Room size & choosing speakers


I am new to all of this and trying to find best size speakers for a small room. I recently listened to B & W 802D's (with a McIntosh MC452 & C-50) at a local audio store & loved the sound. It is a great deal of money for me, but worth it if I can create that magic at home.

My fear is that I will be listening in a 10' x 12' room and that the speakers will overwhelm the room. I also think of the B & W 803D's (smaller, less money, not quite as full sounding), and still have the same fear.

Right now I am trying to decide between the 803D's & the 805D's with a good subwoofer (possibly Rel 328 or JL audio F112). Any thoughts or help greatly appreciated.
mksr

Showing 5 responses by mksr

Thank-you - all of this feedback is so, so helpful. I have been obsessing and scouring this website and the internet trying to sort this out, and getting direct feedback is very helpful. My system will be confined to my 10' x 12' office and plan to be here for many years & hoping to get a system that will last.

I bought a system 15 yrs ago with cj amp/pre-amp (pv-14 & MF-2500) and Aerial 7B loudspeakers & have had so many hours of amazing music out of it, but when I moved it this house I could never get it to sound right in my livingrooom. I brought a pair of B & W pm-1 for my home office and ended up pairing them with my cj amp/pre-amp and have been very impressed with the B & W PM-1's - the sound staging delights and boggles me, and gives me the bug to step up.

I have listened to the McIntosh/B & W Diamond combination at a local audio store and am deeply moved by what they create. I loved the fullness/overtones of the 803D's over the 805D's, but given everybody's advice will let go of the 803D's. I have listened to the Dynaudio C1 & the Sonus Farber Cremona Monitor Audio at other stores (with less expensive amp/pre-amp combinations) and neither sounded close to the B & W 805, 803, 802.

My goal is to first figure out the speakers, and then sort out the amp/pre-amp/source issues - it is all very confusing, so any ideas are very welcome. I worry about spending so much more on electronics than speakers, and the McIntosh/B & W combination sounded so much better than others I have tried so far. One dealer suggested that I come in and try the audio physic virgo 25.

All help is greatly appreciated,
All of your input is greatly appreciated. I am going to focus on monitors, rather than floor-standing speakers for my 10' x 12' room & will try the Monitor Audio pl-100, Linn Akurate 212, & the dynaudio C1 again and compare with the 805D.

I have two questions - other great monitor speakers in the under 15K range? And second, how do I compare apples to apples - each audio store carries one of these, so no way to do A/B comparisons & the electronics behind them are so different (nobody seems to carry the same brands)? I have trouble discerning how much of what I like in the 805D was the McIntosh pre-amp/amp.
Thank-you for all of your feedback. It is helping me to sort through the choices. I went back to the dealer and listened again to the 803D & the 805D (with Rel 328 sub) in a room almost as small as mine, and I have given up on the 803D & 802D- too much speaker. I still like the 805D & the sub added punch, but at times I could locate the sub and it distracted from the fullness of the sound. I imagine that this has to do with placement and adjusting the sub carefully to fit the room.

I also listened today to Sonus Farber Olympica I (didn't like them at all) & then the Wilson Duette & it seems in a different class than the other monitor speakers I have heard. I can get a floor model of the original duette for about 1/2 the price of the new duette 2 (which I haven't heard yet). I only got to listen for about 45 minutes - wow. They seem worth going out of the way for.

The 805D/mac combination had one way that is was warmer, but in every other way the Wilson Duette (with an arye integrated amp) was far superior. I am interested if anybody has experience with them and if worth the money to get the duette 2's.

Thank-you,
First - thank-you to everybody who contributed to this post. I am new to the site & found all of the information incredibly helpful in discerning what to buy. In the end I listened carefully to 13 different speakers in the $5,000 - $21,000 range and ended up with Magico S1's.
I am thrilled with the choice that I made. I did some of the listening with two friends with great ears and what stood out is that in almost every case we all had the same impressions of every set of speakers. We had the chance to listen to the S1's in a small room (a converted garage) and the musicality, timbre, clarity, fullness of bass far surpassed all of the other speakers in my price range. They are 2 way speakers, but not monitors.
I was disappointed with SF Olympica I. My friend and I both commented after one song that they seemed flat, mushy, lacking in depth or musicality. I have B & W PM - 1's at home (at 1/3rd the price) that sounded considerably better. The sound was so disappointing that I later wondered if the dealer had made a mistake with the wiring in setting them up. In terms of my own ear, they were the least interesting of the 13 pairs of speakers I auditioned. They didn't draw me into the music, where as virtually every other pair did. I hope that this is helpful.