Speakers for Small Room
Hi all. I’ll be moving later this year and significantly downsizing. My current listening room is 23’ x 32’ x 12’. The space at my new place is 15’ x 10’ x 9’. Speakers will go along the long wall due to doorways, windows, etc. My speakers include Volti Audio Rivals (currently hooked-up), Devore O/96 and Magnepan LRS+. Amplification is Pass Labs XA30.8. Looking for thoughts on which of the above would be the best fit, or open to suggestions for other speakers. I initially thought the Devores, but they’re rear-ported and need some pretty decent space from the front wall, which I won’t have. Although the Volti’s are large, they can be positioned pretty close to the front wall. Just not sure how "in my face" they’ll sound as my seating position will be about 8’ away. Almost forgot to mention, also have a pair of REL Carbon Specials that I doubt I'll need in the new, smaller space. Of course, amplification might need to change depending on speaker recommendations, so feel free to throw out suggestions on that front too. I’m agnostic as to solid state or tube, but not interested in integrateds as my Grimm MU2 serves as my preamp. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
For a smaller room, what's wrong with hooking up your Devores? Keep them well off the floor (cheaper than buying new speakers) and spend some elbow grease optimising placement and you will retain the full-range sound you are (more or less) used to.
Otherwise, any of teh smaller speakerts above will do the trick -- or if you want higher performance, go for Dutch & Dutch or Kii -- both of which are active, however. Lastly, in the passives the smaller Elacs are excellent. |
I’d stick with the LRS and use the spare cash to experiment with a stereo pair of small fast subs like REL T9X If you think the carbon specials will be under utilized. My reasoning is simple, none of the high price speakers suggested on this thread will surpass the LRS in transparency, soundstage, and midrange realism. What they would lack in bass solidity and texture would easily be found in the REL’s. The combo would be killer in that size of room, with average soft furnishings etc. No need for expensive room treatments the REL’s would totally disappear. |
I moved from a 27x16x15' dedicated room to a 16x12x8 room. Instead of buying bookshelf speakers, I got an excellent pair of floor standing speakers that were very efficient, BE tweeters, went down to 30hz, but the speakers had 6.5" woofers. So the bass was tight, with a 5" midrange driver to compliment the woofers and BE tweeter. I also have a pair of Rel subwoofers dialed in that gives the sound much more volume without locating any of the subs. I decided getting these floor standing speakers instead of a bookshelf speaker with subs because these floor standing speakers gave me the full sound instead of just the upper mid/tweeter and a pair of subs. In the past when I used Totem/Usher shelf mounted speakers with REL subs, I never liked the sound, always thought the subs stood out too much. Now with these smaller floorstanding speakers, it was so easy to dial in the subs. |
@rbstehno -which floorspeakers? I have an older pair of Audio Physic Sparks (10W minimum) that work pretty well in by smaller music room. They are driven by a 15W SET. I pull them 30"away from the wall and they provide fast, tight bass, midrange and treble separation that's perfect for the room size and treatments. David |
