Will a Wilson Maxx be possible in a small room

That's a hellava lot of speaker for the space. Sometimes less is more. Too large a speaker in a too small a room will mess up more than just your bass.

Hi Peter,

I am using a pair of Watts/Puppies 5 in a room half the size of yours with excellent results. I get plenty of bass with the smaller Watts/Puppies 5 most of the time. I miss the deep bass only in a few specific recordings.

A few things you may want to consider before taking the plunge with the larger, better, and more expensive Maxx.

1. Try moving your speakers around a little (or a lot). You may be surprised how a small change can alter the bass response, in quality and volume.

2. Try changing the speaker cables. When I switched from the recommended MIT CVT to a triple run of inexpensive OCOS, the bass improved noticeably in quantity and tightness. If you have a spare amp, it might be worth a try as well. The bass output of my Watts/Puppies 5 increases when I switched from Rowland Model 7s to the BAT VK-60s, and finally to a digital switching amp, which seemed to have doubled the bass output, subjectibvely. Of course this is also an expensive option, though far less than the cost of a pair of the Maxx.

3. Have you considered a subwoofer? Wait, don't cringe. I had great results with a Muse 16 with special crossover card to match the Watts/Puppies 5. The sound was nearly seamless. Now, my Velodyne DD-15 (15-inch woofer with servo-control and 1000+ watt digital amp) doubles as my video AND audio subwoofer. This subwoofer is pretty amazing: it is small, powerful, and ultra-fast. With the on-screen digital adjustment and a supplied microphone, I am able to customize a nearly seamless blend with the Watts/Puppies 5 at a fraction of the cost of "audiophile" subs. The bass increase in depth and volume is nothing short of staggering. You can also go to the larger DD-18 to move even more air. I prefer the smaller, faster, and definitely cheaper DD-15.

Speakers' bass response in a room is position dependent, amplifier/cable dependent and difficult to predict. Try the above options if you can. But if you must have the Maxx, it would be ideal if you could try them in your room first.

I would invest in some floor to ceiling ASC tubes traps if you have not already done so.

Good Luck!

Dear Peter: I agree with Justin: subwoofers.

The Puppy 7 with two Wilson subs or Velodyne DD-15 could work very well in your room and in some ways can outperform the MAXX.

Please take a look about at: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1117893153&openflup&27&4#27

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Hi,

I have owned in succession the Sophias, 7's+ WatchDog and now the Maxx 2's sans WatchDog. When I initially purchased the Maxx 2's I too was concerned as I had a room with dimensions on the small side 19 X 16 X 8 --plus bad dimensions (the 16 w X 8 h) which resulted in a noticeable 40-50hz bump. I'll just state that the Maxx 2's solved all bass articulation and weight problems to the degree that I thought the WatchDog expendable, and in my room they literally eliminated the bass issues I had with the 7's--which most owners will acknowledge have a slight forwardness in the upper-mid bass. I think in part the Maxx 2's cabinet size acts to diffuse unwanted standing waves near corners, though I suggest bringing them out as far as is reasonable in your room for maximum stage depth and clarity.

I now have a new home with a specially designed room by Rives Audio with roughly double the size and the results were that much more astounding--although I could have lived happily with the Maxx 2's in my older room and home. Amps with some good power are recommended IMO although they could be driven easily by the Lamm ML2's (18w)--I use the OTL 200watt Atmasphere MA2 mk2.3's. I do not think you would EVER regret the upgrade. From the 6's to the Maxx or Maxx 2 is not subtle in any way and in some ways, they are entirely different speakers, with the Maxx 2's holding the line between the richness of the best Sonus Faber speaker (Stradivarius) and the detail and laser-like articulation of the 6's/7's.

Hope this helps!

Grant

Justin, I am amazed that you can get "excellent" results in a room "half the size?" From my experience, speakers of this size need oodles of room, to breathe, for "excellent" results. IMHO

"Justin, I am amazed that you can get "excellent" results in a room "half the size?" From my experience, speakers of this size need oodles of room, to breathe, for "excellent" results. IMHO"

Hi Warrenh,

Yes, I get excellent sound in my 12 x 15 room with the Watts/Puppies 5. They do not really have big sizes (only big price tags, unfortunately) and they are specifically designed for near-field listening. I place the speakers along the short axis of the room (one to two feet away from all boundaries) and use the rule of third to position the speakers and my listening spot along the long axis of the room. The sound from the Watts/Puppies 5 blends immediately in front of the speakers so that as you sit at the top of the equilateral triangle that you form with your toed-in speakers the holographic effect is quite palpable, especially with a digital switching amp. The huge sound stage is thrown several feet behind and beyond the sides of the speakers! That's also the closest I've come with cone speakers to the speed and inner details of electrostatic speakers without the bass and image-size limitations of the latter.

The Velodyne DD-15 has an amazingly small foot-print (18" x 18" x 20"H) that belies it's powerful impact. With the myriad of sound adjustments, it can be perfectly tailored to disappear in a small room like mine--the DD-18 would have over-powered the room.

So overall, the combination of Watts/Puppies 5 and Velodyne DD-15 is just about the perfect system for my pocket-size listening room.

What a timely question for me as I am selling my MAXX to downsize to a monitor with an eventual subwoofer. My present room is 15.6W X 10.2H X 18.4L. The MAXX have a big sound, but I felt my bass response was never as good as my former room that was easily 6-8 ft longer and a foot wider. The longer room allowed the MAXX to show its great bass. I find the sound in my present room to be excellent left to right, but lacking any real depth in soundstage. In nutshell, the size of the MAXX limited its ability to image as before. Maybe the newer MAXX two would do better, but I am not willing to spend the $6K to find out. I bought a pair of Caravelle's that in comparison to the MAXX in my room were simply amazing...equaled the MAXX midrange, outperformed its tweeter and only lacked in the bass without a sub. With a mediocre sub, the sound was very satisfying and in many ways better. Not to say the MAXX isn't a good speaker, it just couldn't perform in my room. Why not take money off the table and still have great sound?
I hope that helps. By the way, I drove the MAXX with Krell 750's a KCT and KPS-28C CDP until I switched out to a tube system.

Dear Justin: +++++ " So overall, the combination of Watts/Puppies 5 and Velodyne DD-15 is just about the perfect system for my pocket-size listening room. " +++++

I can see that you only use one DD-15 ( pocket-size room ) and that you are satisfied with it. I'm thinking that for a proper stereo music reproduction at your home maybe two DD-12 could be better than your today combination.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Raul,

I did try two 12" Velodynes. They did not work well in my small room--what was I thinking?. Each sub had to be near each speaker so placement became a nightmare. They were tried behind me but blending then was far from optimal. And in both cases, I can still hear where the subs were because the optimal crossover for 12" woofers was still a tad high. Lower it, and the bass output suffered. I sold both subs to a friend and he is ecstatic about the results in his large video room .

I also tried a single 18". It completely overwhelmed the room. Sold again to another friend with a bigger house. Another happy customer.

With a single DD-15, the big woofer allows me to set the crossover low enough that I cannot hear the sub's location. Thanks to the servo motor and fast digital amp, the 15" woofer is quick enough to blend well with the Watts/Puppies. It completely disappears and the bass sounds like it's coming from the middle or the speakers, not from the sub.

I now quite content with the arrangement.

Hi Justin: Now I can see why only one sub. Like I already post in the " Analog Subwwofers thread forum ": there are no rules here, the only rule is: test and error.

Tks Justin.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.