Recommendations please...


Good afternoon to you all!!

Just moved into my new home and I would appreciate some suggestions...gots me an 12 x 15 living room....vaulted ceiling...wide open from front of the house to the back...kitchen to living room...everything I have seems to be to off for the place...nothing seems to sound right...looking for new speakers...suggestions??

The equipment is set up on the 12 ft wall with bookshelf speakers placed 16" away from the wall and about 7 ft apart...I'm about 12ft back when listening. To the left of me are windows with full drapery...stretching the entire wall...the right is wide open into the dining room and kitchen. The vault runs front to back over everything...ceiling height in the living room starts at 8 ft and rises to 12 ft above the dining room then back to 8 ft in the kitchen.

The floor in the living room is hardwood...no area rug...there is a couch, loveseat, chair...no coffee table...numerous plants...large painting on the opposite wall from the speakers...no glass though...a few smaller paintings behind the speakers...canvas art...no glass.

I don't know if its the vaulted ceiling or it being wide open...thinking of something mellow, airy and sweet...budget around 500.00 new or used...anything fit the bill?? Equipment is Pioneer Elite's along with digital from my computer.

Thanks kindly!!!
sideways
there are a unique pair of roksan rok ones on agon that will fill a big room with sound. they are also front ported so placement near walls is not a big deal. very rare and very sweet for 550 bucks.
Vaulted ceilings can result in broad bass peaks depending on which wall the speakers are positioned on. I have such a problem with my own large room but have gotten extremely gratifying results by using a dbx equalizer to reduce that peak and even out the balance. As stated, a large area rug with a pad underneath if possible would be a good place to start.

Next, I'd try the speakers on a different wall if possible and change the listening position accordingly. If that doesn't work or is impractical due to the room's layout, then a decent room equalizer would be your best bet.
I agree with prior posts and suggest the following: bring the speakers out to a least 30 inches; treat the front corners with round roller's (6 inch diameter x 36 inches x 3 or 6 units at $20 each). Treat the back wall with diffusion: egg crates painted white on a 4x8 board. If you current speakers are back vented bring them out will improve somewhat.

Tweak, tweak the room before spending a dime on equipment.
Your problem is your room, and that's the problem you need to fix. As MajicJazz stated, you need to treat your room. Adding a nice Persian carpet to cover some of that hardwood floor would probably be a step in the right direction.

If you simply MUST buy some equipment, I would recommend geting a pre-pro or receiver that has room-correction capability.

-RW-
I suggest you treat your room prior to changing any equipment. Start with the corners, then the first reflection points. There are many websites devoted to placing the treatments in the proper places.Gik acoustics.com is just one of many, but it is a good starting place. Your system can never achieve its potential without proper room treatment and the cost is relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of the equipment. And once you experience your room properly treated you will wonder how you could have ever listened to your system prior to the treatment. I am always amazed when I see pictures of Audiogon adds contaning very expensive equipment without any room treatment, these people have no idea of the level of performance there system is capable of.