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Speakers for big room 500 sq. ft. Approx. $2500

Helicopter

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I am thinking about getting a good pair of floor standing speakers for my listening room. I've got 4 Polk Rci85 speakers in the walls. I've also got a stereo setup and can run a pair of Polk TSx550t, 1970 Klipsch HBRs, 1970s Sansui SP2000s, some JBL es30, and other stuff. I've got a bunch of vintage amps, a tube amp, some BPC amps including an HK3770 which is fine for power and transparency for now.

Room is 19.5*28 with vaulted ceiling 8 ft at edge and 12 in center. Tongue and groove pine over plywood ceiling, carpet over cork over luan over concrete floor, insulated 2x6 walls with ship lap on 2 and drywall on 2, but lots of (6 big) windows. There are a couple couches, a cabinet for electronics on one short wall, and I can put speakers and furniture however I want within reason. I usually sit on the couch centered about 18ft from speakers.

I would like to try some efficient and transparent floor standing speakers that are better than the Polk. I have some subs I can run if I want, but not needing subs might be an advantage. I'd like to keep it under $2500. I like what I see on Focal, Revel, and Elac, especially the Focal Aria 926 I can get for $2300 a pair right now. Would those be good in this room? Maybe I should wait a few months until my budget spreadsheet says I can spend $5k. Thoughts?

I am not totally ready to buy right now, but I am curious if something like the 926, Focal Chora 826, Revel Performa3 F206 is good or a room like this, or if I should get something with more cone surface area like the Aria 948 or Performa3 F208. I bet ELAC DFR52 is nice in a much smaller room too, but I like the $1200 price on those.

I also wonder if a bigger DFR62 or Chora 848 is coming in the next year as I would probably spring for something like that.

Back on topic, do you think a speaker like the Focal Aria 926 has the right properties for a room like mine?
 
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Helicopter

Helicopter

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I got the speakers and I have been enjoying them for a few weeks now.

I had a couple problems with my order from World Wide Stereo, and I worked with Jamie to get everything resolved to my satisfaction. It was not a perfect experience, but they were fair, I would buy from them again, and I would recommend them for a good deal like this. Overall, considering the outstanding price, I am very happy with the purchase. 4 out of 5 stars for World Wide Stereo.

The Aria 948s are the nicest, best sounding, and most expensive speakers I have had. I have them hooked up to my Shuguang SG-845-7 SET tube amp, where I had been running vintage Klipsch raw birch Heresys from the 1970s. Despite the high sensitivity of the 948s and the famously exhaggerated sensitivity specs of Klipsch, I could run the Heresys to extreme volume without clipping, and that is not so with the 948s. The bias meter starts swinging right around the levels I usually listen, which are modest, and definitely safe for long term exposure. The impedance on these dips pretty low, so a powerful amp is probably best. I am going to try the Loxjie A30 chip amp next, just to see how it does since it should have very different behavior with the impedance dip, but eventually I will either go to a solid 100+ amp class AB or one of the beast class D amps with 200-500 watts per channel.

Needless to say, I will need to swap out the amp in this setup before I draw final conclusions about the speakers. I also need to do some real measurements and try some EQ. On that front, all I have done is run some pink noise through them and measure with Audio Tools on an iPad. This was enough to see the frequency response in my room is in another league compared to the Heresys, which still sound OK. That is as far as I got.

The cabinets are very nice. The coverings are sturdy and attractive, the tops shine, the drivers are beautiful linen and have some nicely machined and finished aluminum trim, the heavy cast aluminum bases have a beautiful and durable looking finish, and the spikes are finely machined and finished.

Initial impressions of the sound range from very good to outstanding depending on the content. The sound seems best with cello and piano, which are really striking. The bass is deep without booming. Everything else sounds really good, but I am curious what will improve with some EQ, and I am also curious if I am missing anything that a speaker like the Kanta No3 with its computer designed 3 dimensional baffle and beryllium tweeter might provide. Female vocals still sound better with my Focal Clear headphones.

I had some guests over one afternoon with the speakers about 8 feet from the back wall and the listening position a little farther than an equilateral triangle playing Yo Yo Ma / Bach with a good digital source, and one of them thought the sound was absolutely indistinguishible from an actual cello in a concert hall. It was the best compliment I could get on my speakers. I do not agree with her completely, but to me, we are like 94% of the way there from where we were with the Heresys. Cello can make me cry if I am alone. Piano us equally incredible. A blind test with a real instrument might actually take a little effort. The 948s are awesome in my room with the right music. They definitely do well filling the big space with sound, so various positions all sound similar and all sound good. The bass is really clear. I think that is what makes certain insrruments sound so realistic. I am really looking forward to seeing what I can get out of them with a measurement mic and some DSP when I find time, and I hope I get some of what I have henceforth only heard from headphones. We shall see.
 

NightFlight

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Interested in this thread for the DFR52 reference. My space is ~250sqft I've been swapping sets a lot over the last couple years. The Magnepan LRS are a bit unwieldy and simply too expensive to cleanly power up to 85db, even at my 8.5ft listening distance.

The speakers that stayed the longest were the DBR62. I loved those and cannot fathom why I let them go. I've spent long nights hugging my pillow and lamenting their loss. Thus, I have a pair of DFR52 on the way and should be here in a couple days. I got them dealer new for around $1K USD, so I just couldn't say no.

Right now filling the space is a pair of Signet SL280-EX. They are awesome for circa 1990. They have a bit of boom, but that could just be room mode, but otherwise they are just OK. They play my Netflix just fine. They do simple music ok, but when it gets busy, they fall apart a little. Still good for the used price of $300.
 

Flaesh

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I think in the US used pair fit the budget
p. s.: oops, tread is old and speakers already purchased :eek:
 
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