Wow, Thanks for all the great responses...jla |
Jla, I had the same situation until recently, now my room is fairly large. I had good sound in the small room, what worked for me was damping first side wall reflections only. I found that a small room can go dead pretty quick so you have to be careful or you'll get a lifeless sound. You almost need the reflection with minimal damping material, other than carpet. The biggest improvement outside of components and cables was the installation of dedicated lines in both of my rooms, I would recommend that if possible. Good luck. |
Had very close situation to yours before. Suggest wall treatment at least with fiberglass panels for front side and rear walls. Don't over do it since too dead a room might be the result. If possible do the ceiling as well. I got very good pointers in Bob Harley's book. Invest in separate line for your system and wall plate and plugs. Concentrate on the setup and enjoy!!!! |
This room needs a pair of Coincident Triumph SIG II with a rouge 88 tube amp and a rouge 66 pre amp.You should be able to get this set up used for 2500.New it would run 3800.00.Its a steal and perfect for the room.Speakers 3 feet from back wall 2 feet from side.You 7/8 feet from speakers.Use a good set of stands Atlantis are nice with spikes.Toe them in to your outer shoulder and sit back.A good CD player and your on your way to HI FI heaven. |
This room needs a pair of Coincident Triumph SIG II with a rouge 88 tube amp and a rouge 66 pre amp.You should be able to get this set up used for 2500.New it would run 3800.00.Its a steal and perfect for the room.Speakers 3 feet from back wall 2 feet from side.You 7/8 feet from speakers.Use a good set of stands Atlantis are nice with spikes.Toe them in to your outer shoulder and sit back.A good CD player and your on your way to HI FI heaven. |
It's often hard to find speakers that work well in smaller rooms that must be placed close to corners or walls, etc. I also have a small listening space and have settled on a pair of b&ws, although I hear that there is better to be heard. I'm not affiliated with this company, and I have yet to try their speakers, but there is a guy in north carolina who makes a highly sensitive speaker made specifically to fit into corners. It looks similar to some of the totem models. You can find him at hornshoppe.com He even offers a full money back guarantee if you're not totally satisified. Good luck with your search. |
Howdy, partner! I have an even smaller room than you! The only two negatives to speak of are lack of room for your friends to sit and share music with, and speaker choice, (i.e. no Maggies are possible.) But, I have found mucho happiness with my minimonitor and sub woofer combo. There are certainly some speakers better suited to marriage with your back wall, and some manufacturers, (Joseph Audio for one,) claim their mini monitor performance is not diminished with this arrangement. Best of luck, and enjoy the hunt! |
I too have a small listening room, 10x11'. I have Klipsch RB-5 speakers, and an Anthem Pre1L and Amp1, which is EL34 based with 40 watts. When I first put the equipment in the room, I had the speakers on some folding tv tables, the Anthems and my CD player on another folding table, and an old metal office chair. It did not sound good. Echos and hollow sound, with boomy bass. Well...I got stands for the speakers, a rack for the equipment, a nice solid oak listening chair, and a thick 5x8' oriental rug. This helped a lot. Then what really helped was positioning the speakers away from the corners, as well as positioning my chair. Things really started to sound sweet. But...I was missing some bass, so I added a Klipsch KSW12 sub. I am now happy. This may not sound as high end as some other systems, but I love it(and that's what it's all about). The 40 watts from the Anthem is more than enough (my wife tells me it's kind of loud, even when she is outside, and she's a rocker). My whole point is really to experiment, and even with our "small" listening rooms, sometimes the simple things work best. |
I too have a small room and if can place the spkrs just right everything else is easy. Try some corner tunes and wall hangings. This will help on reflections. Although my amp is (aragon4004) has a lot of pwr it will provide dynamics with the music at moderate levels. (spkrs meadowlark kestrals) Good listening |
I also have the Nautilus 805's and suggest a REL sub. They are extremely musical and keep time perfectly with the B&W's. The Strata III is not huge and is amazing. It does more than add the low frequencies, it adds dimension and realism, and goes a long way if you also decide on 5 channel sound in the future. |
Try the Audio Physic method at immediasound.com. Works well for nearfield listening. |
Acoustic treatments are your friends in that sort of a situation. If you treat the room, there is no reason that it should sound poor. |
I have a pair of B&W Nautilus 805 speakers in a 12' by 13' room. Bass, while not as low as in the Hales Rev 3s that I'm selling, is quite sufficient. I agree with the above comments, that you should be thankful for these circumstances, particularly because there are many great sounding low powered amps than high powered ones. It's amazing how little perceived difference there is between 50 watts and 25 watts. I bet you could get by with 25 to 30 watts per channel, assuming that your speakers are reasonably efficient. Good luck. |
Rather than a challenge, try to turn your feelings on this to see it as a blessing. You can save a LOT of money, and still have sound to die for! You no longer need BIG speakers, OR megawatt amps. You can run a smaller amp from a great manufacturer of your liking. Most people say these usually sound better than the bigger models. You can go for tube power, if that's your bag. And if it is, you can use an EL34 or SET based amp, which wouldn't fill in a bigger room. You can go in so many great directions that your head will spin. But the bottom line is you can assemble a KILLER system in a small room, if you have an open mind, and a good ear. Good Luck! |
