speaker choice for new 20x30 audio room

mrklas   What amp are you running your SF Sonetto V's with, cables? Are you streaming?

Sopra 3

Tannoy Gold Reference series with perhaps an REL subwoofer, or any other quality sub.I have mine paired with a Luxman amp and Audiolab 6000 CDT with a Cambridge Dacmagic. Glorious sound. Just my two cents. 

I have a similar size room to yours 25’x25’.  Also designed for sonics

‘My GoldenEar Triton 1’s with built-in powered subwoofers fill the room admirably.

resell the Emotiva  components and buy a used pair of meridian dsp 7200's (fully active) you'll need a 218 zone controller at minimum the 818 is after you win lotto.

Worth considering...your equipment will easily run and work with these.  

Paradigm Founder 120H

Soundstage Magazine Founder Series Video

You can do the full Linkwitz LX521 project, with active crossover and amplification for as little as $4000 depending on what amp choice you make. I wouldn’t totally cheap out on the amp though. Probably would go with class D modules and build one, but you could go with a couple of 200 wpc 5 channel amps on the used market that would cover it.

Would totally work fine in your room.  No shortage of dynamics or headroom.  No need for subs either.   Here’s a set being auditioned by the San Francisco Audiophile Society recently.

Wait for PS Audio's new speaker to come to market. Looks like a serious contender for a large space. "Only" 29K/pair :)

The PS Audio aspen FR30 utilizes four 8-inch cast-frame, aluminum cone woofers with 12- ounce magnets. The woofer’s motor structure features a split-magnetic gap and double Faraday rings for improved linearity and wider bandwidth, and the woofers’ articulate, agile response complements the speed and transparency of the planar-magnetic midrange and high-frequency drivers. The woofers are augmented by four 10-inch side-firing passive radiators, for the authoritative low-frequency extension. The FR30 presents an easy-to-drive load with an 87 dB sensitivity, making it ideal for use with a wide range of amplifiers.

Internally lined your HVAC ducts with 2” rock wool to attenuate the noises from the A/C equipment.

@carzmaguy88,

You mentioned Cornwalls. I have the Cornwall IVs in a 16 x 23 room with 10’ ceilings. They are great.

One advantage to them over some of the suggestions is efficiency. If you want to file a 20 x 30 room with mid level or low level efficiency speakers, you are going to need watts--tons of them to create headroom. Just something to keep in mind.

You may know that already so I'll shut up. :)

Thank You again! I have a lot of study and demo time ahead of me to decide. I am really intrigued by the Legacy's a few of the members have mentioned, as well as several of the others!

Great advice on the Dedicated 20 amp circuit and Hospital Grade Outlets. I did the same thing for my home system and it was a great upgrade. I will have the electricians out at the same time I add the HVAC unit, so everything will come together nicely. 

Appreciate all the information! 

@carzmaguy88, CONGRATS! This may be too little, too late but I hope you considered the electrical supply to your new dedicated sound room (6, 8 or 10 AWG; hospital-grade outlets; 20 amp. breakers; dedicated line or two; proper building grounding; underground service; etc.). I don't know enough about this to give specific recommendations. However, I know this is important. If it's not too late, now would be the time to think about this.

I wouldn't worry about acoustic treatment until you get your sound room finished and settle in with your audio system, furnishings, pictures and/or paintings on the walls, etc. Don't know if you planned on radiant heating or not. Well-padded carpeting over concrete floor foundation sounds like it may very well be the best choice, considering your four-legged buddies. Hardwood or laminate with some area carpets, here & there, would render a livelier room. Seems the walls will be sheetrock? Ten-foot ceiling is great! Will that be sheetrock, as well? Any exposed beams, coffered ceiling, etc.? All facets to consider but not angst over too much.

There is a veritable plethora of speaker choices out there to consider. IMHO, more than any other audio system component, they are the most intensely personal choice, especially when it comes to the eclectic taste in music you have. Personally, when it comes down to considering contenders around the 10K price point, I think you'll be in full range speaker territory, for the most part. I am not an audiophile who considers sub-woofers the spawn of Satan when it comes to full range or close to full range speakers, per se. However, IMHO, the closer you get to a flat or accurate 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response range, the less and less important sub-woofers become, unless you're a head-banger or listen to a lot of pipe organ music. Again IMHO, subs can be more trouble than they're worth to dial in, sometimes, with high-end full range speakers. For the kind of dough you are contemplating, I would make every effort to narrow down the contenders and do some serious educated seat-time with them, under controlled conditions, before pulling the trigger. Of course, if you don't mind unboxing, possibly re-boxing and lugging around large 100 pound plus towers and maybe putting up with the hassle & cost of sending them back, critical listening in your own sound room would be the best way to go. Also, think about to spike or not to spike speakers.

Someone on this thread made a point of mentioning that you should seriously consider speakers with a good off-axis response or wide dispersion. I second that motion! That's one of the best ways to fill a good size room with great sound. Also, I would imagine there will be times you'll be enjoying your hi-fidelity with a human friend or two or three or more. Revel definitely fits that profile. A pair of Sonus Faber Olympica I spent time with recently fit that bill, as well. Although I've never spent time with the Aerial Acoustics 7T, I have spent serious seat-time with the 6T and would have bought them in a heartbeat if I'd had enough juice to feed them properly. Paradigm and Focal are other manufacturers you may want to have a listen to, as well.

At any rate, enjoy the ride and CONGRATS again!

There are a few incredible products in that price range, even at the lower end of your budget.  

The Revel Performa3 F208.  This is an older speaker but is awesome sounding and because it is made in Malaysia, it is a killer value and at $5500 is at the lower end of your budget.  It will do okay with your existing gear and will leave you money to re-invest in some of the equipment...better amp/DAC/streamer

At a higher price point you could look at the Scansonic MB5 B.  It is a bigger sounding speaker with a ribbon tweeter.  They build a big soundstage with a large dispersion pattern.  It is a brilliant speaker that is very engaging.  It is a bit warmer in its tonal profile.  

I would also look at the Monitor Audio Gold 300.  Wonderful tweeter and brilliant drivers.  They are warmer than you would think for an AMT.  very natural sounding and are sort of a middle ground between the Revels and Scansonics. 

I am a dealer for scansonic.  I have no association with Revel or Monitor Audio

I have an audio room close to your dimensions - mine is 21ft by 27ft with 9 ftceilings. I am a Maggie fan for the last 30 years. Your system will shine with a set of Maggie 3.7i - to make it perfect add Duke’s Swarm sub woofer System - the subs have their own amp.. This should run you right at $10,000 all in. I am sure you will be very happy with the soundstage and vocals and detail.I do use Krell to push my two sets of Maggies - I have two Listening rooms. Referencing your floor options and dogs - I would use luxury vinyl flooring and then let your wife add multiple oriental rugs - my Wife Happiness factor went up in a big way for both Listening rooms with this tactic.

happy listening!

robshaw

Just wanted to let you know, I just came from a ATI 6005 and had some serious issues with it. It had a slight buzz from the day it was new. Not enough to send that 125 lbs. AMP back to California, but it was by no means a quiet amp. At about the 6-month mark, upon shutting it off you would hear a delayed pop out of the left rear speaker. ATI (John Barlow) was very helpful sending me a new board and walking me through installing it. Shortly afterwards a second board did the same thing, and I was forced into tearing it apart again. John explained ATI was having a bad run of capacitors and although very apologetic, it showed bad for their top-of-the-line product. I traded up to Legacys IV 7 amps and I am AMAZED at how dynamic, cool running and dead silent they are.

BTW, I auditioned those Tektons you have and although I sent them back and chose Legacy, they are a nice room filling product for the money. 

I'll back up the suggestions on Legacys. I have chosen Focus SE's. Our room is 24X16. I also have 4 Legacy Subs as Bill Dudleton the owner and designer of Legacy happened to stop at my house on his way from a seminar in D.C. I explained what I was after, and he suggested subs from all corners. Not that the Focus SE's require subs, but I also listen to bands such as Metallica and if you want thump, you will really benifit from subs. I would recommend 2 of them no matter which speaker you choose. 

I have a similar shop area with wonderful acoustics, how I don't know. Currently using the Peachtree AMP 500 ,  Soon to acquire an ATI 6002 AMP   Benchmark line preamp and their DAC 3B, with a pair of Tekton Double Impact speakers, with an SVS SB 4000 sub. Room filling sound, I listen at close to 100 spl. Not just loud but very DYNAMIC, and accurate, and precise in my opinion.  Solely Rock and Roll via Redbook CD and streaming USB Amazon HD through the DAC. Speakers are outstanding and you'll save a ton of money. You could jump up to the MOAB which have gotten many accolades about $4700 Robert TN  Good luck

I've a room close in dimensions, 18 x 29 x 9 where I use Raven CeLeste towers and a single BIC sub.  Sounds awesome in that space.  If you find yourself in metro Atlanta door`s open for a listen.

Lots of speakers I've not listened to, however, I have listened to Maggies and compared to Audiovector, and Maggies don't hold a candle. I also listen to everything from Diana Krall, Joss Stone, Chris Stapleton, to Metallica and Rammstein, and the speakers are happy to play it all. 

My vote would be Audiovector R3, if you can extend the budget a bit go with the top model, if you can't go with the middle and you can upgrade later. 

https://audiovector.com/r-3/

With a room that size, go for a used pair of Klipsch La Scalas; won't have the same placement restrictions you would have with K-horn.

AFTER you listen to ALL the other choices, have your dealer set up a pair of Magnepan speakers (your choice based on what you can afford) in YOUR NEW ROOM (congrats!) and see if they work for you.

Typically, they take a little effort to set up properly, but my guess is that you will love them.  If not, at least you heard them IN YOUR ROOM and know what accurate reproduction of the source material sounds like.

Cheers!

In my basement party room I have a set of Acoustic Research AR-9's they fill my room with great sounding music

If you're not opposed to buying used, see if you can find a pair of vandersteen Quatro Woods. I got mine as a demo pair for under 10k. They're versatile and have built in room tunable subwoofers in each speaker which will be a huge asset to you with a room that size and limited treatments. Because the subs are powered the rest of the speaker is fairly easy to drive. Being time and phase correct they stage and image beautifully when properly set up and Richard Vandersteen always recommends rule of 3rd's to start with as you mentioned. If you don't want to go used. You can get a pair of Treo's for pretty close to that price and possibly add a sub later.

Flooring options, been reading a few articles recently that recommend timber floors .. hard wood is best .. should be easier to clean.

Flooring options

Definitely Maggies

I would go for the La Scala with a pair of subs. Maybe find a used set. I have the Cornwall III’s with Peachtrees new Gan400 and its sounds really nice. 

whatever you do make sure you don't buy those bright sounding paradigm persona speakers from audio Troy they make your ears bleed that beryllium tweeter and mid-range are so bright it's not even funny.

Sounds like a perfect sized room for a nice used set of Klipschorns. 

That is a huge room. But how close to the speakers will most of your listening be done?  Ie if you are going to be sitting 10-12 feet away, that is a huge difference from if you would typically listening from 20-25 feet away.

And it sounds like your top budget is $10K? Then I'm not sure why you're getting suggestions for the $20K range. 

Give the Golden Ear Triton 1R a listen.

I just went through a similar search.  My musical tastes are also similar, as is my room side (13x30 in my case).  I found Audiogon and other sites quite helpful in narrowing down my search and can see you’ve already gotten a some good recommendations.  But, and I strongly encourage this: select a few speakers or brands; then get out and audition them.  I really didn’t want to take that approach at first.  I ended up taking 4 different trips—or 15-20 hours of drive time before I found what I wanted.  In hindsight, it was incredibly satisfying.  I started with the goal of finding the perfect speaker for me, but ended up learning a ton about room treatments, proper set up, etc.  I also met some incredible people, learned about their interests, shared stories of amazing concerts they attended, and finally found a speaker I’ll be happy with for quite some time.  Life is a journey….there are rewards sprinkled along the path you travel.  Best of luck to you.  
 

Regards,

I’d agree that if you can get into a decent sized Sonus Faber, they might be great for your listening preferences. The Sonetto VIII are pretty impressive. A nice used set of Olympica III would be even better. With the size of your room, I suspect that you’ll eventually move to something larger like the SF Stradivari Homage. Nice used sets of them do show up occasionally at great prices. Actually, there is a set of them right now on Agon for $20k.  This would be my dream speaker, if I had a room for them like you will.

I would be all over the Von Schweikert VR-10 Mk II for sale here if I had that big of a room. Twice your budget but easy to run so you could save on the amps. They may be ugly but damn. 

Magnepan 3.7 or secondhand mg20.

I am running some Ryan R630’s. At your budget you could move up to the S840’s. If you haven’t finished the build out, you could double your framing and cross bracing, use glue and screws on the sheet rock and rockwool for insulation and you not only won’t need much room treatment, but you will probably create a much better accoustic environment than the post construction fixes. The key is to prevent the walls from being resonators and this has worked well for me.

I will second the recommendation on Legacy speakers. I also run mine from a node 2i source and through an Emotiva pre amp. Depending on your true budget The Focus SE or XD. I have the XD. These 4 way speakers with their folded ribbon tweeters and dual 12 inch subs will absolutely send chills. Especially good on high quality recordings for sure. Artists like Dianna Krall and others with highly detailed recordings are absolutely mind blowingly good on these speakers. I also use an Alexa routine to turn the whole thing on through various triggers and at the same time, turn off the mini fridge to make the room dead quiet

Congratulations! You are clearly on the path to a great audio system. Speakers are really important… they must speak to you…they must evoke an emotional reaction. Given your room… you definitely need to push the upper end of your budget… like used Sonus Faber Olympica 3… or better… if they speak to you, like they do to me. I am on my third set… given the size of your room Sonus Faber Amati Traditional would be appropriate… but those are $30K. Take your time… if you have to get more inexpensive ones to prove the the connect, that can work… then in a few years upgrade to the next level. Over the last ten years I owned Sonus Faber Cremona, Olympica 3, and now Amati Traditional… each step has been incredible. My room is about the size of yours.

Make sure the AC is removed and quieted… big time. Otherwise it will really screw up your noice floor.

Most importantly, what sound are you going for?  I was looking around at that price range 10 months ago and was trying to decide between Kef R11s, Focal 948s and Klipsch Cornwall 4s.  I ended up getting a pair of Sonus Faber Sonetto VIIIs through the trade up program and they are amazing.  My only regret is not having enough to go for the Olympica Novas.  

Recently I've been auditioning a bunch around the 10k range and the Focal Kanta 2's are excellent speakers.  Very punchy bass, crisp detail and something I'd consider getting.  The McIntosh XR100s are also a rather interesting pair of speakers.  HUGE sound stage and a fun speaker to listen to on the right setup.  I heard them on a Prima Luna with EL34s and a Moon integrated and it was awesome, but on a McIntosh setup they were way to laid back and polite.  The Revel 228be and Kef Reference 3's are a bit of a let down, very dull sounding and boring.  Same goes for the pair of ELAC speakers at that point.  

Currently I'm waiting around for a good used pair of Sf Olympica Novas, Focal Kantas, or possibly a pair of Wilson Audio speakers to pop up locally at a resonable price.  

A pack of Labradors can be thought of as portable but hungry sound absorbers…

PS:

To answer a couple questions. I'm a 2 channel purest for the most part, but no opposed to adding a sub or two. 

I enjoy a lot of different music and usually get 2-3 hours a day of dedicated listening time. I usually listen in the 65-80DB range. Clarity and good soundstage / imaging are important as well and even though we don't go into the 85-95DB range very often at all its nice to know you can without loosing clarity and quality of sound when the mood strikes.

Thanks again for all the feedback and suggestions. There is a lot of great wisdom on this site, and I still have a ton to learn. 

Tyler Acoustics Halo Extreme 4 SVS SB3000 subs and you have money left for cabels. Go used get best bang for your buck.

Thank You all! Great suggestions. I will be spending the next few months doing HVAC, Extra Insulation, Paint and sound treatments. This gives me a great list of speakers to research and demo if possible in addition to the more "Old School" options I was considering like a set of Klipsh Cornwalls. 

I know carpet is likely the best flooring option, but we live in a very rural area of Oregon, lots of rain, muddy paws from the trusty Labs. Are there any more durable flooring options that are also acoustically friendly anyone has experience with I should be considering? 

Thanks again!

I think you are in a sweet spot for many excellent options.

Do you want to use a sub? (or two)?

I like Sonus faber - I'm on my third pair and suggest you listen to Sonetto Vs.

Also there are some excellent speakers like DeVore and som many others that are worthly of a listen.

Enjoy the journey and the listening room.

There are as many suggestions are there are contributors on this site? 

Since you refer to we I assume you're looking for a wide sweet spot so 2 people can relax and enjoy. If that's the case I would look at speakers with wide dispersion like Revel.