I have a formal looking living room area that I don't want to put floor standing speakers in because it would just look bad so I'm looking for a good pair of bookshelf speakers that have amazing clarity, sound stage. I'm limited to the speakers being about 5 1/2 feet apart with a listening distance of about 15 ft. I keep hearing about Focal Aria 906 or Elac Debut Reference. Right now I am currently running an REL T-Zero with Klipsch RP-500s and I'm thinking I could probably do a little better.
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Bookshelf Speakers for Large Space
- Thread starter kevin1969
- Start date
JackStraw5877
Member
Perhaps the Dynaudio Countour 20i would be of interest...
I should say that I’ve never had them in my own personal space, but my subjective impressions with friends have been good. It seems that at least one of Dynaudio’s engineering goals here was to get a floor stander sound into a small(er) footprint; on paper they dig deep for stand mounts. And their stands are “reasonably” priced at $499 + $60-ish for the top plate.
I believe there are a few members here that own them and may end up weighing in.
https://www.dynaudio.com/home-audio/contour-i/contour-20i
Do you have a specific budget in mind?
- Thread Starter
- #3
Around $1000 but I'm a little flexible. I forgot to mention I'm limited as to how far away they can sit from the half wall behind them.
JackStraw5877
Member
In that case, I would suggest looking at the Revel M16, highly recommended here (with measurements):
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/revel-m16-speaker-review.11884/
The M16 retails for $900 a pair which is just slightly under budget.
If you are willing to buy used I'd even go up to a used Revel M105 which I think is their best measuring speaker. Although it might be tough to find a used pair for $1k, you might have to wait abit. Pandemic audio prices are going out of control. Used to be you could get a used pair for like $500-700 range.
I got the M105's for that price new. That and a sub may be ok if you don't want very high SPL.
- Thread Starter
- #7
Iron Maiden needs SPL
Helicopter
Major Contributor
Focal Aria 906.
watchnerd
Grand Contributor
Contour 20 is what I had in a bit larger room within similar listening distance.
No problem with it filling the space.
Have now upgraded to Heritage Special.
But that's quite a bit over OP's budget.
$1000 is a tricky pice point.....maybe JBL 308P MKII?
Last edited:
Howaboutthat
New Member
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- Mar 5, 2021
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Nice looking ProAcs, Totems, Dynaudios, Monitor Silvers, Nola, Ascend Sierra 2s, and Reference 3As, among others, in your general price ballpark on Audiogon and USAudiomart. Even a set of B&W 805 Nautilus available.
AnalogSteph
Major Contributor
Klipsch actually wasn't such a bad option to begin with, possibly the narrowest directivity you'll find in a compact bookshelf. (At 15' you'll take everything you can get... realistically, a substantially larger speaker would be called for.) I might consider swapping the 500M for 600M and applying the requisite EQ as per Amir's measurements.
Also, given the unfavorable stereo triangle dimensions, some good ol' stereo expansion ((L-R) vs. (L+R)) seems worth a shot. (I had a look at how to do it in Foobar2000, the Channel Mixer component may work...)
It's really no surprise if this setup is lacking is clarity and sound stage - 15' would be far outside direct sound dominance for just about any bookshelf speaker, and the opening angle is a measly 20°, which is not helping stereo separation one bit.
Also, given the unfavorable stereo triangle dimensions, some good ol' stereo expansion ((L-R) vs. (L+R)) seems worth a shot. (I had a look at how to do it in Foobar2000, the Channel Mixer component may work...)
It's really no surprise if this setup is lacking is clarity and sound stage - 15' would be far outside direct sound dominance for just about any bookshelf speaker, and the opening angle is a measly 20°, which is not helping stereo separation one bit.
- Thread Starter
- #12
My music source is from Bluesound (into Gustard/Denon) so I don't have many EQ options other than using the Zone 2 treble/bass and distance settings so I would like to try and resolve this with speakers as well as I can first before using software corrections. Only so much time to play with these things right now but I would love to at some point. I do have a good Digital Audio recorder (Sony PCM-M10) and Adobe Audition audio analysis software.
Of the pitches you have gotten so far, AnalogSteph's makes the most sense to me. Steph listened to what you said about location and room size. We should also know whether you listen at background levels or sometimes do go full Iron Maiden. You mention the Denon, but which one (how much power) and do you plan to keep it? A first impression on the sub is that its small for a large room. But, if you listen at low levels it could be fine. I am not trying to make this complex but without that kind of information you will just get a favorite speakers list. AnalogSteph is right that Klipsch do better than most in large rooms and their more targeted spread pattern can be a good in difficult locations. Perhaps you should consider a higher end Klipsch. In my old audio consultant days, my first question would be, "What is it about the Klipsch sound that you would like to change?"
- Thread Starter
- #15
That was my first choice but I was surprised at Amir's review stating that they sounded really flat and muffled compared to the Revel M16 speakers. What is your experience with the R3's ?
- Thread Starter
- #16
This is a good point. Denon 4700H (just got it). Perhaps the punch I am missing is due to the 51/2 drivers in the RP-500's. I'll have to go listen to the RP-600s's.
Don't have them, I'm married to Genelec. It's worth noting that Amir's subjective review was later recanted in another review (Revel something) because the issue was mainly a room correction one.
Colonel7
Addicted to Fun and Learning
That was in subjective part at the end of the Revel F35 review
- Thread Starter
- #19
Oh wow.
- Thread Starter
- #20
You sir were correct. I went out to the stereo store and I didn't even know they had the M16. Once I heard them and saw the price it was a done deal.
Paired with my REL TZero It sounds phenomenal.
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