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Reference 3a Grand Veena for a small room?

I have a relatively small listening room, about 10 wide by 12 deep with high vaulted ceilings. My setup is near field, sitting about 6 feet from the speakers, with a large overstuffed couch on the back wall.  I have always had small monitors (ls3/5a, kef, reference 3a, proac) and now have proac tablette anniversary., partly due to the room size and partly due to my love of soundstage and imaging, and no need to go loud in the small room.

I listened to a pair of reference 3a grand veenas (the older ones and not the be tweeter version) recently, loving them. Desire for ownership started to sink in.  But I began to wonder if my room is too small for them. 

and home editioning a pair likely to be impossible, partly due to my desire for the older non-be tweeter versions which would have to be purchased used.

certainly a small room limits the ability to play around with speaker positioning to find the perfect location. But this has not been an issue with the monitors, as I still have plenty of room to move them around to find the sweet spot.  Wondering if this would be an issue with the grand veena, with the rear facing bass port. Or any larger, floor standing speaker.

driving the speakers with el34 tube amps, the prima luna HP premium.

any advice is appreciated.

Bill
meiatflask

Showing 2 responses by jbrrp1

jbrrp1
423 posts
 
I agree with ozzy62:  you will be too close for the multiple drivers to integrate well for your ears, unfortunately.  Reference 3A speakers are wonderful, and having enough space would be cool for the Grand Veenas.  I also agree that the BE tweeter is worth passing on, in favor of the previous soft dome version.  I have owned three different Ref 3A speakers and loved them, but have never cottoned to the BE tweeters when heard at shows (never have had them in my system, though....).  It's not the BE material itself - - I own and very much enjoy TAD CR-1's now, and their BE mid/tweeter works wonders for me.

I actually own a pair of deCapo i's with the soft dome tweeters that are just sitting idle in my basement, but I have not been able to part with them.
jbrrp1
423 posts
 
I can weigh in on the Royal Masters vs. de Capo i’s.  I owned the Royal Masters first, but sold them at a time when they did not fit into my system set up (WAF issues driving the stereo at that time, I’m afraid...).  Later I really missed them and could not find any on the market for quite a while, so I bought the de Capo i’s, which I still own.  They are sonically very, very similar IME, so I have not searched again for the Royal Masters.  Either/or is my take.
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