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Big speakers in small room at moderate volume levels

My office is 11’W x 10’L x 9’H and is where I can listen to music for the next few years. I have a toddler and, for now, he has commanded the big spaces in the rest of the house. I have auditioned the Magico A3 and wanted to buy it but that was before I was relegated to the smallish office (I was expecting to move to a bigger room). I have removed the closet doors in this office room. The removal of the closet door gives me another 4 feet of depth to this room, though for only 1/2 width of the room. I can sit unobstructed 8 feet away from the speakers before I hit the area where the closet ends (so near field listening).

I currently I have KEF LS50 with Peachtree Nova 150. It is good and I can listen for the whole day without fatigue. I listen to FM, digital files on ROON, and my Sony SCD-1 SACD player. I want a bigger sound so I am looking at bigger speakers. I also do not want to use a sub since I am not a fan. I will also upgrade the NOVA 150 to the NOVA 500 in Spring 2019 and use with the LS50’s in a bedroom.

I came to the conclusion that my tastes would be best served by one of KEF Reference 1 or Magico A3. I was thinking that I would use the Lyngdorf 3400 in this room but I am having seconds thoughts on this now (some A’gon comments that it maybe a little dry). I am interested in solid state AB units like the Hegel H590 and Mark Levinson 585 to drive the speakers. I have heard the ML 585 and it is a fatigue free sounding unit that was a joy to listen to. I have not heard the Hegel H590 yet (but have heard other Hegels with KEF) and I am in the process of getting an audition of the H590. I have also discounted the class AB Micromega M-One 150 (with MARS room correction) because I do not want a cooling fan blowing in the room.

I must mention that I do not listen that loud when I am working and when I am working very late at night the volume is very low. The Mark Levinson and A3 combo was very good at low volumes during my demo but that was in the dealers perfect large room.

1) Am I making a mistake foregoing room correction with the 2 integrateds I am considering? Should I go with the Lyngdorf and A3 or KEF Ref 1, though I have never heard the Lyngdorf?

2) Will the Magico A3 work in this small room at moderate volumes WITHOUT room correction or will I subject myself to headaches and fatigue?

I am going to ask the dealer selling the A3’s this question when I am ready to buy but i wanted to ask on A’gon first to get some feedback. I doubt I could get the A3’s into my room for a trial but I have not asked the dealer yet.

I think (not 100% sure) the KEF Reference 1 with a non room correcting amp should work in my office space but I would prefer to buy the Magico A3 for the office. I have plans to buy another KEF model once my kid is a bit older and I can kick him out of the big room.
yyzsantabarbara
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,736 posts
 
a few facts, look at the frequency plots for any Vandersteen speaker, they are done at 1 meter, at the wavelengths we are dealing with they get cohesive immediately! with the possible exception of the mid to midbass and in your room the wave will get crunched anyway..just physics....Next look at the impulse response, a dual concentric driver does not ensure time alignment, period. Physically aligning the driver voice coils is a good start. A steep slope filter puts all that out the window in a hurry, your ear is VERY sensitive to phase and is hardwaired to reptilian part of brain that locates threats. Time, Phase and spatial info critical to locating threats, frequency response, not so much.
But the other speakers you are considering, those are excellent also.
Different flavors , I get that as at any given time I own 7-10 pair of speakers....and I do a bit of field recording work so near field monitoring is the norm. I have heard most of the TAD line, local to you in as much as CA is ever local. You will notice I never bad mouth anything, well maybe ROON EQ is a first....ha. Sounds like you could easy host ROON core on one of your big remote servers, just lock down IP adresses so it can find and refind everything...it is a bit wonky in that department. 

Brooks, Sunny, Randy, Excel are all super fine. Good recovery!

have fun !!!!! enjoy the quest, toddler quality time, Thin Lizzy....dont ruin your hearing.....
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
Jim,
 Thin Lizzy. Wow, does that bring back memories! Went to one of their concerts back in the mid 70's. Totally awesome!
yyzsantabarbara OP
4,443 posts
 
I am currently listening to Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins. This one hurt my ears right now with the KEF LS50 and Peachtree Nova 150 in my office. One of the few recordings I will tolerate even though it is fatiguing.

Once the GIK panels arrive this recording is the first one I will play to see if the acoustics have improved.

BTW - I have an eclectic taste in music. I just happen to be in a hard rock listening mode the last few weeks.
zprr
306 posts
 
Great info in this thread.  +1 to the YG Carmel 2s mentioned on first page in a small/med room. Not much distance needed behind or to their sides. Very slim. Currently use them in a 15 x 25 x 9 room and they still fill out the room w/ assistance from a Jbl fathom sub.
alex_bolotnikov
32 posts
 
After two weeks of tests I need to say that such big speakers as JBL 4367 sound excellent even in my small room (13x18x8). Much better than previous B&W 803 Matrix S2. Of course after full acoustic adaptation of the room.
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