Recommendations to a small room setup


Hello everyone,

Im setting up a system in my apartment this coming fall and just wanted some extra input from those much more knowledgable in this field than I am.

My living room is fairly small (~200sqft) so I am looking for speakers for this size.

I have looked at Dynaudio Excite X12s, Magnepan MMGs, Dali Zensor 3s, etc. But honestly, they all seem pretty good to me.

I was suggested against the NAD C165BEE and NAD C275BEE setup for any small speaker setup (maybe except for the MMGs), so I would love some input on electronics setup as well. What do you guys think about the Marantz SR7009??

Finally, I will be mainly listening to alot of pop, indie, ballad, jazz, blues, acoustics, and EDM. Also, I hope to have the speakers and electronics I purchase to be pretty decent when watching movies/TV shows.

Thank you!
davidthepark
true on the calculation of the sq footage but in any event 200sq feet is not small by my standards anyway :)

now if it were 200cu ft THAT would be small
Yep. 200 sq. ft. could be any number of shapes. 10x20 is one, but so is 13x15 or 12.5x16. Hopefully it's not a 14.142' square for standing wave concerns. Actually, 10x20 would be problematic that way too.

Anyway, 13x15 (for example) has quite a bit more breathing room than a 10x11 or 11x12.

The GoldenEar Aon 2 or 3 on stands would occupy this room size with ease and wouldn't need a sub. Some of the small footprint floorstanders could work well too, such as the Silverline Prelude or Prelude Plus, or the Focal 816V Chorus or 826V Chorus.

Of course, I also like the Magnepan offerings, and you may even have room for the new .7 over the MMG.

In fact, here's a very favorable review from Steve Guttenberg at C-Net where he auditioned the Maggie .7s in an 11’x12’ (121 sq. ft.) apartment room to great success. 200 sq ft should be a breeze by comparison.

As for amps, I already mentioned that the NAD integrateds (e.g., C356BEE) are good for this application. If you go Marantz, get the PM8005 integrated. That's a nice-sounding amp and would be a good match for the room and speakers under discussion.
I will suggest Totem Arros for speakers. McCormack DNA .5 and a passive pre. Use any source your comfortable with and you should have a killer little setup.
Jrinkerptdnet,
I just did the calculation and you are correct, this may be a 10'x 20' room. In that case, these speakers are on the small side and the OP may need to look for a full-range speaker or add a subwoofer.

I think we need to hear more specific details on the room.
The Dynaudio and Dali speakers the OP is considering are very closely spec'd...50 Hz to 20K+, sensitivity on the Dali is 88 dB, 86 on the Dynaudio, crossover at 2kHz, 2.6kHz. I believe these would provide a satisfying full-range sound for the OP's type of music in such a small room.
The low rumble a subwoofer provides may be missed when watching movies.

The Magnepan MMGs may provide the fullest sound, but I defer to others as far as the low-end performance.
"05-27-15: Bob_reynolds
You might consider active speakers.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Studio-Monitors/ci/8617/N/3992462085
Bob_reynolds (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)"

What one's are you recommending? There's a whole page full of different models.
Your taste for EDM might limit your choices, if it's really a significant part of your musical diet. The MMGs are an excellent speaker for that space, but probably less than optimal for music that relies upon bass impact in the sub 60 hz region. Bass heavy music in a smallish space is always a challenge, IME, and you might think about a small sub with Audyssey (or similar) EQ capabilities to fill out the rest of your system choices.

Just MHO.

05-27-15: Lowrider57
...The NAD C 356BEE integrated is a better choice for your situation. (80 wpc and stable into 4 ohms).
That's really what I was getting at as well. My next door neighbor's 10-yr-old Cambridge Audio 640 integrated amp gave up the ghost in a power failure surge. He asked me for a recommendation and we went for the C 356 BEE.

I installed it in his audio rack and then spun some CDs to check it out (we also got a matching NAD CD player for it). He was upstairs in his office when I put in the first CD. Immediately he came running downstairs to hear it because the sound was so much more open and dimensional than what he'd had before. The NAD BEE series truly gives you more than a taste of high end. The C 356 and C 375 sound particularly good, controlled, and 3-dimensional.
I haven't heard the Maggie MMGs. Would they really be a good choice for EDM music and watching TV? I would have thought dynamic speakers would make more sense for that application.
Is a 10 x 20 room REALLY that small??? Unless you must listen "nearfield" I would try to find a more full-range type of speaker. There are some very good models on the used market for not that much cash
All the speakers you mentioned are very good. I was very happy with the MMG in a small room with 100W/CH. I have avoided NAD due to quality problems a few years ago, but it sounds great for the money and maybe the new generation is problem free. I was surprised how good the MMG sounded in a room smaller than yours.
REGA BRIO integrated amp driving REGA RS1 \ R1s ...... highly recommended

REGA RS1s or their immediate predecessor R1s, are designed to work up against the wall or actually mounted on the wall with their own brackets

http://www.stereotimes.com/speak121305.shtml

:.....Immediate impressions are a clear and transparent portrayal with very high detail retrieval, fast and controlled transient response, and superb musical timing, both in articulating rhythms and tempi, and in placing instruments within the temporal flow and context of the performance. The RR125 is an outstanding mid/bass driver, sonically and musically right in line with the midrange performance of Rega’s amplifiers and phono cartridges. Get the midrange right and everything else will fall into place. Get it wrong, and all the king’s horses…

The Rega R1 becomes my new budget reference speaker. In addition of its ability to get the fundamentals of music right, it adds clarity and resolution, and an ability to lay out a vivid and coherent 3-dimensional stereo image. In small room applications, what more could you want?...."
The Marantz SR7009 is a 9.2 home theater system.
Rather than NAD separates, the NAD C 356BEE integrated is a better choice for your situation. (80 wpc and stable into 4 ohms).
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Who/why were you "suggested against" the NAD BEE series? These are a great starting point, especially for Magnepans. I auditioned Maggie 1.7s with an NAD C 375 BEE and it took some vigorous component swapping and experimenting (resulting in handwired tube phono and line preamps plus Perreaux power amp) to just slightly exceed the NAD.

A C356BEE and Magneplanar MMGs should be a great small system match.