Big, big room -- which 10-20k speakers?


I just moved into a house in which my listening room will be about 35 x 35 with 17-foot ceilings, with double-story double-pane glass windows on two sides. I will be running a Luxman 509u intergrated amp, a Sony XA777ES, and a Luxman PD371 with a Miyajima Shilabe. Cables are a mix of old Nordost Valhala and newer Kubala-Sosna Emotion. I know it all seems fragmented but I just moved back to the US after a decade living in Tokyo so these are bits and pieces assembled over there.

I am considering a variety of used speakers that can be purchased for 10-20k, namely the Revel Ultima Salons 2s, Rockport Mira Grand II, Aerial Accoustics 20T (I should mention I had 10Ts in the 90s and loved them) and YG Anat Studio II.

I'd love any thoughts on which speakers would perform best in the room given it's size and reflectivity, and given my rather odd electronics. Thanks very much for your advice!
rr999

Showing 1 response by almarg

Rr999, I'd just like to suggest that you indicate to the assembled multitude what kinds of music you listen to. The need for high speaker efficiency, given the moderate power rating of your amplifier, will be especially important if your listening includes music having wide dynamic range, meaning a wide DIFFERENCE in volume between the loudest notes and the softest notes.

It is not uncommon, for example, for well engineered classical symphonic recordings to reach brief volume peaks that are 30 db or more greater than their average volume, and 40 to 50 db or more greater than the volume of their softest notes. A 30 db ratio of peak to average volume levels means that you will need 1,000 times as much power for volume peaks compared to the average levels of those recordings. And a 50 db difference between the loudest and softest notes requires 100,000 times as much power for the loudest notes as compared to the softest notes.

Many and probably most rock recordings, on the other hand, are compressed to a dynamic range that is in single digits as expressed in db, meaning less than 10 times as much power is required for volume peaks as compared to the softest notes.

Perhaps differences in the kinds of music that are listened to by those who have posted contribute to the divergence of opinion.

Good luck in your search.

Regards,
-- Al