the number of doorways, or openings that open into other areas can have a main factor.
Secondly the type of walls you have will make a difference. If you have drywall, celoltex under the drywall helps.
I bought my current house just to get the living room which is 25 x 30 with 9 ft. ceilings. It has plaster walls, which really cut down on the sounding board effect you get from drywall.
And with a larger room you'll need plenty of speaker and plenty of power. You may want to consider using a pair of subs to help out the bottom end. In a large room, its really tough to properly load the whole room equally with all the frequencies. Before you do anything though, I would suggest buying a sound pressure level meter, a test CD adn take some measurements so you can see where you are at. |
Heard Audio Physic scorpio. VA Mahler, PSB Synchrony. Settled on the scorpios. I think that I am partial to treble detail which is why I was drawn to the 805s's in the first place. I really wanted to like the viennas more because a friend who's ear I really respect thinks highly of them but after giving my subconcious some time to digest the auditions I found myself coming back to the scorpios.
As luck would have it, a pair came up here for sale about the same time...
Had to sell my CDP to raise the extra money but it didnt get much use anyway. |
I am in 14X24 dedicated room and use VMPS with open baffle mid range ribbons with lots of success. |
Shadorne -
Good point. When I go back, I will bring my own disk and ask for the remote. They seem to like to run the volume real high @ demos. I think that I will also take notes.
And when I get to the point that I am ready to buy from a retail dealer, I'm gonna ask to bring the demos home for a couple of days.
Any other tips would be appreciated. |
Jimmy,
I am not trying to tell youu what to do - just to keep youu clear of the minefield. The danger with demos is that "impressive" wins over "right" - all too often! |
Shadorne-
Of course you are right. I wrote down my first impressions after the initial demos. That is all. What i really want is bigger soundstage, more complete range and a speaker that sounds as "right" to me playing Tool as Tori Amos.
Oh yea - and it has to look good and cost about 5 or 6k. |
Jimmy,
Do you really just want loads of impresive bass? Think carefully what you want in a speaker over the long term (some midrange perhaps?). Your concern about lack of bass from the 805's may be driving you to over compensate by seeking the most bass you can find. Just two cents but think carefully - there is more to music than just a kick drum - what about the rest? |
Don't give up on the Maggies! I've had the 3.5's and since upgraded to the 20.1s. IMO nothing fills the room like Maggies. They are available in great black/cherry trim motif. A reputable dealer should let you experiment with them in your own room. Our room is 21' by 35' and the Maggies have NO trouble with that!! The in-house interior decorator committee listened to them, compared the sound to our friend's $50k speakers, couldn't hear any appreciable difference, and went for it. Adding the Mye stands will give them the stability that they need when little ones are present. WAF was high on the Mye Stands as well. |
Ok, have done some experimenting and here is where I am now:
Tried dragging a small chair out in to the middle of the room (leaving the speakers about 3ft from rear wall). That was an improvement. It would be much cheaper to buy a comfortable chair than new speakers.
But - also listening to full range speakers in hopes of generating a more room filling sound. Have heard Vienna acoustics Beethoven baby grand, Maggie 1.6, B&W 804s and 802d. Will also check out Usher and Dali.
I was really struck by the physical sensation of a kick drum with the Viennas. But the set up was poor and there was no imaging. I am going to go back and hear them again. The Vienna sales manager (Sumiko seems to hire very helpful folks) said that I would be very happy with the Beethovens but even more so with the Mahlers. While it would be tough to be sales manager if that was not your opinion it still was nice to hear.
The B&W were set up in bad rooms at a home theater store that makes their money selling plasma TVs. The B&W's were powered by big McIntosh monos. Even the 802d's seemed "ordinary". This was supremely disappointing because I went in there with the subliminal desire to be blown away by the 802d's to such an extent that I would be compelled to find a way to afford them. I will have to go up to Austin to hear them at another dealer in hopes of getting a better sense of what they can do.
The Maggies provided the best sensation of "through the back wall of the room" sound staging. The electronics for the Maggies were entry level arcam. But at the end of the day I will never get something that looks like the maggies past the "in house decorating committee."
Next, I will hear the little Usher Dancers on Monday. They have a rep for producing a big sound for their size. I am also told that there will be a $5kish new dancer floor stander coming out soon and I want to see what all the "Be" fuss is about. |
"My room is 22'x 25'....I use fullrange dipoles. IMO, dipoles and large rooms, are about as good as it gets in sound reproduction.
Horns would be great too!
Dave"
I have a similar sized room, and use Maggies. Horns are definitely on the short list, though. |
spent the day playing with different options. The hassle factor of repositioning speakers in the large room for near field listening is too great. Plus I didnt really like the sound quality up in my face like that.
But I did like pulling some B&W 685's from another room in to a small study. makes me think that I might jus tlet the "home theater room" be the home theater room and make a listening room in the smaller study.
Now if I could just find that smare $10k that was in my other pants pocket... |
tried pulling the speakers forward. This was tough though b/c I spent most of my time futzing with the speaker positioning.
The big thing that I was aware of was the increase in soundstage depth. Seemed like the performers were all in space between and behind the speakers.
Will keep playing with position for a few days. If I can make this work it will have the highest WAF of all possible options.
Thanks to all for the help. will report back in a few days. |
Years ago I had my system in a room of similar dimensions. The sound was always flat and uninvolving when I sat on the couch on the opposite wall. I did exactly as you are planning with a portable chair. made all the difference in the world.
After that experience I am a convert to nearfield (6 to 8 ft) listening. Let us know your impressions after the trial. |
I am using a sub and like the integration that I am getting. I feel like I am losing detail being so far away from the speakers.
I liek the idea of keeping the couch where i tis and moving the speakers for listening. Even if the stands are heavy. It would allow for a lot of space behind the speakers which seems to help them with soundstage depth.
Gonna try that and bringing a chair into the room too. |
If you aren't playing loud you will probably find they sound really great except a bit anemic in the lower octaves. You can augment them with a subwoofer--but it has to be a really good sub and great crossover/amp to get good integration. When you get really good integration there it can be really fabulous. Many people try to add a sub and figure--well I'll start on the inexpensive side and if I like it I can upgrade later. They try it--it sounds horrible because the lower quality sub just can't integrate properly with a pair of high quality monitors. So they figure--well it doesn't sound better I'll just get rid of the sub and not try that again. If you do it, you have to do it right or it will in fact sound worse than with no sub. |
My Soliloquys fill a similar size just fine. Instead of moving the chair, I move the speakers when the kids aren't around. I found my ideal set-up and just move them back 4 feet to the wall when not doing serious listening... |
Never claimed to be a genius...
Just occured to me that the cheapest solution would be to buy a chair that could be moved into a corner during regular life and then brought into the middle of the room for listening sessions...
Cheaper than floorstanding speakers or a seperate system in another smaller room.
Not nearly as much fun though. Im gonna pull a chair up there tonight and try it out.
THX! |
unfortunatly, this room is doing triple duty. It is for listening, HT and a playspace for my little one.
Far from ideal, I know.
Basically, COmpnents are set up across one of the 16 foot walls and seating is across the other. I might be able to get away with bringing the couch in a couple of feet but the floor needs to be open and clear for my little girl to play.
As a side note, I am looking at bringing the 805s's down to a much smaller study (not sure, but less than 10x10) to see what that room sounds like.
For the larger room, I do need the space, so does anyone have ideas for a seating area that is 15 feet from the plane of the speakers?
|
Jimmy, your room is a good size, but not really that large. Regardless, you are NOT trying to fill the whole room with sound, right? I assume you will try and keep your listening distance to 10 or 12 feet? For me, the value of a large room is that you reduce problematic first reflections off the walls. You might tell us how you hope to set up the orientation of the system to the room and how far off the walls you can place your speakers. I had some 805s and those speakers can put out some serious decibels. You have the right amount of watts to drive them right and a subwoofer to boot. You might be in pretty good shape. I would set up the 805s with a good 4 or 5 clearance from side and front walls and give it a whirl. Best of luck! |
My room is 22'x 25'....I use fullrange dipoles. IMO, dipoles and large rooms, are about as good as it gets in sound reproduction.
Horns would be great too!
Dave |
