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Speakers for a less-than-ideal room

Hi all, I’ve been reading through the forum on and off for a while trying to decide on the best speaker for my situation but am having difficulty coming to a conclusion. The main factor keeping me from a decision is the design of my living room. I’ll do my best to provide as much detail as I can and look forward to any recommendations.
The room: Essentially an L shaped room, with 2 open-frame doorways on both ends. The room is all hardwood floor and there is a 9.5" window behind the listening area. Unfortunately, this is the best room in my new house that I can go with. No additional treatment to the room other than a carpet under the coffee table.

Dimensionss: 11.5’ x 19.5’ x 18.5’ x 12.5’ x 7’ x 7’(Or 11.5’x19.5’ for main part of room, 12.5’x7’ for dining room if that makes it easier).

The room
https://imgur.com/gallery/TdonFRr

Seating position is approximately 8 ft from front of speakers. Due to the layout of the room, I will not be able to have the speakers as far off the wall as most comments seem to suggest. At most I would probably be able to get 30" from the wall to the front of speaker. The speaker to wall distance will depend on the width of the speaker, but would be roughly 23" from the right wall and 32" from the left.Very little room to play with there as it would then obstruct the entry.

Current AV Setup: TCL 6 series 65", Denon x1300W, Dali Zensor 3, Dayton Sub800, Technics SL-D3 (needs servicing), Art DJii for phono

Audio: Flac and MP3 sources (as good as I can find), genres are mostly Rock, Indie, Rap, Electronic. I do have a range of music from most main genres aside from country, so something all around would probably be best.
Movies: Netflix/Hulu/HBO streaming or direct playing through Plex. Genres are usually some type of action, horror, comedy, anime.
Looking for front channel speakers to start off, and then build up to a 5.1/5.2 system over time. I’m sure I’ll for to a 7.something eventually but not worried about it now. Trying to budget ~$2500 just for the front speakers. I do plan on getting a better sub (unknown what yet) as well as upgrading to a newer Denon that would allow use of a separate amp for the mains.

This far the only speakers I’ve heard are my Zensor 3s, as far as audio stores go the only one within a 2ish hour drive would be a Magnolia center. The speakers I have been looking at are:
- Wharfedale Evo 4.4- Dali Opticon 6 mkII - Focal Choral 826- Zu Dirty Weekend- Tekton Enzo 2.7 (I was interested in the Pendragon but I don’t think it’ll work with my wall placement)- Monitor Silver 300
its_kyro
ausaudio
90 posts
 
Center channels are essential for proper home theater. It centers the image perfectly no matter the seating position and two channel audio has a real problem, with a perfectly centered image. The reasons are many and probably beyond this thread. Some people here don’t understanding theater audio and have some interesting but ill informed opinions on the subject.

There is nothing that I am aware of that is a perfect speaker for a bad room, but looking at your setup, you need a speaker without a rear port, as a bare start. Acoustic panels for the front wall are inexpensive and can help a lot.


What is your budget? We need a starting point. $30K omnidirectionals may be perfect for you, but way outside your budget. I do expect, based on your picture, that small book-shelf speakers on stands placed a practical distance from the front wall with 2 or more subs (not 1) will be close to what you want. We may able to work with what you have already.

I would be inclined to keep the Dali's, learn how to build acoustic panels for behind the speakers, and invest in more subs.
its_kyro OP
3 posts
 
Thank you for the reply

The main post has a budget set at ~$2500 specifically for front channel speakers. I’ll be building a system around the speaker since my current equipment will need updating anyway.

Most of the speakers I was focused on are front or bottom ported, aside from the Monitor and the Dali. I believe Dali states their speakers are fine being placed near-wall, though.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
One of the many beautiful things about Tekton, they are all highly efficient and so can be driven well by just about any amp with more than a handful of watts. This makes it real easy as all you need is 20-50 watts. Mine for example fill my large room with more clean sound than most audiophiles consider safe. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 That's a 50wpb tube integrated, just the thing for you if you can find one in your budget. Which just became a whole lot easier since by going stereo you also eliminated having to buy a whole lot more speakers and amps. 

The center channel, if you watch movies from where you listen to music you already have rock solid imaging and there is no need for a center channel. The whole premise of HT is to replicate the cinematic experience. But the cinematic experience has all these speakers because people are sitting all over the place. They need a center channel so people way off in a corner on a side still hear dialog coming from the screen. You only need a center channel if you sit way off in a corner off to one side. Otherwise, waste of money.

Look at my system. It wasn't always like this. Way back in the beginnin I tried and tried and tried to get it to sound good with all the HT surrounds and everything. Put a lot of time and effort into it. Not a complete waste of time and money, I did learn one thing: it is a complete waste of time and money. So learn from my experience and don't waste your time and money.

Also a BIG benefit of going stereo, it frees up funds for a DBA. Distributed Bass Array. Basically, four subs. Subs are the one thing where more really is better. More subs. Not more bass, just more subs. Do a search. You cannot get DBA quality bass from one or two, you need four. Avoiding multi-channel makes it so much easier to afford 4 good subs! Do a search, read the comments, you will see. Totally the way to go.


ausaudio
90 posts
 
Rear port of not, you will always get reinforcement from the front wall, and almost no acoustic panel will fix that. The acoustic panel helps reduce higher frequency reflections that screw with imaging.


You main couch is a long way from the speakers. I would prefer speakers farther apart and then add some reflection control on the side wall(s).  You need the center channel for that couch on the right wall.

Speakers don't fix bad rooms, but some can mask them. Omni-directional can work well. Speakers with a narrow emission pattern can work well.  It is a far better investment to treat the room. If you DIY it is inexpensive.  The other trick is multiple small subwoofers. You may not get the super deep bass of one large expensive sub, but you will have much better bass for everyone.
maxwave's avatar
maxwave
898 posts
 
keep your Dali speakers . They may be used in the future
as surround speakers.
( front and center speakers should be the same brands )

Anthem MRX 540 would be a nice choice . ARC for your room.
https://www.anthemav.com/products-current/type=av-receiver/model=mrx-540/page=overview

add a center . Stick with Dali brands .

some acoustic pannels : absorbor-diffusor

along the way , you will complete your system.
if you can buy used gears , it is fine

the main idea with the Anthem , is the room correction : ARC 
The Atmos and DTS X  movies will have a good sound even if you do not have height speakers.


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