Speaker Help Required


I have a 12'x14' living room with a cathedral ceiling.

My 2-channel audio system is along the 12' back wall. I have a 6.5' audio / video rack which houses all my audio gear (mostly Linn) with a bookshelf speaker (Linn Katan) at each side of this rack (roughly 7.5' apart) sitting on stands (Linn Katan stands). The left speaker is about 3' from the side wall and 2' from the back wall with a powered subwoofer (Linn Sizmik 10.25) between the left speaker and the side wall in the corner. The right speaker is also 2' from the back wall but no side wall since it is an opening to my hallway.

Because of this setup, I’m hearing more of the left speaker than the right speaker. I tried different amounts of toe-in, which seems to help a little but I’m still not 100% satisfied. Some people have suggested that since the Katan are very small speakers, the subwoofer is not only providing the added bass but may be participating in some midrange too which is why I’m hearing more of the left channel.

Since I cannot move things around in my living room nor add a door to the hallway opening, I’m looking for a pair of “full range” floorstanding speakers to replace my bookshelves / subwoofer combo in hopes of rectifying this problem. Also, my wife is totally opposed to any “room insulation / sound proofing” idea since we use this room for entertaining friends and family and the décor is her territory.

What floorstanding speakers would you recommend for a $2000-$2500 budget that will help with my issue?
agiaccio

Showing 3 responses by blindjim

Good thoughts Newbie...

Do go lookl at the rives website however too. the info there on what to not do or where problems can occur will be mighty helpful.

how about some really nice heavy drapes on a custom rod with hold backs to overcome that opening. They can add some flair and be pulled back when not listening.... just a thought... and less invasive way to help overcome the suck out that vacant wll is providing.
Magfan makes a valid point... use a test CD.

Having your sub set to cover a higher range than it needs to will give the effect of fuller sound. However in so doing you might be masking a portion of the bandwidth and losing detail. I've done exactly this same thing, and enjoyed the effect... for a while. when it was revealed to me this was a possibility I checked it out and they were right.

I made the changes needed by getting the components which would provide that fuller sound without overemphasis of some other portion of the freq range. Ultimately, it was a better sub… and better sub placement. I would play with position, x over, phase, and cut off first. A lot.... as tedious as it may be, it'll pay off.

Until you resolve that issue getting other speakers will still leave you in the same boat. I did that too. Bought other speakers before I bought the sub, so I'm not talking out of my hat here.

....if you gotta have floorstanders though... Silverline does a pretty good job, Vienna Acoustic seem to have a good rep, Paradigm and Phase tech too offer great value and very good performance. $2K - $2.5K puts you right into the hot bed of many, many, many good speakers.

Good luck.
Does your sub have a phase control?

I've been painting and moving around furniture as the result. leaving it displaced until I've findished up for a little while now. The offset arrangement of my furniture affects my sound stage. Albeit, not so much the imaging.

If you have a phase control on your sub, you've lots more freedom in where you can set it, aside from openings, and furniture constraints. I currently have my sub set in front of my left speaker facing across both speakers firing from one side wall to the other, left to right, about 3 feet and six inches off the side wall. I've done this same thing with a sub sans phase sw, but it had to be much closer to the plane of the speakers. Also placement in my room of the sub sans phase sw would change the depth of the sound stage as well... further behind the speakers, got me more depth, closer to their plane of operation eventually being forward of them, decreased it.

If you run the sub in L+R (stereo).. you've at least a 180 phase conttrol... just reverse the inputs to see if that helps any. Ya never know sometimes until you try things for yourself. G
Good luck.