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Can speakers be too large for a room

The reason I ask this question is I recently moved from a 10 ft x 10 ft home office/listening room with a nearfield setup (B & W CM1 and a CM sub with a Bryston B100SST intergrated amp) Which sounded wonderful to a 11 ft x 18 ft office/soundproof listening room. So I purchased a pr. of Sofia's from audiogon. Although they sound very good. They seem to want more. It's hard to explain. I'm kinda new at the highend music. My new office is built for listening. I have lots of bass traps and reflection panel to help tame the small room. So accoustics are not a real problem. The sound seems to be a little restricted. The amp pushes 200 wpc @ 4 ohm. There is no way to turn the volume past halfway, but the speaker don't really start sounding there best until you turn up the volume. Which gets a little fatiguing after a while. I know these are not technical terms, but i don't know how to explain it.

My question is could the sofias be to much for the room.

If so what would be a good choice for a replacement. I mostly listen to jazz and blues with a little classic rock.

Price range 6k to 10k

Thx Matt
mwilliams

Showing 2 responses by davehrab

davehrab's avatar
davehrab
380 posts
 
"Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way."

It's not your room treatments ... bass traps deal with low frequency issues Peaks/Nulls and modal ringing ... first reflection treatments effect sound staging and imaging

If you have High Frequency issues it may be caused by long RT60/decay times, Echo Slap, and Comb Filtering ... but I don't think this is what is troubling you

I think your source is over diving your Bryston's 1 volt input sensitivity not allow you to turn up the volume

Your Bryston has an input sensitivity of 1 volt ... meaning it only needs only 1 volt to be drive to it's maximum output ... 100w 8ohm 180w @4ohm (specs from Bryston site)

Your source is probably out putting 2 volts or better and this is driving your Bryston into distortion when you turn up the Volume

By turning the volume down you keep the Bryston from going into distortion, but can't provide enough watts at this lower setting to drive the room

When you turn the volume up you supply enough watts for the speakers to drive the room ... but because of the 1 volt input sensitivity of the Bryston and the 2 volt output from your source ... your source drives the Bryston into distortion which you perceive as Fatiguing

This link will explain it better than I can ATTENUATORS

I have a couple sets not in use right now ... if you would like to borrow a set to try and see if it solves your problem ... send me your mailing info through the A/gon mailing system and I'll send you a set to try

HTH Dave
davehrab's avatar
davehrab
380 posts
 
"I've talked to the guy's Wilson and they told me that the B100 should be plenty af amp for the speakers,"

I use to run a Luxman L580 integrated 105w @8ohm driving a pair of inefficient 86db NHT3.3s ... could never turn volume up past 9 o'clock ... added the Rothwells and could now set volume as high as 1 o'clock restoring headroom and dynamics

Next I swapped the Lux out for a 500w@8ohm 960w @4ohm D500 Phase Linear

I sit 10 feet off the NHT3.3's tweeter's and have listening levels of 92 to 95db with peaks hitting 100db at my seating position

Funny thing is my P/Linear's meters tell me at those DB levels (92 to 95db) I'm only using 50 to 75 watts

If your current system was a quarter mile drag car ... you would be currently operating as if you had a throttle stop on the accelerator cable ... limiting the carb's ability to open up all the way producing maximum usable horse power

Your amp has the power to do the job, you just need to get that volume control operating in its sweet spot and allowing the amp to realize it's full potential for dynamics and headroom

Please accept my offer on the Rothwells ... all it will cost you is return shipping to 06484 CT.
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