Revel vs Genelec (or other) speaker; decent size room, behind AT screen, mostly older content

[noblenote]

Hi everyone - looking for some feedback. See room attached. Based on this setup, the MLP will be a little over 4M or 14 feet in freedom units from the speakers behind an acoustically transparent screen. I'm not sure if I will go with woven or perforated, because the screen will be very large (13 ft wide); I've ordered samples for testing. I'm disposed to the woven screen because I've had the same in the past.

My question is that at this distance, and in this room, would you recommend the F226Be's (I have a good amount of experience with Revels) or something like the 8351s? Note that almost all of the content that I consume and listen to is from 1990 or earlier, mostly 80's, but I do love an occassional 50's or 60's film.

I'm looking for maximum immersion in the films I watch, knowing that only a handful (maybe 40%) have 5.1 mixes - many are stereo, and its not rare for older films to be in mono.

I hate that the Be line only has white drivers, a real inconvenience behind an AT screen, possibly forcing me to use a black backing, or keeping the grills on.

On the other hand, the Revels are wide dispersion, which in theory will keep the older content perceived as spacious. In contrast, the 8451's have a more medium sized beam width, but based on comments of others on the forum, also can be "clearer". However, my room is under construction and it is decently sized (total room size, including the bathroom, is 27.25 feet x 21.66 feet). So I'm not sure if the Genelecs will be adequately spacious given the larger dimensions. The Genelecs can also be had in all black, which in theory means I could get away without a black backing by treating behind the screen.

Any recommendations? Will be crossed over to Rhtymik subs, probably 15 inchers.

 

[Arindal]

It looks like the left main speaker will be positioned very close to a side-wall, while the right one has quite some weird corner next to it. This might lead to an asymmetrical pattern of early reflections, the broader the dispersion pattern of the speakers and the longer the distance, the worse. You might even have to consider wall treatment or speakers with even narrower dispersion pattern.

Regarding speaker choice I would recommend to give it a listen in your room, and particularly check phantom center imaging. Although it might not be necessary for 5.1 content, it is a good indication which speaker handles side reflections best.

 

[kyuu]

That "weird corner" on the right side appears to be a closet. Are there sliding doors or the like in front of that space? If so, I wouldn't be worried overmuch about asymmetry.

Both the Revel and the Genelec options will be superb performers. Since it's going to be behind the screen, having the grill on the Revels doesn't seem like much of an issue. The grill's minor effect on the highest frequencies will be overwhelmed by the screen's much larger effect on those frequencies anyway. I myself would go for the Revels, as I much prefer the wide, even dispersion. Plus, for movies in particular you really want electronics that can do Dolby/DTS decoding, and the most economical way to get that is with an AVR. You can go the AVP route and use that to feed the Genelecs, but then you're paying more to get that decoding without the amplifiers attached. You can always just use an AVR's pre-outs, I suppose, but now you've got those amplifiers sitting there doing nothing (and potentially causing issues unless you can disable the amps, but even AVRs that give you that option typically only have it for the front left and right channels).

 

[kemmler3D]

Based on the use case and your aim for spaciousness, I'd lean toward the revels, but @Arindal has a good point about proximity to walls. I think in this case you are (maybe more than usual) trading off between a big soundstage (revel) and a convincing / accurate one (Genelec).

Either will be great, but of course the best move is to demo them in situ if you can.

 

[noblenote]

It looks like the left main speaker will be positioned very close to a side-wall, while the right one has quite some weird corner next to it. This might lead to an asymmetrical pattern of early reflections, the broader the dispersion pattern of the speakers and the longer the distance, the worse. You might even have to consider wall treatment or speakers with even narrower dispersion pattern.

Regarding speaker choice I would recommend to give it a listen in your room, and particularly check phantom center imaging. Although it might not be necessary for 5.1 content, it is a good indication which speaker handles side reflections best.

Thank you, Arindal. Yes, the weird corner is a prexisting closet. However, as kyuu suggested, I will have a solid closet door there, so outside of very low frequencies, symetry shouldn't be an issue. It would seem that the inescapable "you have the test" is true. Somehow I have to manage to get both the Revels and Genelecs to teste. I suppose I can buy a pair of both and sell the other

 

[noblenote]

That "weird corner" on the right side appears to be a closet. Are there sliding doors or the like in front of that space? If so, I wouldn't be worried overmuch about asymmetry.

Both the Revel and the Genelec options will be superb performers. Since it's going to be behind the screen, having the grill on the Revels doesn't seem like much of an issue. The grill's minor effect on the highest frequencies will be overwhelmed by the screen's much larger effect on those frequencies anyway. I myself would go for the Revels, as I much prefer the wide, even dispersion. Plus, for movies in particular you really want electronics that can do Dolby/DTS decoding, and the most economical way to get that is with an AVR. You can go the AVP route and use that to feed the Genelecs, but then you're paying more to get that decoding without the amplifiers attached. You can always just use an AVR's pre-outs, I suppose, but now you've got those amplifiers sitting there doing nothing (and potentially causing issues unless you can disable the amps, but even AVRs that give you that option typically only have it for the front left and right channels).

Thanks, kyuu! Agreed on the closet - there will be solid sliding doors there. Agreed that the Revels being passive will be easier, but its not the end of the world if I need to invest in a standalone processor. I'm inclined to the Revels as well, but I will be sitting pretty far away, so not sure what the impact will be

 

[noblenote]

Based on the use case and your aim for spaciousness, I'd lean toward the revels, but @Arindal has a good point about proximity to walls. I think in this case you are (maybe more than usual) trading off between a big soundstage (revel) and a convincing / accurate one (Genelec).

Either will be great, but of course the best move is to demo them in situ if you can.

Yeah, I agree, leaning towards the Revels. I'll just have to buy both speakers and sell the "losers"