Speakers for small listening room


I need some help/advice for getting the 'right' sound for my system that I have in my small listening room.
The available space is only 11ft wide by 18ft long, and I currently have Kef RDM3's with a Marantz PM17-A integrated amp. I listen to mostly classical and jazz with some pop/rock.
My problem is that given the width of the room I dont seem to be able to get a good soundstage or decent imaging compared to the same set up in a larger room (our main living room where my wife refuses to have the Kefs set up).
Given the size of the room, would I have better luck with a smaller high quality monitor speaker? I am willing to pay around 3k to get something that does more for me than the current set up, and would also consider changing amplification if necessary.
Worst case... is there something about this size room that will prevent me from getting the kind of soundstage that seeems to come with a larger room.
I am kind of new to this and no acoustic engineer, so bear with me if these questions are naive or stupid!!!
peteinvicta1

Showing 1 response by seandtaylor99

Hi Pete,
unlike many others here I would suggest that you first spend plenty of time experimenting with position of the speakers and only buy new speakers if this really doesn't help. My listening room is only 10x12 and I use a Cardas speaker placement (approximately) and a near field listening position. See http://www.cardas.com/insights/roomsetup.html
I use floorstanders (spica angelus) which are lean in the bass, and a REL strata sub ... and it works great even in my tiny room.

I'd strongly suggest you use the cardas method (or close to it, as it requires the speakers to be well away from the walls). Also Audio Physic have an excellent web page on speaker placement ..
http://www.audiophysic.de/produkte/aufstellung/aufstellung_e2.html

This blows away some of the old myths (that you must be further from the speakers than the distance of the speakers, that toe-in restricts the soundstage).

If you read both web pages and experiment I'm sure you can be very happy with the sound in your new room without spending a penny. It's worth a try at any rate.

FYI my speakers are 2.5 feet from the rear wall, 2 feet from the side wall, substantially toed in, and spaced about 5 feet apart. I sit about 5 feet from the speaker cones (equilateral triangle). The sub is next to my right foot. It looks wierd, but I have never heard my system sound anywhere near as good, even in much bigger rooms.