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Speaker suggestions for less than ideal accoustics

I live in a lovely timber frame home that works well for our lifestyle but presents challenges when trying to create a good audio listening environment. My great room has a wall of windows, tile floors (radiant heat), a large stone fireplace,28' ceiling peak, open to a loft area and open to the kitchen/dining area. The space is approx 1000 sq ft. I have listened in stores to some nice speakers (JM labs 816s, Def Tech 7004, Paradigm studio 100s, PSB T55,) but I know none of them will sound the same in my great room. Anyone ever faced this challenge and know if certain qualities in speaker designs lend themselves to this? I have learned a lot from this forum and wish there were more places to hear some of the equipment mentioned. BTW,this is for music listening only. Home theatre will have its own dedicated room in the basement where things can be built to suit
timberman
gregm
3,395 posts
 
Actually you're a prime contender for open baffle or dipole spkrs, as Nsgarch aptly notes above. ANyhting else will prbably make yr life a misery (it'll be near impossible to control 300Hz downward).

Probably the best open baffle design is Linkwitz's Orion -- but that requires ~3k + diy or 6k ready made (that includes amplification; some consolation). It would be easy for you to get excellent sound in yr environment (possibly better than you'd get in an untreated conventional room).
Another open baffle choice at a more reasonable price is the Bastanis (www.bastanis.com) something or other -- which also requires a little diy.

As your room is large, appropriate stators would be frightfully expensive (think of big Soundlabs).
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Greg is right, Soundlabs would be (you should excuse the word) AWSOME, in that room! And so would the new Martin Logan Summits. Both provide plenty of bass of their own. But the big Soundlabs were built for a room like that -- it would be a marriage made in audio heaven!
briweve
123 posts
 
I would agree, large Martin Logans, powered with a nice Pass Labs 350 amp. Look out.
velo62
255 posts
 
Gotta go for the big boys to try and take the room out of the equation...Used Pipedreams with 4 Sat subs would fill that room nicely. Silk dome tweeters are softer on the ears than horns plus they are pretty easy to drive at a db rating of over 90. With a room that big and beautiful Im going to assume they are within your budget.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Apart from the windows and the tile floor, which may give you reflections and some harshness in the treble, the fire place, loft and large room size probably make this a great room for listening (lots of space and uncorrelated reflections). If you place speakers with back to windows and get a rug then you may not even need to worry about treble reflections

My guess is that the speakers that give you the best lower base response and that are least harsh sounding in upper mid and treble might work for you. You have a large room to fill, perhaps the Def Techs with that big 10" woofer might give you the umph you will need.... provided you are comfortable the "airy" highs these speakers are known for.

good luck!
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