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Impossible? Small towers, efficient, musical, loud

I've been reading on threads here for different speakers that sound good with rock, which is my primary pleasure. But I am also a lover of high fidelity and do not want to compromise on sound quality, so this isn't necessarily about speakers that just sound good with rock. My situation may be a paradox or impossible, but I'm hoping I can be enlightened favorably. I'm looking for smallish floorstanders that are tube friendly, placement friendly, and can still sound nice and full at reasonable to loud levels.

Room is an open design roughly 23' wide, 12' deep and vaulted ceilings 8-12' high. Listening area is 15' wide as opposed to the 23'. Speakers must go along the wide wall at 10' apart, one speaker is in a corner. Listening position is 10' from the speakers. I can pull the speakers out at most 2' away from the walls, depending on how large the cabinets are.

Associated gear:
Cary Rocket 88R (30w triode/60w ultralinear)
Promitheus passive TVC Ref 4
Eastern Electric minimax cd

The amp and the TVC are new, haven't yet received them yet in fact but will be replacing my current gear.

Current speakers are Usher 6381, large speakers that I believe are too big for my room. With the tiny amount I can pull them away from the walls, staging is pretty flat, though surprisingly I haven't had any issues with bass boom. Hoping to put them up for sale/trade soon and wanted some feedback on what I should be looking at.

I was considering something like the smaller Silverlines (though they may not be good enough) or perhaps some Devore's. Above all I value musical speakers that emanate a sense of realism. I don't require subterranean bass, just a natural, full sound that doesn't sound wanting without a sub. Musicality is key.

Thanks in advance
tholt

Showing 3 responses by jax2

jax2
3,031 posts
 
I have a room that is very similar to yours. I cannot speak for rock as I'm not really a fan, but I use very efficient Coincident Super Eclipse III's which I feel are well suited to the room. One suggestion; have you tried bringing your speakers closer together? You may find the soundstage improves. You are probably listening right up against the back wall from your description. Check out this thread for some further input on this - specifically for options on treating the room. I'd highly recommend the Coincident speakers, but I'd qualify that by reiterating I don't listen to much rock. I'd imagine they'd do very well, but you should ask someone who uses them for that purpose. They do well with both tube and SS amplification. I have also used Silvirline Sonatina's and they did work quite well in my room too, and I did like them very much, but I prefer the Coincidents for their fuller range among other qualities. I would check to see if you can get the room working in your favor before you go changing speakers though.

Good luck!
jax2
3,031 posts
 
You mentioned that your ceiling is vaulted. Is the listening position under the short side or the tall side?

It sounds like you have absorption panels behind the speakers. Have you tried diffusion instead?

In my room I am 8 feet from the speakers and they are about 7 feet apart by necessity. My soundstage is very focused and can sound deep, but doesn't go that wide. I've experimented quite a bit with speaker positioning and that is where I ended up in my 12 foot span. Your soundstage issues may largely (though not necessarily completely) be around the positioning of the speakers in the room.

I also want to try tubes and am afraid the Ushers won't like them, though I have yet to experiment.

I thought you already were using the Cary, but I see you are not. What is the rest of your system that you're forming these impressions by?
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Another very positive change would be to move your cabinet to the short wall and leave the speakers on the long wall. That may not be possible, but it would be ideal to have nothing in between your speakers. I still feel 10' apart in that room dimension is too much. I could not imagine it sitting here looking at my own room. An asymmetric corner arrangement might work also, but could be challenging to make work depending on the contents of your room.
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