Large room fix

I presume, from your question, that significantly treating the room is not a practical option. Still, if you have slap-echo, that really has to be dealt with. The more stuff you put into the room to break up the energy that would otherwise reflect off of hard parallel surfaces, the better. Perhaps a bookcase, some large leafy plants, or a wall tapestry or two?

That being said, a room that's on the "live" side is my preference. I don't like dead rooms.

Now in a large, live room the loudspeaker's power response (summed omnidirectional response) will tend to dominate the percieved tonal balance. So in such rooms, I prefer loudspeakers that have a smooth power response. This implies consistent radiation patterns over most of the spectrum, which is something that horns and dipoles tend to do better than direct-radiator cone-and-dome loudspeakers (although there are exceptions).

If you have a large room where the speakers can be placed fairly far from nearby reflective surfaces, wide-pattern loudspeakers (including dipoles, bipoles and omnis) can work quite well. If you have to place the speakers fairly close to the walls, then a controlled-pattern monopole would probably be the best bet.

I don't think that changing amplification just for your room is called for, but changing speakers may be and a speaker change might in turn call for an amplification change.

Best of luck to you,

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

The simplest fix is to throw down an area rug to absorb some of the reflected sound. Next is to reposition the speakers and where you sit. Portable/temporary room acoustic panels may be the best answer. The bass panels and mid/hi absorbers are not hard to make if you have time and skills and will save you lots of $$$$$$$.

I need to place the speakers very close to the back wall around 8 feet apart. They are far away from the side way though. Can you please give some specific examples of the speakers you would recommend.

Steady now, as others have advised, tweak the room. Avoid thinking of any equipment changes, especially the purchased kind.

Csmithbarc, given your placement constraints I would not recommend dipoles, bipoles, or omnis.

Speakers with good power response that I think would work well in your room include models from SP Technology (Timepiece or larger); big Harbeths; Gradient Evidence or Revolution; PiSpeakers (3Pi, 4Pi or 8Pi); Edgarhorns; Classic Audio Reproductions; Tyler Acoustics Pro Dynamics 80; vintage Altec Model 14 and Model 19; vintage JBL Model 4430; GedLee Summa; and the AudioKinesis Jazz Module. I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of. I'm a dealer for two of the lines mentioned here, and used to be for two others.

Shahinians are an innovative poly-directional that can get away with being placed close to the wall because their rear-facing drivers are angled up, so they're a possibility. Likewise large Silverlines Audio models are a possiblity, as their departures from smooth power response are psychoacoustically rather benign.

Duke

If you can't treat the room, perhaps something like the Tact gear would work for you.

Duke,

Thanks for your very detailed help. Of all the speakers you listed your Jazz Module's are by far the best looking (important for the wife...and me I guess). Would they work just as well with high powered SS amps...if thats the way I go in the future?

Csmithbarc, my speakers should have the same tonal balance pretty much regardless of amplification except in the deep bass (below 60 Hz or so).

With a low-damping-factor tube amp my speakers will give increased bass output as compared with a solid state amp or medium-damping-factor tube amp. The proper port tuning is a function of amplifier damping factor and room acoustics, but all else being equal a higher tuning frequency would be appropriate with a solid state amp (the port tuning is user-adjustable). With proper tuning, a low-damping-factor tube amp would give you about 1/4 octave deeper bass extension - like 32 Hz vs 37 Hz.

Nice to hear that your wife has such fine taste in loudspeakers! ;o)

Duke