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Speaker rec for difficult placement $1,000

Hi Folks,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I could use a recommendation for a floor stander in a difficult room. The room itself is roughly 12x15 feet with two large openings to a foyer and dining room. The speakers will need to be close to the long wall with slightly greater distance between the speakers (9') than to the listening position (7'). A relatively narrow footprint (ie 12") would also be good.

The current speakers are a pair of Klipsch KSF 10.5's. They are ok at best, problem is they image like crap. I hear two separate speakers w/ little soundstage between the two.

As for sound, I'm not a real audiophile, not sure what I really want, I'm experimenting. I have Vandy 2CE's in another room. I like them quite well but I'm not opposed to another sound altogether for this room. I guess ideally I'd like something relatively easy to power.

Thanks.
floosh
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
Do the Vandies sound good in that room in the same location? If they don't, its most likely the room, not the speakers.

I'm not saying there's no reason to change the speakers, just suggesting to make sure it's the speakers before you start throwing money at something that's not possible to improve on significantly. Some speakers certainly image and soundstage better than others, however I've personally found a lot of that is due to the room and placement within it.

If you want smaller speakers that image and soundstage all over the place (provided they're in the right place), check out the Totem Arro. They need a bit of space behind them, but I think they're relatively forgiving of placement.

They do however need stable power. Not an enormous amount of watts, but an amp that can handle lower impedences without straining.
iramirez
68 posts
 
Zu Audio Essences, Omens, Superfly... They do well near the wall, ported at the bottom, and the do well widely separated.
tobias
1,534 posts
 
A used pair of Meadowlarks.
unsound
7,311 posts
 
I think 7' might be a bit too close for Vandersteens. Driver intergration can become problematic sitting so close.
floosh OP
24 posts
 
Kbarkamian - You're fairly correct about the room/placement issues.

I switched the speaker sets the other day, bringing the Klipsch's upstairs and the Vandy's down. The Klipsch's are, in fact, worse at imaging than the 2ce's by a wide margin, even when properly spaced. However the 2ce's do struggle to image in the poor location. I could live with them there though if they weren't oversized (and the bass is considerably muddied too so close to the wall.) A pair of Model 1's might be an option though, but I have a feeling there are better imagers out there.

All told, it's really a double whammy having the poor imaging Klipsch's in the poor location.

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Thanks for all the suggestions folks, very helpful indeed.
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