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Dream speakers and amp for an 11x14 room?

Hi All,

I'm a first-time poster and hate to present an idiosyncratic problem, but I'm getting the impression that the devil is in the details when it comes to high-end audio, so here goes:

I've got an 11x14 living room that serves as a home theater, and currently have a great video projector that I'd like to mate with a top-notch two-channel set up (I've been persuaded to give up on the 5.1 surround idea). My dream is to have a system that's capable of everything - from running quick, delicate, joyful circles around Beethoven's middle quartets to disgorging "Led Zeppelin I" with a massive, terrifying soundstage.

I was initially hell-bent on floorstanding speakers - I've never shopped high-end audio until now, and remember the big floorstanders my father had back in the 80s, with 12-inch woofers powered by a big, late-70s solid-state Scott amp. The Gallo 3.1 were one idea, as well as the FJ (Blumenohofer) Oms. Both of those models attracted me partly because of their wide soundstage and sweet spot (the latter unfortunately lacking in a few other models that have attracted my interest, including the Devore 8s and 9s).

But while I've been impressed during a few recent auditions by the floorstanders, and hate the tiny little images thrown by most bookshelves, the more I read the more it seems that such bigger speakers may be a bad idea for the room in question - I don't have room to be placing speakers three feet away from the wall - two is even a stretch.

A couple of other key constraints: The speakers basically have to fit under the 6 1/2-foot-wide movie screen, whose bottom edge hangs 38 inches from the floor. That's because the screen pulls down alongside the left side of this "front" wall, while immediately to the right of the screen a bedroom door is cut into the wall.

It should be noted that this front wall is of a cheap, hollow construction - courtesy of an enterprising landlord who moved to convert my apartment into a two-bedroom - and I worry that will be a factor when it comes to bass. There's also another bedroom door - immediately to the right of and at a right angle to the first, so as to form a kind of 90-degree void to the right of where the right speaker would be placed.

Opposite this front wall, 14 feet away, is a double-door that opens into a kitchen that's about 10x11. Through all of this, the ceiling height is about 7 1/2 feet and the floors are hardwoods with a few oriental rugs available if necessary.

Now, as a stopgap, I've installed a cheap 5.1 surround system, with a right bookshelf and a center speaker under the movie screen, and a left bookshelf speaker sitting - yes, that's right - in the back corner of a bookshelf that's built into the left wall. This latter speaker seems to have trouble generating a lot of sound, given the few precious inches of space behind it. I've also got a powered subwoofer on the floor under the movie screen.

So given all that data, I guess the first key question is - are there bookshelf speakers, a center and a woofer that could take the places of the cheap ones and sing, despite the lack of space behind them? I really wouldn't want to place them, or any corresponding subwoofer, more than 6 inches to a foot away from the wall (or a few inches from the back corner of the bookshelf, in the case of the left side).

And the second question would be - provided I'm willing to move the easy chair that's in the left corner under the movie screen - is there a pair of floorstanders, preferably less than 36 inches high, much less 38, that could deliver what I'm looking for in terms of sound, given the fact that they'd basically need to be as close as 4 feet together, with one about two feet from the left side wall and the other with a couple of doorways off to its right and back right?

For those of you who have gotten this far and still have a clue as to what I'm getting at, I am both grateful and impressed. Please let me know what information I can provide to clarify the situation. I'm looking to pay up to $3000 or so for a used pair of speakers, probably the same for a used amp. Interested in everything from solid-state to SETs - but seems like I should concentrate on this speaker question first.

Thanks!
coverto
ryder
1,687 posts
 
Floorstanders will still work in your room. It's just a matter of finding one that is designed to be more room-tolerant. You would definitely need some room treatments in a room of your size. I know of a guy who had Marten Coltrane in a 9'x13' fully treated room.
goatwuss
877 posts
 
Hi Coverto,

Yes, stands are an absolute necessity for bookshelf speakers. You will need to set them up so that they are least 1 foot (preferably 2 or more) from all room boundaries if you would like to recreate the aspects of hi end sound, such as imaging, staging, etc. Also, the coupling of the speaker to a high quality stand that will properly drain the speakers vibrations is critical.

With a quality pair of standmounted speakers, setup properly with a good sub, you will get excellent punch, power, dynamics, etc. Bookshelf speakers run the gamut from punchy and dynamic, all the way to slow, veiled, and sloppy, just like floorstanders do. You can definitely get mind blowing from this type of a setup, and there are many audiophiles who actually prefer bookshelves + sub to floorstanders even in a large room. Smaller speakers image better than larger ones in general.

Why are you opposed to stands?
parasound63
162 posts
 
Another vote for the Ohm Micro Walsh Tall. I bought them myself in May, and can attest that they work well about a foot from the rear wall.

Give Ohm a call, and let them know your needs. It's worth at least the call, and their in-home audition policy is hard to beat.
coverto OP
44 posts
 
Thanks All, some more great food for thought here.

I'm definitely intrigued by the Ohm MWTs at this point. But there's another factor that I guess I've tried to ignore up to now, but which is potentially significant: there's a chair in the left corner of that front wall that might have to go if I went with floorstanders. It's a pretty unobtrusive chair - one of those that's basically some thinnish cushions stuck to a curved frame so there's no bulk to it - but I wonder if it'd be possible to enjoy sitting in that chair with an omnidirectional Ohm WMT blaring two feet away from your head!

In that regard, would it be easier to have something like a Totem Forest firing straight ahead, past the person who's sitting in that chair? Again, I'm considering removing that chair altogether but hate to do so. At the same time, I don't want to end up with a pair of speakers that have the tiny sweet spot that Totems get slapped for - I need it to sound good all around the room - or at least most of it.

So that does have me seriously contemplating the monitor option - with stands - for the first time... I mean, it seems like having one of those mounted next to my head, firing past me while I sit in that chair, might be a more workable idea than the Ohms or Gallo 3.1s, and possibly even something like Totems or Devore Gibbon 8s?

Goatwuss, to answer your question, I've always hated the idea of stands because they're expensive and take up just as much floorspace as a floorstander - seems like a poor value, I've always thought. On the other hand, maybe they'd be a more flexible option in my room with a greater chance of success than a floorstander?
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,915 posts
 
The largely but not fully omni MWTs a couple of feet in front of you will work very well, better than most any other design I can think of, for casual listening from that chair. You will mostly likely hear a coherently imaging soundstage beyond the speakers along the far wall. The tweeter on MWTs is directional and will be firing forward, so that and the damping inside the cage applied to the rear of the Walsh driver(to facilitate closer placement to rear wall) will work in your favor in that chair as well in regards to not getting blasted at close range.

I seldom listen behind my OHMS (no chairs there) but I do listen sometimes near field about 2 feet or so in front and to the left of my left OHM F5.
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