Speaker Advice?


I need to replace my beloved Audio Physic Tempo 25s with speakers that will be more room friendly in my new place. Due to WAF, I need to be able to tuck the speakers close to the rear wall, and one of them will be in a corner. The room is quite large; 20x40, with 11' ceilings.

So what I loved about the APs was their crisp, clear top end and their airy midrange. What doesn't work is the rear port and the side-firing woofers.

I've given a good listen to the Focal 1038be, and the Sonus Olympica 3. Both are outstanding, albeit a little over my budget. Still, I'd spring for either if they're the best option.

I'm wondering if there are recommendations for other speakers out there that I've overlooked. They've gotta be front-ported, be able to move some air, and can tolerate a corner placement without booming me out of the room. Suggestions? TIA!
jbomber
The problem isn't port location, as demonstrated by the Audio Notes that Philjolet referred to. Rather, the problem is that most speakers are not tuned (or capable of being tuned) for placement in a corner.

But it sounds like only one of your speakers will be in the corner, presumably the other will be on one of the same walls but rather far from the other corner. So the ideal might even be different tunings for each speaker!

I have a customer who has one speaker in a corner, and the other is next to an entryway that opens into a spacious foyer. His speakers have user-adjustable port tuning, and he has them each tuned for their respective locations. It's an unorthodox but effective solution to an unorthodox situation. Remember, south of 100 Hz or so, you cannot perceptually separate the woofer from the room because the room's effects are indelibly stamped in the woofer's output by the time you hear it. So in the bass region, consider speaker + room to be an inseparable system, wherein the goal is synergy. Again, the Audio Note approach is a beautiful example.

Your room size in and of itself presents other challenges, which imo call for particular attention to the radiation pattern because the reverberant field (made up primarily of off-axis energy) will dominate the perceived tonal balance at most listening locations within the room (nearfield being the only exception).

You might look at PiSpeakers, they are not well known but are extremely well engineered, and will work well in large rooms and with unorthodox speaker placement constraints. Ask designer Wayne Parham which model he'd recommend for your situation. Wayne was one of my teachers and his work is superb. He takes boundary reinforcement into account, and he takes the reverberant field into account. You can think of PiSpeakers as a high-end alternative to Klipsch, without having an uber high-end price tag.

Best of luck in your quest.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer
So are you saying you will have to "tuck" them in this position when not in use, or they will have to remain suchly?

Shakey
When the heck are audiophiles - predominantly me - gonna start exerting some HAF? I'd tell her this is my 2nd greatest love, after her, and "I'm keeping the speakers I have and their positioning - deal with it..."

-RW-