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Big speakers in small room at moderate volume levels

My office is 11’W x 10’L x 9’H and is where I can listen to music for the next few years. I have a toddler and, for now, he has commanded the big spaces in the rest of the house. I have auditioned the Magico A3 and wanted to buy it but that was before I was relegated to the smallish office (I was expecting to move to a bigger room). I have removed the closet doors in this office room. The removal of the closet door gives me another 4 feet of depth to this room, though for only 1/2 width of the room. I can sit unobstructed 8 feet away from the speakers before I hit the area where the closet ends (so near field listening).

I currently I have KEF LS50 with Peachtree Nova 150. It is good and I can listen for the whole day without fatigue. I listen to FM, digital files on ROON, and my Sony SCD-1 SACD player. I want a bigger sound so I am looking at bigger speakers. I also do not want to use a sub since I am not a fan. I will also upgrade the NOVA 150 to the NOVA 500 in Spring 2019 and use with the LS50’s in a bedroom.

I came to the conclusion that my tastes would be best served by one of KEF Reference 1 or Magico A3. I was thinking that I would use the Lyngdorf 3400 in this room but I am having seconds thoughts on this now (some A’gon comments that it maybe a little dry). I am interested in solid state AB units like the Hegel H590 and Mark Levinson 585 to drive the speakers. I have heard the ML 585 and it is a fatigue free sounding unit that was a joy to listen to. I have not heard the Hegel H590 yet (but have heard other Hegels with KEF) and I am in the process of getting an audition of the H590. I have also discounted the class AB Micromega M-One 150 (with MARS room correction) because I do not want a cooling fan blowing in the room.

I must mention that I do not listen that loud when I am working and when I am working very late at night the volume is very low. The Mark Levinson and A3 combo was very good at low volumes during my demo but that was in the dealers perfect large room.

1) Am I making a mistake foregoing room correction with the 2 integrateds I am considering? Should I go with the Lyngdorf and A3 or KEF Ref 1, though I have never heard the Lyngdorf?

2) Will the Magico A3 work in this small room at moderate volumes WITHOUT room correction or will I subject myself to headaches and fatigue?

I am going to ask the dealer selling the A3’s this question when I am ready to buy but i wanted to ask on A’gon first to get some feedback. I doubt I could get the A3’s into my room for a trial but I have not asked the dealer yet.

I think (not 100% sure) the KEF Reference 1 with a non room correcting amp should work in my office space but I would prefer to buy the Magico A3 for the office. I have plans to buy another KEF model once my kid is a bit older and I can kick him out of the big room.
yyzsantabarbara
yyzsantabarbara OP
4,502 posts
 
@mushka Here is a quote from my buddy about Spendor D7 | Room Size | GIK:Treatments

"They want you to stay as far away as possible from the back wall. Which I would love to do but with a small room 11x13 is simply not possible. I was too close to the speakers and could not enjoy the music at all. Too bright and loud.

I then consulted with my dealer in San Francisco who told me to cover the back wall with Gik 242 2” thick panels or even the 6 inch panels without diffuser plate. So I have 2 thick panels in the middle and 3 reg panels on the back wall almost covering the back wall. I got the largest size ones. Then I could move the couch closer to the back wall. This is a fake attempt to make the wall disappear in the back behind you. I would still want a larger room so I can be away from back wall and away from speakers and speakers are away from front wall. I also have the free stand bass panels on each side between the speaker and listening chair. And I have two very old bass traps in the corners behind the speakers.

I must say that the GIK stuff makes a huge difference. When I got the system and it was broken in for months it was still unlistenable. Lot of echo and brightness in the room But with room treatments everything changed. And it tamed down the room. I love GIK products. I added few at a time due to cost and to try to experiment and fine tune the room with placement of traps and speaker and seat positioning experiments.

I do feel that even though spender is the smallest floor stander I could find at the time. It’s still a little too powerful for the room I have. I think spendor will open up a lot more in a medium sized room. Not a small sized room. "

yyzSantaBarbara:
I my room, the wall behind me opens up to the closet space and I also have a door entrance that I can open. So my issues are slightly different my my buddies.
leotis
180 posts
 
That’s a small room.If you have full range speakers that put out much bass it wouldn’t matter if you listen at low volume. the bass/mid/treble balance will still be overpowered by the bass. I have an 11’ x 13’ x 8’ room and Revel F206 were just right but Revel F208 were too much. With content that was light on bass the 208s were wonderful. But anything with significant bass content was unpleasant. Currently using Revel M126Be bookshelf which go down to 50 Hz and with the small room size I get enough bass reinforcement that it sounds effectively full range. I’ve measured it with XTZ room analyzer and it is plus 8 or 9 dB in the 40 Hz range.The Magico A1 doesn’t look like a thumper so it would probably work fine. KEF Reference 1 would put out all the bass you’d want IMO.
yyzsantabarbara OP
4,502 posts
 
@leotis  Thanks for the feedback. Exactly the type of info I was looking for.  I was thinking this over and I think i should buy the Lyngdorf 3400. With the Lyngdorf in the mix,  I will have room treatments,  DSP, and an equalizer via ROON as options to tame the room. 

My buddy with the Spendor tells me that the TAD ME1 would be the way he would go.
axo0oxa
98 posts
 
I have KEF Ref 1 and 3s and both are in rooms 12 x 15 with 8.5 foot ceiling heights. They sound great. I run both with tube amps that produce 38 watts per channel and that is plenty. I tried Electrocompaniet solid state AW400 watt mono blocks with the Ref 3s, since I kept reading people on forums claim they need lots of power to bring out the bass. I ended up finding this statement not true. I am back to my tube mono blocks that produce the 38 watts per channel in triode mode. The sound goes just as deep with the tubes but sounds so much better to my ears in the mid and upper frequency ranges that the little extra control in the bass lost with the tubes is not really noticed. The sound stage is deeper, wider and more focused also with the tubes.
honeyooi
120 posts
 
@yyzsantabarbara,
i do have same size room with you and using harbeth M30.1 ,My set up is triangle with 7ft distance between speaker and the seat .
to get you an idea is in my system pics .

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