Small room; Audio Physic Scorpio or WB Trinity??


I need your thoughts fellow music/gear lovers. I know this is largely an exercise in self-indulgence, and I know that our cherished sound is subjective, but I would like advice/observations from some A'gon experts. We moved to a new home, and my listening room is, sadly, 11' x 11'. I doubt we will be moving for many years (if ever), and I would like to optimize this compromised space. I currently own a pristine (and very much loved) pair of Audio Physic Scorpio. Local audio pundits seem to roundly recommend that I move to a quality monitor speaker, given the Scorpio's prodigious bass and size. A very highly regarded A'gon dealer is willing to trade a pair of Wilson Benesch Trinity for my Scorpio. I have heard great things about the Trinity. Thoughts, learned peers?? My associated equipment is as follows:

BAT VK500 amplifier (with BAT PAK)
PS Audio PCA2 preamp
VPI Scout Signature tt
Sumiko Blackbird cartridge
Musical Surroundings Nova II phono pre
Cary Audio 303/300 CD player
MIT Z AC conditioner

Thanks. David
klipschking
The scorpios might still work. I had them in a 13 x 15 room and had
no problems. They sounded great.
Don't know about either of your speaker choices, but my audio gear lives in a room sized 11' X 12', so I do know your problem.
I have tried many speakers. Monitors work the best, IMO.
Not just sonically, but aesthetically as well.
Hi David,

I don't own the Trinity, but I do own the Wilson Benesch Arcs, which as I'm sure you know are a step down from the Trinity but close enough to maybe give you a point of reference. And my room is exactly 10x11, so our situations are very similar.

In my space the Arc sounds fantastic - I do have a Rel Strata III Subwoofer (picked it up used off CL) but it's not even plugged in. The Arcs put out more than enough bass for my 10x11 room, and it's tight clean bass without any boom. Given that the Trinity is probably even a little better in the low end, I have to think it would be more than enough speaker for your 11x11 room.

I've not listened to the Scorpios, so I can't give you any feedback on the Scorpio's sound signature vs. the WB house sound, but in my 10x11 room I've also had B&W PM1 (no comparison), 805 (great speaker, not as transparent as the Arc), and Proac D2 (still have these - warmer sound, more veiled, not as open or airy as the Arc but their warmth can be easier on the ears with poorly recorded material like most '80s rock albums).

What the Arcs do well - and I imagine the Trinity does it even better - is they completely disappear. And that's a hard thing to accomplish in a 10x11 room with no treatment. The way WB gets the sound to disconnect from the box is pretty amazing, and the tweeter is so open, sweet and airy, and the Arc and Trinity share the same tweeter.

So I can't tell you if you'll like the Trinity's sound signature more than the sound from your Scorpios, but I can tell you that if the Trinity sounds as good in your 11x11 room as my Arcs sound in a 10x11 room you will be a very happy fellow. I hope this helps a little...
BTW, I had WB Arcs in my room for awhile. They were quite nice, worked very well.
Are you in the new home right now (the verb tense in your post indicates you are)? If so, why not set up the Scorpios to see if they'll work for you? In theory I'd agree that a monitor would be the best choice for that size room (I moved to a smaller room and did the same thing), but it's probably worth a try if you really like the Scorpios.
Fritz Speakers... call Fritz, he will advise you well and take good care of you
Try the Scorpios in your new room and take the time to see how they work there. If they don't, there are any number of full range loudspeakers that are designed to work when placed close to a rear wall.
I use a pair of Larsen 6 speakers in my small listening room. They are simply amazing.
While I'm not familiar with your speakers I hope this is relevant to your situation.
I had to move my system from a fairly large living room to an adjacent room which is much smaller- 11' w x 13' l. I tried using my 44" 3-way floor standing speakers in the small space and was not happy. Not only did they look too big and out of scale, they tended to overdrive the room.

Since I've never had stand mounted speakers before, when a pair of Sonus Faber Liuto monitors came up for sale at a great price here on A'gon, I bought them. My hope was that sonically and aesthetically they would suit the room much better than the big speakers.

I could not be happier. I love how they look, but more importantly, I love how they SOUND. They essentially disappear and present a wide and deep soundstage. The room is filled with music instead of two large boxes. The SF's are out from the front wall about 34" to the front baffle and I continue to experiment with placement even closer to the wall.

I've been playing around an inexpensive Andrew Jones Pioneer subwoofer which is fun, but really not necessary.