I've gotten what I consider to be very good sound in a smaller room, but I have found that I had to try several different speakers, as some just wouldn't work, I believe due to bass cancellation. As everyone with a small room knows, the placement options against the long wall are somewhat limited. Yes, you can move the speakers back and forth a foot or so, but that's about it. For reasons I will just chalk up to sheer luck, the Totem Forests and Hawks, and Harbeth Monitor 30's, all speakers I really wanted to love, were bad matches for my room and it seemed that the bass from 100hz down was significantly attenuated. OTOH, the Opera Callas Monitors and my Trenner and Friedl Pharoahs positively bloomed in the room, with a very balanced frequency response. So for me, it was a matter of luck. IMO, once you get speakers that work, the rest falls into place more easily.
Have you gotten great sound in a small er room?
I have a room that's 13 x 20 with the old part of the room having 8' ceilings and the newer construction nearly 10'. I found that firing the speakers across the short wall was interesting sonically: more open-sounding than firing down the long wall (which I've traditionally done). The sound is more layered, but the imaging diffuse. However, the sidewall reflections are much more reduced (and i have considerable ASC tube traps, and an ASC wall damp in the room.
What's your experience in a smaller room? Were you able to get both the music, and the soundstaging to cohere in a smaller room?
What's your experience in a smaller room? Were you able to get both the music, and the soundstaging to cohere in a smaller room?