Recommendations for HiFi Listening Room

If you’re locked in for 15 years, you are very wise to get advice first.

I say: audition, audition, and audition. As others have mentioned, planar speakers are qualitatively different. I am a devoted planar man: dedicated sound room uses 4 Quad ESL’s and 2 Magneplanar woofer panels, home theatre uses 1 Quad ESL (centre) and 8 Magneplanar panels.

Both Quads and Magneplanars sing with Bryston amplification..With their 20 year (sic) warrantee, the used ones command a good price, but they are available and you could save money there. I would hold out for the SST series or newer.

Another place to save money is cables. I would buy cables for a maximum of $50 a pair to start with. Then, if you feel like upgrading cables, make any upgrade prove itself in your system before you commit to buy. Cables are by far the least bang for buck. IMO.

+1 for a dedicated power circuit or two.

Good luck !!!!

Klipsch Hertiage Series speakers paired with a set of subs. You can’t go wrong with that setup especially with the variety of music you guys listen to. 

I have a similar room although a bit smaller than yours. I like the Vandersteen & Ayre recommendation. What you need to do is fill that space. I think the Legacy Audio Focus SE would be a good choice. No sub required. Pair them with a good amp and you will be delighted. Heck, drive to Springfield and visit the factory. I used to live just outside of Appleton for a while. It’s a nice place.

Very little info about the room. What’s on the floor? What are the details of the short sides (doors/openings/windows etc)...same for the long sides?

First audio component I would buy is a big 100% wool rug resting on a heavy felt liner. My rug costs more than any one of my components. Money well spent. Because the room matters more than the equipment. Many will disagree. But you’re already spending good money on decent equipment...as long as they’re well matched, the room is the key to blissfully reproduced audio.

The cartridge I currently run costs more than the turntable I had in the old house. And my current system is 6x more than my old system. I had a dedicated room for audio in the old place...nothing but air between the speakers on the short wall and rack on the side wall.

My current system sounds great...but the old system in a dedicated room edges it out.

Focusing on the room will get you further than focusing on components. Room first...then components. Or, like many of us, you’ll be endlessly chasing the subtleties and shades of component character.

What’s that you say? This component has a better signal-to-noise ratio and lower distortion than that one? Well an average silent room is still about 17-20 db of noise...it just ate up all that difference.

Ever heard the saying a man is the room he’s in?

Well, for sure, a system is the room it’s in.

Thank you all for the responses and suggestions.  It appears I have a few hifi dealers in the area so I should be able to easily test Legacy Audio, KEF, B&W, Golden Ear, Focal, MartinLogan and a few others besides the Personas that i liked.

If anyone has opinions about the above options, I’d love to hear them.  Particularly, if a particular line appears well suited for my needs (and wildly varied music taste) and/or suggestions on pairing an amp. I can say that my wife is going to be more excited about the Legacy Audio aesthetics than the Personas (and B&W would need to sound perfect for her to allow the look of them) but ultimately it’ll come down to performance for us both. 

A few more details about the room: it has wood floors that are fairly covered with several rugs and an absolutely gigantic and thick fabric couch (seats 10) that takes up a comical amount of space.  There are 9 large windows (about 30 inches wide and 8+ feet tall) spaced around 3 of the walls and a fireplace.  The entryway from the kitchen is about 7 ft wide and there is a small balcony on the top floor overlooking the room above the entryway.  Room is slightly asymmetrical and one corner more of a fifth wall about 5 ft wide.  It’s easily the coolest room of the house but we never have a reason to sit in it so we thought a great 2 channel sound system would prompt us to use it. I sent info to Gik this evening so thanks for that suggestion as well.

This group is a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate your time immensely!