Good grief, Daveyf, you've got some killer equipment there!
I'm not sure of your price range, but I carry a speaker that works exceptionally well in small rooms. It's the Gradient Revolution, and retails for 4.5 grand.
This is one of the most intelligently designed speakers I've ever encountered.
I'd like to try to explain why I think the Revolutions are worthy of consideration (if they're in your price range), since a dealer simply spouting praise for his products hardly inspires great confidence anymore. Hopefully my explanation will offer useful information, whether the Revolutions make your shortlist or not.
The bass loading technique is very unusual - the speaker is a dipole up to 200 Hz, and the bass modules can be placed very close to either the side or rear walls if necessary. Since dipole bass is directional (in a figure-8 pattern), by aiming the bass modules you can dial in the bass response to be just right at the listening position. And dipoles excite room resonances much less than monopole bass because their radiation pattern puts less bass energy out into the room's low-frequency standing wave modes. The result is clean bass with excellent pitch definition even in small rooms because the notes decay more naturally.
Above 200 Hz, the Revolutions use a very high quality Seas concentric midwoof/tweet. The concentric design means the speaker is going to be coherent at any listening distance - you don't have to get far away for the drivers to integrate. And the mid/tweet module uses pressure-relief loading, which gives a cardioid radiation pattern. This significantly reduces the midwoof's radiation to the rear of the speaker, once again making it easier to position the speaker close to a side or rear wall.
Now, there is a remarkable synergy between the dipole bass and cardioid mid/tweet module. You see, they each put roughly the same amount of energy into the reverberant field. Most loudspeakers make no effort to get the reverberant field right, but one of the key differences between live and reproduced sound is that, with live music, the reverberant field has pretty much the same tonal balance as the direct sound. The Revolutions duplicate this quality, and the result is a speaker that is very easy to listen to long-term. You see, when there is a significant discrepancy between the direct and reverberant fields, the eventual result is listening fatigue.
I first heard the Revolutions at the 2001 CES. I was not in the market for a speaker in their price range. But just walking down the hall towards the room, the sound coming out into the hallway was refreshingly natural-sounding. Then even though the speakers were in one of the smaller rooms at the show, they sounded so natural and enjoyable I kept coming back to the room over and over. The bass was better than I heard in any of the small rooms, and only a few of the big rooms sounded as good. Now, this was the Active version of the Revolution, so it was a bit more expensive, and credit is due the fine Gamut amplification. But the Revolutions are among the very few dynamic speakers this die-hard planarhead could get excited about.
Here is the link to Gradient's Revolution page: http://www.gradient.fi/En/Products/Revo/Revo1.htm
If you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to take a shot at them.
Best of luck in your quest!
I'm not sure of your price range, but I carry a speaker that works exceptionally well in small rooms. It's the Gradient Revolution, and retails for 4.5 grand.
This is one of the most intelligently designed speakers I've ever encountered.
I'd like to try to explain why I think the Revolutions are worthy of consideration (if they're in your price range), since a dealer simply spouting praise for his products hardly inspires great confidence anymore. Hopefully my explanation will offer useful information, whether the Revolutions make your shortlist or not.
The bass loading technique is very unusual - the speaker is a dipole up to 200 Hz, and the bass modules can be placed very close to either the side or rear walls if necessary. Since dipole bass is directional (in a figure-8 pattern), by aiming the bass modules you can dial in the bass response to be just right at the listening position. And dipoles excite room resonances much less than monopole bass because their radiation pattern puts less bass energy out into the room's low-frequency standing wave modes. The result is clean bass with excellent pitch definition even in small rooms because the notes decay more naturally.
Above 200 Hz, the Revolutions use a very high quality Seas concentric midwoof/tweet. The concentric design means the speaker is going to be coherent at any listening distance - you don't have to get far away for the drivers to integrate. And the mid/tweet module uses pressure-relief loading, which gives a cardioid radiation pattern. This significantly reduces the midwoof's radiation to the rear of the speaker, once again making it easier to position the speaker close to a side or rear wall.
Now, there is a remarkable synergy between the dipole bass and cardioid mid/tweet module. You see, they each put roughly the same amount of energy into the reverberant field. Most loudspeakers make no effort to get the reverberant field right, but one of the key differences between live and reproduced sound is that, with live music, the reverberant field has pretty much the same tonal balance as the direct sound. The Revolutions duplicate this quality, and the result is a speaker that is very easy to listen to long-term. You see, when there is a significant discrepancy between the direct and reverberant fields, the eventual result is listening fatigue.
I first heard the Revolutions at the 2001 CES. I was not in the market for a speaker in their price range. But just walking down the hall towards the room, the sound coming out into the hallway was refreshingly natural-sounding. Then even though the speakers were in one of the smaller rooms at the show, they sounded so natural and enjoyable I kept coming back to the room over and over. The bass was better than I heard in any of the small rooms, and only a few of the big rooms sounded as good. Now, this was the Active version of the Revolution, so it was a bit more expensive, and credit is due the fine Gamut amplification. But the Revolutions are among the very few dynamic speakers this die-hard planarhead could get excited about.
Here is the link to Gradient's Revolution page: http://www.gradient.fi/En/Products/Revo/Revo1.htm
If you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to take a shot at them.
Best of luck in your quest!