Seeking advice for speakers for my Family Room
Hello experts,
I am starting out on my quest to finally get some quality speakers, mostly making do with off-brand in-walls, in-ceilings for the most part for my family room.
And wanted to get your advice on what speakers to get for my kind of use case.
USE:
So, these will be used in my Family Room where I will be using them for 60/40 movie watching/listening music. Ocassionally, we would like to be able to pump up the volume and listen to either multi channel audio or 2 channel music for parties etc.
ROOM:
The room has a lot of hard, reflective surfaces (tile flooring, some, tile on the wall behind the TV, it also is a large room (36' wide x 18' deep with 9' ceilings). However, my main listening position/couch and media cabinet and the floor standers will be in the left 15' portion of the width of the room and at 13' away from the speakers/TV. Pictures attached below.
EQUIPMENT:
My receiver is Denon x3700H and I have a Polk PSW-505 12" sub. Eventually, I am open to getting an external amp to use with the pre-outs of my receiver, something like this Class D amp Purifi based VTV stereo amp. But first, I wanted to get my speaker selection nailed down.
SOURCE:
At the moment, I have tried only YT Music (at 256kbps AAC) since I already have a subscription for this. I am not an audiophile and neither is my use case for critical listening. So, while I understand there are better SQ options for streaming music, I have my reasons for sticking with YT music (lyrics, music videos etc)
SPEAKERS AUDITIONED:
I have tried the Klipsch RP-280FA with the Klipsch RP440C center channel and found them unbearably harsh/bright. Tried several modes, but couldn't even get through 2 songs without having to stop. This was at loud volumes...
Next, I tried the KEF R11's and these were MUCH better, but I still found the highs a bit bright.
Other contenders (based on what I am hearing are considered a bit more warmer speakers) I have not tried yet but would like to get some advice on before just going through the hassle of ordering, setting up, trying etc:
-Wharfedale EVO 4.4
-Sonus Faber Lumina V (would have to wait a long time to even get these)
Maybe later, I might look into room treatments, but I am thinking I will leave that for later, that can be a slippery slope/money pit, but for now, I am looking for speakers that don't sound harsh/bright at loud volumes for extended periods of time. I will probably get a matching center as well (for HT/movies) that would need to provide clear dialog.
Thanks,
KG
ROOM PICS:
@maxwave I 100% agree, lovely room, not for serious music production or reproduction. I spent more to build my sound room than the equipment. Just too many hard and reflective surfaces (marble tile floors and the wall between the speakers, the TV between and windows to the sides of the speakers and rear room-oy vey). Reminds me of a highly reverberant flat in an Israeli apartment, beautiful but difficult to carry on a conversation. |
@auxinput Thanks, looking into rugs now. @fleschler @maxwave As I mentioned in my OP, I am NOT an audiophile nor am I looking at this room to be my critical listening area. All I am trying to do is to have some extended listening sessions at higher volumes without going deaf/cringing. There isn't much i can do other than room treatments, which I will. The windows, I was planning on covering with shades/drapes regardless. Hopefully, that should help a lot. |
Yes, massive rugs and textured, sound absorbent wall hangings can cut down the reverberation so that you can at least enjoy listening to sound (talk) while watching TV. I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your goal. I assume that the current sound is so reverberant that it sounds similar to an echo chamber. |
@fleschler No worries. Current issue is just that the speakers sound too bright (even for Klipsch). I have tried Klipsch, KEF and Polk, all of them sounding bright/harsh at higher volumes. There is a little slap echo on the adjacent section of the room, but not so much in the actual listening area. This is probably because the listening position opens up to the kitchen behind whereas the other section is all enclosed with windows and sliding door. |
