Room size

IMHO, your room would be considered medium+, and I would consider a larger speaker.

Your room is medium sized.

A monitor will work well in that sized room. Small floorstanders will also work well. Large speakers will probably have an issue with the 14ft dimension, this is on the small end for biggish speakers.

Totem will work well, but if you want full range sound, you will need a sub of course.

My room is remarkably similar in size as yours. I consider it a major compromise in that it forces me to listen nearfield with the system under the higher ceiling height. My room is approximately 13X26 with a ceiling sloping from 14' down to 8'. I'd consider it a medium sized room. System is on the long wall. I've used both monitors and floorstanders in this room. Both can work very well, but I tend to prefer the fuller sound of floorstanders (currently using Coincident Super Eclipse III's). You need to consider the volume of the space as well, and I think this is why the larger speakers work better for me. I wouldn't go much bigger than a small to medium floorstander though. I also would be prepared to add some treatment based upon the actual room, contents, and system.

You will have no bass in a room that size with a Totem monitor, unless you go with the power-gobbling Mani 2 (which is really a doubled-up floorstander). I think you are going to have to have a sub if you want real bass, soundstaging, emotional impact, scale and image depth.

Properly mating the speaker to the room is the single most important step to getting great sound. If you screw that up, you'll spend the rest of your days swapping out amps and cables trying to fix the problem. I've seen it a hundred times.

My advice would be to get a floorstander that has -3dB at 40Hz or below. My room is only 14x13 and my speakers are rated at 38Hz at -3dB and I have +-5dB bass down to 16Hz, which covers pretty much all recordings. BUT, the openings in the room also play a big role. I have two open doorways in one of the back corners. If you have an open floor plan, then your bass requirements go up exponentially. If your room is totally enclosed when you listen, then you won't need nearly as much bass extension to achieve full-range sound.

If you go with a monitor, get an active sub and that way you can simply adjust its output to meet your needs.

Some people don't care about having full-range sound - having the bass chopped off is not a problem for them. Maybe you are one of those? Your tastes do matter because this is YOUR stereo. I personally feel bass is required to get the most out of music. Its presence is felt in many vital ways.

Arthur

Bottom end performance does set the table for the vbalance of the presentation... IMO.

I'd say also, floorstanders... with or without a sub. With, is my preff. My room is similar, appox 14W x 20+L x 8 w/slope.

With openings and a powered sub, it was OK... pretty nice, even. Closed off, it is far, far, better. With or without. With sub however is still better as much more of the m,usic presentation is afforded me. Immediacy, impact, and the sub affects the tonal balance to preffs as well. Enhancing vocals adding warmth and presence.

I've had several medium sized floorstanders... thought long and hard about monitors too, and am quite glad I went wityh floor speakers instead

Two subs might well be the best fit for your room size, and that way even good sized monitors could well fit. I use one DD15. Two would be better I'm sure... or an 18. *I use my DD for HT too... not just music. it's nice either way, but I'm a bass junkie and would merely prefer more snap and pop with greater thunder in HT. Musically, it's fine overall.

Good luck.

Whether you classify your room as large or medium really doesn't matter. Choosing an appropriately sized speaker depends not only on room dimensions but also openings to other rooms, wall/ceiling construction, listening volume preference and musical tastes. You also have to take into account that some speakers are designed to work best in real rooms and others are simply boxes with drivers that measure well in anechoic chambers.

Being that there are so many variables, you can really only try an individual speaker in your room and see if it works. I'm not saying that the advice offered by others above is wrong, but what they said will unnecessarily limit your possibilities. I've heard very large speakers perform wonderfully in rooms much smaller than yours. I've also heard small speakers sound great in really large rooms. I've also heard mediocre to bad sound in each situation. This subject is too complex for easy generalization.

From the perspective of system matching, I'd say moderate to moderate +. From the perspective of room acoustics, it's either small or large. Yours would be considered small.

Bryan Pape
Lead Designer - GIK Acoustics

Your room is close to my listening room, 24x14 w/ vaulted ceiling. Mating the speaker to the room is the best way to start building a sytem. My first speaker was Vandersteen 2C which was ok but a little too big to really breath and bloom in this size room, from that I went to Alon 1's which is a bit smaller floorstander that was a much better match for my room. I currently am using Totem Mani 2 monitors which is the best match yet. Plenty of bass and I am able to power them up to get the best out of the speaker. You will need a rather muscular amp to drive these though, I am using a Bryston 4B. My room seems to sound better with the smaller speaker being driven with a bit more power, rather than the larger floorstander with the volume lower. One thing you won't have to worry about is the Totem filling the room, but you will need an appropriate amp.

Thanks for all responses so far. Zenblaster, the Mani 2 is the speaker I have been seriously considering. My original post was in reference to comments like " needs a large room to breathe" , or " will overpower a small room." I was just never sure what was considered large or small. Sounds like the Mani 2 has potential . Thanks again.

Onhwy61 made very good points. Kind of what I was getting at in the end of my post, but better stated and more thorough. I agree, it will depend largely upon the room, construction, contents, treatments, system location, room openings, etc. Unlike him, though, I have not heard larger speakers sound up to their potential in a smaller room, and have much more frequently heard problems with that kind of arrangement. That's not to say he's wrong and that it cannot be done, it simply has not been my experience. More often than not I've found it visually and acoustically overwhelming with a distortion of scale, in relation to the room, that tends to inhibit my suspension of disbelief. I've also experienced these kind of setups can often limit soundstaging potential. Notable exception have been asymmetrical corner arrangements. Again, this is in my limited experience and YMMV.

I use a sub as well, but tend to turn it off more for music as I think, in my case the single sub is slightly detrimental to imaging, and my speakers already go down pretty low. Two or more would be better, IMO.

Jax2, it's also been my experience to hear many systems with very large speakers in smallish rooms sound bad. My earlier point is that on occasion I've heard great sound under the same circumstances, though the former experience is more common.

Jamo, Gradient, Quad, Snell, Mirage, Allison and many other speaker manufacturers have all done interesting work on how speakers interact with a room. I strongly recommend reading the Robert Greene website on the subject.