Starting from scratch in a large room
I am hoping to set up my first hi-fi system, but I have some room/equipment constraints and would appreciate some advice.
I am looking at an all-in-one amp and passive speakers. Right now, I am leaning toward a Naim Uniti Nova and KEF R3 speakers. I am a total novice and open to suggestions on both the amp and speakers, however, I do think an all-in-one like the Nova is the right direction for simplicity and space considerations. Other speakers I have considered are the Focal Aria 906 and BW 706 S2. I listen mostly to modern/classic rock, mixed with a little bit of everything, exclusively through streaming (preferably AirPlay).
The challenge is that I have a very large room, but I can’t use floor speakers or standmounts--the speakers will likely have to be on the built-in bookshelves, on a shelf that is 24" deep (it's not really a shelf, more like a wooden countertop on top of a closed cabinet). The room is 33’ x 18’ with 11-foot ceilings. I’ll be listening from either 13 feet or 25 feet. There are rugs covering most of the wood floors, heavy drapes on one of the long walls, and large canvas paintings hung on drywall on the other long wall. I understand I have some pretty major room limitations, but I'd like to have something that sounds as good as possible for around $10-15K. I've read somewhere around here that having two subs might help compensate for the smaller speakers. This is our living room/kitchen area, so I am limited in how many, if any, "treatments" I can make to improve the listening conditions. Would some kind of base between the speaker and countertop make a difference? Thanks very much.
@deertrail7 yes, you are right, I thought airplay was a mediocre source. I know little about streaming so I take it back. Here is a pretty cool trio: wireless KEF sub, wireless KEF speakers, and a software to figure out the best sound from Lyngdorf. You can accomplish a great sound without a lot of tweaking - if Darko is on his game
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since you are at the beginning of your journey, you should ask yourself: do you want big sound? will you play at high volumes? Bright, forward, detailed? Warm or analytical? Or just sound that moves you? These were all pretentious questions to me a couple years ago and I learned some of the differences. The easy test is, choose some of your favorite music that varies wildly e.g. the Stones vs. a vocalist. You usually get one or the other sound come out awesome from one system, but not both - unless it’s of course a ridiculously good system. Once you find out which awesomeness you are addicted to, it will steer you to the system that plays your music best (and then of course, the feedback loop curse: you will switch listening to what sounds good on your system) |
this thread definitely has a lot of "amazing" suggestions and explains why audiophiles are ridiculed. The dude wants good sound, from a good looking system. He doesn't want Doc Brown crawling on the floor finding imperfections that affect the sound. Some of you need to read the room. But of course it's not the just this thread, more often than not, these posts are full of comments where xy just keeps repeating the same points, same brands, with seemingly no connection to the question. |
