Speakers for small room
Hi folks,
I'm a two channel stereo guy trying to help out a friend with his HT set up. He is looking for front left, right and center channel speakers. Action movies (Marvel, James Bond, etc.) are the primary use case.
Requirement is they need to be flat and hang on the wall.
Budget is $2500 - $3000. Used is an option.
Receiver: Denon AVR-987 https://www.hifiengine.com/
TV: LG OLED C1: https://www.lg.com/us/tvs/
Subwoofer is a JBL 12"
He also has two smaller 6" or 8" subwoofers from Cambridge Sound Works circa 1996
Basement room is 11.5 ft wide. When sitting on the sofa - ears are about 17" from the 'rear' wall. About 10 ft from the front wall with TV and speakers.
Room is 19 ft Long. Couch is the middle 11ft of this long wall. So ears will be between 4ft - 15ft from each side wall.
Ceiling height is 6' 11" (low ceiling)
Thanks everyone!
Appreciate the responses! My friend has been checking out the links. He also asked me about these: MartinLogan Motion SLM Center Channel Speaker-Audio Advisor MartinLogan Motion SLM XL On-Wall/Off-Wall Surround Speaker-Audio Advisor Would the SLM XL be too big for the 11.5' x 19' room? The TV will be hanging on one of the 19' walls. Thanks everyone! |
Minimum frequency on those is 110hz and 100hz, respectively. That means your subwoofer will need to be set high enough to avoid missing those 80-110hz frequencies (80hz being a more common low pass setting than what you’d need with these). Make sure the AVR can adjust accordingly and is set to do so. With the crossover that high, you’ll likely have sound that can be localized as coming from the subwoofer instead of just appearing to be from the main speakers. It’s suboptimal (pun intended), but if he likes them enough for other reasons might be a trade off he’s ok with. Personally I’d pick something that goes to 80hz or lower because that’s about the frequency where our ears/brains can’t localize the sound. |
Thanks @ethos123 Hadn't considered that. He is now revisiting the GoldenEar and Focal options as they both go down to the low 50s. |
Those are in-wall rather than on-wall speakers. Just making sure he knows he would need to cut the drywall and mount those into it rather than just securing it to the face of the wall… I have in-wall speakers in my basement and had them in the living room of a previous house, so I’m not knocking them at all, but installation has a few more pitfalls to avoid. Basically you need to know where the studs are and if anything else is in the area between them for each place you want a speaker. Probably best to be at least capable of minor drywall repair in case he comes across something unexpected. If it’s a house he owns then the in-walls can be great, but wouldn’t choose that route if his place is a rental. |
