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Mid sized room -Full range vs Monitor

I will be moving into a new audio room in the near future. It measures 14'W x 18'L x 8.5'H and will be a dedicated room with moderate acoustic treatment. Three walls are ICF concrete (insulated concrete forms - concrete with 2" foam covered by sheetrock) and the rear wall is standard 2"x6" construction. Is the space sufficient to support the low frequency of a full range speaker such as the Revel Salon? Should I consider a monitor or a smaller speaker with a sub to increase placement flexibility? I am concerned about overloading the room and ending up with boomy bass. I am upgrading my current system (mid fi) so options are open. Thanks for your input.
128x128ryan1fs
panderso
156 posts
 
Boomy bass in a room like that is a very legitimate concern. The ideal answer is to experiment and compare, but that isn't always feasible. If you have a chance; why not borrow some high quality monitors with a bit of bass to them, and see how close they come to filling your room adequately. Possible candidates, if available; Reference 3a Dulcets, ProAc Studio 110s, Neat Motive 3s, several Dynaudios, Monitor GR 10s. I've gone back and forth over the years in a room that's a little smaller, but I always seem to come back to the monitor approach as better overall....
happy hunting
-paul-
bdgregory
1,708 posts
 
that room is close to the size of one of my rooms (it's 13 x 21 x 8), and I have used various full range speakers in it, never had a problem with boominess. I'm currently running Von Schweikert VR4 genIIIs which go to 16Hz, and they perform wonderfully.

I've used smaller speakers and a sub in that room too (Totem Sttaf with a Rel Storm III), and you're correct that placement may be easier, but integration may suffer IMO. I haven't had difficulty optimizing placement of my VR4III's
newbee
4,751 posts
 
FWIW rooms which are dimensionally challenged are not always more of a problem for full range speakers than monitors. It depends on where the nulls and nodes appear in your room and where you end up placing the speakers. Some rooms can have substantial peaks in frequencies at 60hz and above, a range common to most speakers but the smallest of monitors.

Panderso's advise is good. But, I would also suggest that you get a pair of speakers with bass output down to 32 hz to test your room and using a SPL meter and a test disc see what your frequency response problems might actually be. You can, if necessary, probably get by with speakers which are flat at 40-45 hz as you can still tell if you have bass problems at 32hz. There would normally be large stand mounted speakers.

After you do this you will have a good understanding of what type of speaker will work best, a full range floor stander, a large stand mounted with sub, or small monitors with a sub.

Good luck. Take your time!
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