Is my room size going to be a problem for speakers?


A bedroom may become available in our home when one of our sons heads off to college, and I was thinking of claiming it as a listening room. Put my Rega P3 table and just listen to vinyl. For an amp I was thinking the Rega Brio, the Audiolab 6000A or 8300A, or maybe the Schiit Ragnarok. Or the older Luxman R-115 receiver I'm using in the living room.

I've been asking people about speakers, and it's starting to sound that the room size is going to be a problem. It's only 10 feet by 10 feet. I was hoping to avoid doing anything by way of room correction, and just throw in a pair of bookshelf speakers. A used pair of Totem Rainmakers was a thought, or maybe the Q Acoustics Concept 20's or even the new 3030i's. The Buchardt S300's are at the top of the list, as well as price point (about $1200 new). 

So my question concerns whether the room size is just too small. I don't want to overmatch the room with equipment that's too much for it. Should I maybe scrap the plans and use the money for living room upgrades? Or is there a way to make this work without spending too much time and effort preparing the room itself? 

Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions.


anton99
I'm not sure there would be room left to shoe-horn in a chair after placing the pair of Tektons, 6 subwoofers, and audio rack. 
I'm not sure what you mean by room correction, but 10' square is a challenge, unless you do very near field.  Like 2' in front of your chair. :)

Otherwise, if you want a more traditional presentation, your challenges are both bass and room reflections.  It's going to be very very lively in the mid/treble and make it hard to get a good image.  The better controlled the speaker dispersion is the less room acoustic treatment you'll need. 

Perhaps some smaller horn loaded speakers like a Klipsch Heresy?

Also, tone controls. :)


My music room in our last house was 10x11 and I had a pair of 6" full range drivers which worked out perfectly since they work better close to a wall/corner. It is also a simple speaker to drive which keeps the costs down on amplification. That system shocked a lot of my audiophile friends so you might look into it. Madisound does some speaker kits and well as Mark Audio (I used their Pensil design). 
I’ve had some pretty small setups, 10x10 isn’t really a big deal with the right speakers. There’s an awful lot out there for near field listening. I’m not sure why it’s not a problem for people with desktop setups but is if you’re in a comfy chair, but there you go.

I was just talking with somebody else with similar issues. The issue with the Buchardt S300 is they’re ported out the back. So that would mean you’d have to get them at least a few inches away from the wall. For small monitors, Totem, Ascend, Salk on the high end, Elac and JBL make excellent dynamic little speakers on a budget.

I’m especially fond of Focal’s Shape 69 and Fritz Carrera BE for near field listening, but those are probably not as budget friendly as you’d like. I’d be perfectly happy with them in a small room.