• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Thoughts about speaker type for medium room

OldUI11

Member
Joined
May 18, 2021
Messages
17
Likes
6
Thanks in advance to everyone who takes time to read this. I'm obviously new to the forums.

About a decade ago, I made a big move for work, which necessitated living in a smaller apartment rather than a small house. I had to sell my stereo system when I moved, and in the intervening decade I've mainly listened to music on headphones. At the moment I have a pair of Neumann NH20s (with some minor eq-ing) powered by an RME-ADI2 FME DAC. My music is mostly redbook or higher res.

I'm looking forward to putting together a two channel system again, but I am a decade out of date on how people are thinking about getting good results with speakers in medium-ish rooms. To give a measurement, the room is roughly 5.5 metres x 4.25 metres with a roughly 2.5 metre ceiling. It's a rectangle with no irregular features. It will have a set of bookshelves. It has wood floors, although we'll put down a carpet over it that will cover maybe 1/2 the total area. It seems to me like it's going to be difficult with all the reflections.

I'm not sure how it's best to handle a room like that. I can probably pay up to $6000 for a pair of speakers, although I would be very happy to pay less. I do not listen at high volumes and do some low volume listening – but mostly I listen at 'normal' volumes. For the most part I listen to classical music and jazz of various types. I would like to be able to reproduce sound across the full dynamic spectrum. I listen to a lot of organ music, for example, and appreciate being able to get a response down to 20hz. I'm not trying to shake the house down, however.

What I'd like to figure out is what sort of set up might work well – dipoles vs. directional speakers, using a sub-woofer vs using a full-range speaker, etc. I can say more about my preferences if that helps. But I should at least say that I can listen from a sweet spot much of the time, but it is important to put something together that sounds pretty good off-axis. I'm totally open minded, but totally lost. Advice would be much appreciated.
 

NTK

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 11, 2019
Messages
2,656
Likes
5,819
Location
US East
Welcome to ASR! Glad to have you here :)

I think your room may be a little small for dipoles. The late Siegfried Linkwitz (RIP) recommended placing dipole (or omni or cardioid) speakers at least 1 m away from the side walls and the wall behind. (See 3.2.1, item 3) https://www.linkwitzlab.com/The_Magic/The_Magic.htm

Personally, I think $2k USD is well into the point of diminishing return for stand mount speakers (floor standers go a bit higher as high quality cabinets are expensive to make). The speakers that I found highly interesting, although I haven't had a chance to experience them, are the Philharmonic BMR bookshelves. Don't know about its availability in your area. Here are 2 very informative threads on the BMR.

Erin's measurement and review: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/philharmonic-bmr-speaker-review.14781/
Steve Dallas' impression: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ve-review-road-show-stop-1.18828/#post-616561

Add a couple of subwoofers and getting organs to sound right should be very doable.
 

Jim Matthews

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 25, 2021
Messages
1,051
Likes
1,286
Location
Taxachusetts
I'm a fan of the JBL LSR 7 series.

The 708i and one of the new VTV amps (with balanced inputs) should reach pretty deep in your room. You'll need subwoofer "support" to hear anything longer than an 8 foot stop.
 

Chazz6

Active Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2021
Messages
216
Likes
151
I have a similar room, similar volume and genre preferences, and similar seating locations. I chose Focal Aria 906 bookshelf speakers, and they are excellent. We differ in that I don't care about 20 Hz and have no subwoofer.
 

amper42

Major Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2020
Messages
1,581
Likes
2,282
Thanks in advance to everyone who takes time to read this. I'm obviously new to the forums.

About a decade ago, I made a big move for work, which necessitated living in a smaller apartment rather than a small house. I had to sell my stereo system when I moved, and in the intervening decade I've mainly listened to music on headphones. At the moment I have a pair of Neumann NH20s (with some minor eq-ing) powered by an RME-ADI2 FME DAC. My music is mostly redbook or higher res.

I'm looking forward to putting together a two channel system again, but I am a decade out of date on how people are thinking about getting good results with speakers in medium-ish rooms. To give a measurement, the room is roughly 5.5 metres x 4.25 metres with a roughly 2.5 metre ceiling. It's a rectangle with no irregular features. It will have a set of bookshelves. It has wood floors, although we'll put down a carpet over it that will cover maybe 1/2 the total area. It seems to me like it's going to be difficult with all the reflections.

I'm not sure how it's best to handle a room like that. I can probably pay up to $6000 for a pair of speakers, although I would be very happy to pay less. I do not listen at high volumes and do some low volume listening – but mostly I listen at 'normal' volumes. For the most part I listen to classical music and jazz of various types. I would like to be able to reproduce sound across the full dynamic spectrum. I listen to a lot of organ music, for example, and appreciate being able to get a response down to 20hz. I'm not trying to shake the house down, however.

What I'd like to figure out is what sort of set up might work well – dipoles vs. directional speakers, using a sub-woofer vs using a full-range speaker, etc. I can say more about my preferences if that helps. But I should at least say that I can listen from a sweet spot much of the time, but it is important to put something together that sounds pretty good off-axis. I'm totally open minded, but totally lost. Advice would be much appreciated.

For this size room and FR you desire I would suggest the New BMR Towers - $3500
https://philharmonicaudio.com
The RAAL tweeter is a wonderful silky sounding tweeter that I prefer over any other tweeter I have tried. The Revelator woofer provides useable response down to 20Hz. The price on these is an absolute bargain for the sound they produce.
 

Chrisr

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2021
Messages
30
Likes
7
Posting to give +1 to Focal. The standmounts seem to measure very similarly to the floorstanders, so I reckon giving the Aria 906 mentioned above a listen is a good idea. (With sub.)

Their floorstanders are outstanding, but probably a bit overkill for a medium sized room.
 

luft262

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2021
Messages
465
Likes
236
Location
Phoenix
Focal 906 did measure well here on ASR. I'd recommend Focal 926 and get two small, but good subwoofers. I have a room slightly larger than yours that is open at the back, with porcelain tile flooring and I use the Focal 926 in my HT setup and really enjoy them. I have cheap subs currently, but I'm in the process of deciding on some better ones. I'm not a fan of bookshelf speakers. To me they can be accurate, but they lack the big or full sound you can get from a larger speaker. It could be a visual thing for me as well. I enjoy listening with headphones for critical listening and accuracy, but I enjoy tower speakers with subs for their fullness and power.
 
OP
O

OldUI11

Member
Joined
May 18, 2021
Messages
17
Likes
6
Thanks everyone for the replies, and I am very sorry to be so slow to reply. I will reply individually; I hope that is not bad form.
 

AdamG

Proving your point makes it “Science”.
Moderator
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 3, 2021
Messages
4,636
Likes
14,918
Location
Reality
Thanks everyone for the replies, and I am very sorry to be so slow to reply. I will reply individually; I hope that is not bad form.
Welcome Aboard @OldUI11.
 
OP
O

OldUI11

Member
Joined
May 18, 2021
Messages
17
Likes
6
Welcome to ASR! Glad to have you here :)

I think your room may be a little small for dipoles. The late Siegfried Linkwitz (RIP) recommended placing dipole (or omni or cardioid) speakers at least 1 m away from the side walls and the wall behind. (See 3.2.1, item 3) https://www.linkwitzlab.com/The_Magic/The_Magic.htm

Personally, I think $2k USD is well into the point of diminishing return for stand mount speakers (floor standers go a bit higher as high quality cabinets are expensive to make). The speakers that I found highly interesting, although I haven't had a chance to experience them, are the Philharmonic BMR bookshelves. Don't know about its availability in your area. Here are 2 very informative threads on the BMR.

Erin's measurement and review: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/philharmonic-bmr-speaker-review.14781/
Steve Dallas' impression: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ve-review-road-show-stop-1.18828/#post-616561

Add a couple of subwoofers and getting organs to sound right should be very doable.

Thanks for this; it's very helpful. I appreciate the reference on dipoles. I thought that might be the case, but I wasn't sure. I read the MBR reviews. Both the numbers and the subjective comments make them sound interesting, and the price is attractive. I'll look into them a bit more. And thank you for the welcome!
 
OP
O

OldUI11

Member
Joined
May 18, 2021
Messages
17
Likes
6
I'm a fan of the JBL LSR 7 series.

The 708i and one of the new VTV amps (with balanced inputs) should reach pretty deep in your room. You'll need subwoofer "support" to hear anything longer than an 8 foot stop.

Thanks for this, too. It is nice to see a concrete reference to an organ! I take it that they roll off at around 60hz?
 
OP
O

OldUI11

Member
Joined
May 18, 2021
Messages
17
Likes
6
Posting to give +1 to Focal. The standmounts seem to measure very similarly to the floorstanders, so I reckon giving the Aria 906 mentioned above a listen is a good idea. (With sub.)

Their floorstanders are outstanding, but probably a bit overkill for a medium sized room.
Great, and thanks to the others who recommend the Focals. Those I can audition locally. I live in Europe, and they are commonly stocked in hifi shops.
 

Jim Matthews

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 25, 2021
Messages
1,051
Likes
1,286
Location
Taxachusetts
Per JBL spec sheet:


- 3 dB at 41 hertz.

Practically speaking, they "warble" on the longer stops.
I built a set of Bill Fitzmaurice's Tuba HT subs to handle up to 150 Hz.

This alleviates port noise from the 708.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom