Speakers for Room Size


Would floorstanding speakers such as the Revel F206 or PSB Imagine T2 be overkill for a 14’10" x 16’7" living room in an apartment with 9" ceilings or would it be better to go with bookshelf speakers such as the Revel M106 or Sonus Faber 2.0.
mat4150
I can't tell you if those specific speakers will work in your room.

However, I will point out:  I think there is a fairly common "myth" among audiophiles that big speakers -by that I mean ones full range or close to it - won't work in smaller rooms.   It's true that lower frequencies can be more problematic, and a smaller room can exacerbate this, so that part isn't a myth.  But it's become close to a mantra that, therefore, if you have a small room you choose small (not full range or employ sat subs) speakers.

But the reality of whether a full range speaker works in a smaller room will depend on various factors:  the speaker design, the specific room characteristics, the positioning options you have for the speakers in the room, what level of room treatment you might employ etc.

As an example, I have a 13' wide by 15' deep listening room - so smaller than yours.  However, the room nodes are broken up somewhat by a bay window structure behind the listening sofa, and also the right side is partially open into a hallway.  In this room I've had all manner of full range speakers (as they are my preference), including those that go down to 20 hZ, and I've always got superb sound from them (better than in the larger rooms I originally auditioned them in).   In the last several years I had the room re-designed with an acoustician, with treatment "worked into" the room aesthetically.  I'm using larger floor standing Thiel 3.7s right now and they sound "perfect" in terms of even frequency response, bass pitch, soundstaging, smoothness etc.  It helps that the Thiels have a very well damped and controlled bass response to begin with, which is as I say, part of how the speaker design can contribute to a speaker working in a smaller room. 

So this is all to say:  I can't say if those specific speakers will work in your specific room.  But if you really want a larger floor stander you don't have to abandon the idea - it's possible to have a solution that ends up working very well.   (Especially if you have flexibility in positioning.   If you have a coherent floor standing speaker, you can move it closer to the listening position - the closer you move it, the more direct sound you get and the less room effect occurs from the listening position.


@mat4150,
I don’t think those speakers will overpower the room. You should be fine.
It also depends on the type of music that you listen to as bass can be a challenge. Smaller floor speakers such as Silverline prelude plus are really nice in moderate sized rooms. 
I used 40" high PSB Synchrony in a 12' x 16' living room, with a half wall on one side and the sound filled the room nicely.
You will be listening in a near-field setup, since many full-range speakers need to be pulled forward from the front wall for best imaging.
You'll need some type of acoustic treatments that will fit aesthetically in a living room. For instance, I have a tapestry on the wall behind me, drapes for the window, large oriental rug and some comfy furniture to absorb and diffuse standing waves. Also, as stated above, you most likely will need to control the bass.

I had floor-standers in my 15 x 12 room - 8ft ceiling
- speakers were at one end on the 12ft wall.
- sofa on the 15 ft wall to the right
- open double doorway opposite sofa
- bow window behind the listening position
- book case to the right of the listener in the corner
- Hardwood floor with area rug

Two things thing that made a huge difference
- sound deadening material on top of the bookcase
- 8ft vinyl roller blind in front of the window

Both of these eliminated some very bad reflections

There was a very low frequency standing wave issue that only occurred on two tracks - everything else was fine

I had monitor speakers on stands and then went with the Gershman Acoustics Sonogram floor standing speakers, which did not overpower the room - they are really good at lower listening levels

The speakers are superb in most sized rooms as it turn out - my new room is much bigger 16 x 40 with 7.5 ft ceiling

Unfortunately, sound is a fickle beast - no two speakers sound the same or suffer the same issues.

I would suggest trying a speaker with a front bass port or a port that directs the bass downwards - those should minimizes bass related issues.

My monitor speakers had a rear port, which I eventually directed downwards - a very effective.solution

The Sonograms have a large 2" x 8" port at the very bottom, so their bass performance in the smaller room, while good, still presented a small standing wave issue.

In the new room they sound superb, but the speakers are 8 ft from the wall behind them

BTW - you can get standing wave issues with most speakers - it’s more to do with room acoustics and speaker position than the speakers themselves, but the position/direction of the ports can help alleviate much of the standing wave problem

Hope that helps
I had the F208's in a room roughly that size and they sounded great....the 206's should do just fine.
@prof agreed that big speakers can work in smaller rooms - there may be limitations to their ultimate performance but even then they can sound better than smaller speakers.  The issue as you point out is that you can't really say for sure until you put those speakers in that room.  To the extent that a set of speakers has the ability to tweak output (whether through jumpers, resistors, etc.) that certainly minimizes the risk of not having a speaker work well in a room that is smaller than typical for that speaker. 
Should work, I see no issues, go for it!
IMO: should produce a fuller richer sound.
I have placed large speakers in rooms the size you describe with great results. 
When my audio system was in my living room (13x24), I had a pair of standmounts with sub woofer.  The larger floor standing models I was considering had a law WAF (wife acceptance factor), in that smallish living room.
When I moved down to a 24x26 "man cave", I did upgrade to a pair of floor standing units (with a pair of sub woofers).
One thing to think about (if you go with stand mounted speakers and a sub woofer or two), integrating sub woofers can be really problematic in some rooms.  Certainly that would not be as much of a factor with full range floor standing speakers.
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