Speakers for a unique small room
So I have been going about speakers all wrong. I am used to having a large listening room, but due to a divorce i am in a house that is pretty small. I will be buying a new house in July but I need some good speakers for a small room now and hope maybe they will blow me away for when I get a dedicated room.
So first here are some specifics the size of the area where I listen. The room is 10 feet (3.1 meters) x 14 feet (4.3 meters) and the listening position from a speakers which front is 3 feet (1 meter) off the wall is 8 feet (2.4 meters). The 14 foot wall has a large window, behind the listening area are stairs going up to the 2nd floor and their is no right wall as it is open to other parts of the house. Here are some pics to put things into perspective:
So right now I am running a NAD M12 and M23 as well as an SVS 3000 Micro, My speakers are PSB Imagine X2T an 8 feet is just WAY to close. I want something that if I am sitting 8 feet away from sound amazing! I cant listen anything fatiguing, I am looking for a bookshelf. I also would like something that would be amazing when I have a dedicated room as well. I have tried the LS50 Meta, still have them but thought they were mediocre at best.
So I am hoping I can get two pieces of advice, great speakers for a small listening space. Harbeth P3ESR XD's are the only speakers I have seen that can be great in small spaces. I want something that will be great and I have a budget of $2500 with a little wiggle room. Would love as wide of a sound stage as i can in a small room, No Klipsch and no Focal please. Great speakers but just way too fatiguing to me.
I listen to a lot of Jazz and Classical the rest is filled with Grunge, Punk, and Classic rock but Jazz and Classical are my priority.
Based on the pictures if anyone sees any opportunities for treatments in any way please call them out and I will get them.
+++1 @ddd1 Justin my room is 11 x 16. Not much bigger than yours. I have ZU Soul Supremes. Full-size tower. Bent | ||||||||
OP, A good headphone amp and set of headphones can be really satisfying. Perhaps not forever and only. But for your situation. Perfect to dive in and put together a great little system.
I developed mine over about 15 years. You can see mine under my UserID. Typically I listen to it every day for a hour. First I would like to recommend Woo amps. I have three. I started with a WA6. Then a WA6SE and finally a WA5. The latter I got because I really wanted to experience a 300B amp. Honestly, this system sounded so good that I found my main system really lacking in warmth and musicality. I caused me to upgrade my whole main system (the most important part being the ARC DAC and ARC amp). The Woo WA5 with top level 300B tubes is simply stunning…. Detailed, real and musical with incredible power to drive any headphones (and speakers if you want). Assuming you do not want to spend that much money.. if you choose efficient headphones like good quality Focals you can have and incredible system. Personally, from my experience, beware of solid state headphone amps… with the speakers so close to your ears hardness and fatigue comes with inexpensive / SS headphone amps. I have owned many. My favorite headphones are the Sennheiser 800s… but they required the power of the Woo WA5 to take control of them and feed them a very warm musical signal… otherwise they could be a bit trebly. | ||||||||
When did a 10' x 14' unsealed space become rated as small for use with small speakers only? I think the 1/3 rule for speaker placement would work, Cardas is practically identical in this room size, or at least it is a excellent starting point. noaudiophile has following for a 10'x14' room, if you flipped sides of the room(main wall to right of door) the staircase might actually work to your advantage. As far as convenience that would be up to the OP but should sound better.
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