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Speakers for a less-than-ideal room

Hi all, I’ve been reading through the forum on and off for a while trying to decide on the best speaker for my situation but am having difficulty coming to a conclusion. The main factor keeping me from a decision is the design of my living room. I’ll do my best to provide as much detail as I can and look forward to any recommendations.
The room: Essentially an L shaped room, with 2 open-frame doorways on both ends. The room is all hardwood floor and there is a 9.5" window behind the listening area. Unfortunately, this is the best room in my new house that I can go with. No additional treatment to the room other than a carpet under the coffee table.

Dimensionss: 11.5’ x 19.5’ x 18.5’ x 12.5’ x 7’ x 7’(Or 11.5’x19.5’ for main part of room, 12.5’x7’ for dining room if that makes it easier).

The room
https://imgur.com/gallery/TdonFRr

Seating position is approximately 8 ft from front of speakers. Due to the layout of the room, I will not be able to have the speakers as far off the wall as most comments seem to suggest. At most I would probably be able to get 30" from the wall to the front of speaker. The speaker to wall distance will depend on the width of the speaker, but would be roughly 23" from the right wall and 32" from the left.Very little room to play with there as it would then obstruct the entry.

Current AV Setup: TCL 6 series 65", Denon x1300W, Dali Zensor 3, Dayton Sub800, Technics SL-D3 (needs servicing), Art DJii for phono

Audio: Flac and MP3 sources (as good as I can find), genres are mostly Rock, Indie, Rap, Electronic. I do have a range of music from most main genres aside from country, so something all around would probably be best.
Movies: Netflix/Hulu/HBO streaming or direct playing through Plex. Genres are usually some type of action, horror, comedy, anime.
Looking for front channel speakers to start off, and then build up to a 5.1/5.2 system over time. I’m sure I’ll for to a 7.something eventually but not worried about it now. Trying to budget ~$2500 just for the front speakers. I do plan on getting a better sub (unknown what yet) as well as upgrading to a newer Denon that would allow use of a separate amp for the mains.

This far the only speakers I’ve heard are my Zensor 3s, as far as audio stores go the only one within a 2ish hour drive would be a Magnolia center. The speakers I have been looking at are:
- Wharfedale Evo 4.4- Dali Opticon 6 mkII - Focal Choral 826- Zu Dirty Weekend- Tekton Enzo 2.7 (I was interested in the Pendragon but I don’t think it’ll work with my wall placement)- Monitor Silver 300
its_kyro

Showing 3 responses by ausaudio

ausaudio
90 posts
 
Center channels are essential for proper home theater. It centers the image perfectly no matter the seating position and two channel audio has a real problem, with a perfectly centered image. The reasons are many and probably beyond this thread. Some people here don’t understanding theater audio and have some interesting but ill informed opinions on the subject.

There is nothing that I am aware of that is a perfect speaker for a bad room, but looking at your setup, you need a speaker without a rear port, as a bare start. Acoustic panels for the front wall are inexpensive and can help a lot.


What is your budget? We need a starting point. $30K omnidirectionals may be perfect for you, but way outside your budget. I do expect, based on your picture, that small book-shelf speakers on stands placed a practical distance from the front wall with 2 or more subs (not 1) will be close to what you want. We may able to work with what you have already.

I would be inclined to keep the Dali's, learn how to build acoustic panels for behind the speakers, and invest in more subs.
ausaudio
90 posts
 
Rear port of not, you will always get reinforcement from the front wall, and almost no acoustic panel will fix that. The acoustic panel helps reduce higher frequency reflections that screw with imaging.


You main couch is a long way from the speakers. I would prefer speakers farther apart and then add some reflection control on the side wall(s).  You need the center channel for that couch on the right wall.

Speakers don't fix bad rooms, but some can mask them. Omni-directional can work well. Speakers with a narrow emission pattern can work well.  It is a far better investment to treat the room. If you DIY it is inexpensive.  The other trick is multiple small subwoofers. You may not get the super deep bass of one large expensive sub, but you will have much better bass for everyone.
ausaudio
90 posts
 
Unfortunately, anyone can post on the internet, regardless of their knowledge or common sense. I can find thousands of articles, some even including experiments, stating, with authority, that the earth is flat. 


Look at any concert venue or space designed for the enjoyment of music and you’ll see hard, reflective sidewalls, not absorption. Music-lovers will visit a particular venue because the rooms acoustics will add to the sound of the orchestra or band. Reflections from the room provide a positive addition to the performance and shouldn’t be regarded as the enemy and removed with treatment. 


This statement shows the author should stick to sales and not wax poetically about acoustics. Creating music is not the same as recreating music. That point should be obvious. Also obvious should be that modern music venues have significant amounts of absorption and reflection, one should assume intelligently placed.

Reflections can enhance the enjoyment, but uncontrolled reflections do not.

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