Best floor standing speaker for a 15 by 15 foot room?

[Mike Gillespie]

Hi, I have a 15x15 foot office. Had some Gallo Diva Ti's. Not enough detail and sounded harsh. I have a JL Audio F112 sub so it's more the mid and high end I'm concerned about. As an ex-musician I need a detailed sound stage where I can really separate the instruments. I can have the speakers 5 feet apart and I'm about 5 feet from the front of the speaker if I give the back of the speaker 18 inches or so of room. If you recommend a speaker and you know of a solid-state amp that works well with it, please let me know as well. Thanks.

 

[mstieb]

Hard to offer advice without a bit more info:

 

Could you tell us about the source & amp that was driving the Diva Ti's?

 

How are the acoustics in this room? When you clap, is there an echo, or are the furnishings/floor covering capable of absorbing reflected sounds?

 

How high is the ceiling?

 

[nyc_paramedic]

Salk Sound Song Tower: http://www.salksound.com/songtower%20home.htm

 

Forum: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=82.0

 

Review:

 

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0408/stalk_signature_songtower.htm

 

Also, the latest edition of The Absolute Sound was just released. The Salk Song Tower QWT won the Editor's Choice Award for 2011.

 

It's a MTM transmission line speaker, so you should be able to get it pretty close to the rear wall.

 

 

 

[kana813]

If you're an ex-musician, check out the Event Opals.

 

Yes, they'll need stands, but you won't need to buy an amp(s).

 

[davidR]

I'll second the Event Opals. Also check out the Dynaudio M3A monitor or ADAM Audio S3X-H monitor.

 

[ciamara]

The mistake we most often see in system design is to choose loudspeakers that are not large enough to produce the level of acoustical output a room requires. And this matters even at low to moderate volume levels. What often happens is this: A person buys a pair of speakers to match an amplifier or vice versa. Then the acoustical output is lacking, so he/she adds sub-woofers to round out the low end. Because sub-woofers are one-size-fits-all boxes, they rarely match well with the speakers (not least because very few have really good, well-designed crossover circuitry). And as a result, the overall imaging is sub-standard. By this point, a lot of money has been invested, and starting over (the best solution) is out of the question. The same is true when going in reverse and starting with subs.

 

It is also critically important to know what kind of amplifier to pair with speakers, not to mention the rest of the upstream equipment. Amplifier power, current, slew rate, etc. are all very important factors to consider. What may be an excellent amp for some speakers may actually sound terrible with others.

 

All this to say, be careful not to jump right into a set of speakers because they have worked for others. You can do much better with a little engineering, and planning.

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

[realhifi]

Big question, how much do you want to spend? Honestly, you could get 100 different recommendations on this and without some sort of price range you are looking in then it could be a lot of work for things you will never even consider.

 

My advice is simple, find a dealer that carries some good lines and go and hear a few. Try to narrow your choices then and then start asking about peoples impressions of those speakers.

 

First and foremost? LISTEN to the ones you can afford and pic the one you love.

 

That said, if you get a chance, listen to the B&W CM5's.

They'd fit your room like a glove and even a little 40 watt integrated amp from Rotel will make them sound nice.

 

OOPS! Looked back on your original post and see you only want floorstanders. Make that either the B&W 684's or their up market CM8's and for something different try to hear the terrific little Rega RS3's and RS5's.

 

[James1776]

Mike, that sounds exactly like my setup and nearfield situation...The answers should be interesting...now add in my limited budget and one has a real world issue.

 

[James1776]

Not very sensitive...I doubt my 38 watt max PrimaLuna amp would drive them

 

[dsnyder]

Hello,

 

Knowing your budget would help narrow the field a bit, however, I'll make a suggestion anyway. :-)

 

It sounds like you'll be doing solid state amplification and you are planning to use your sub. From my sig, it may be obvious that I'm partial to Legacy Audio loudspeakers. They have a pair of monitors (Studio HD) for around $1.5k that might integrate well with your Fathom F112 sub. If you want to avoid speaker stands, consider the Classic HD (around $4.5k) in a room that size. The FOCUS HD/SE really need at least 2 feet from the back wall to integrate with the room, so if you are constrained to 18", they would not be good idea.

 

If you are looking for an amp too, the Kavent P-3300 or McCormack DNA-250 should work well with the Legacys. The Kavent operates in Class-A mode most of the time, which should provide some extra finesse to the playback experience. I'm using an old McCormack DNA-1 to drive my FOCUS SEs (see my sig), and the two work together very well.

 

-- David

 

 

[Codifus]

The mistake we most often see in system design is to choose loudspeakers that are not large enough to produce the level of acoustical output a room requires. And this matters even at low to moderate volume levels. What often happens is this: A person buys a pair of speakers to match an amplifier or vice versa. Then the acoustical output is lacking, so he/she adds sub-woofers to round out the low end. Because sub-woofers are one-size-fits-all boxes, they rarely match well with the speakers (not least because very few have really good, well-designed crossover circuitry). And as a result, the overall imaging is sub-standard. By this point, a lot of money has been invested, and starting over (the best solution) is out of the question. The same is true when going in reverse and starting with subs.

 

Well said Ciamara.

 

MG555, since you're a musician you already know that most music doesn't contain much, if at all, bass info below about 30 Hz. If you really want detail and space, make your system 2.0 and get some big towers, like Swan Diva 6.2Fs with dual 8" ported woofers and a reponse down to 32 Hz. They are well received, known to sound great, have powerful bass and very good imaging.

 

CD

 

 

 

[bdiament]

Hi Mike,

 

"...Hi, I have a 15x15 foot office. Had some Gallo Diva Ti's. Not enough detail and sounded harsh. I have a JL Audio F112 sub so it's more the mid and high end I'm concerned about. As an ex-musician I need a detailed sound stage where I can really separate the instruments. I can have the speakers 5 feet apart and I'm about 5 feet from the front of the speaker if I give the back of the speaker 18 inches or so of room. If you recommend a speaker and you know of a solid-state amp that works well with it, please let me know as well. Thanks...."

 

A square room is going to present problems if left untreated. Am I correct in thinking there are no acoustic treatments in the room?

 

Also, what is the ceiling height? Hopefully it is at least 8 feet and not closer to 7 1/2, which would only compound the problems engendered by a 15 foot square.

 

Before mentioning any speaker, the most important thing for you to know is that without proper treatment, particularly of the room's resonant modes in the bass, this room is going to "ring" quite significantly at ~75 Hz, with secondary ringing at ~150 Hz, ~225 Hz and ~300 Hz.

 

Bass will "boom" at some frequencies, almost disappear at other frequencies and sound "sour" (ill defined in pitch) at other frequencies. This will account for some of the "harsh" sound you describe. (Untreated early reflections in the treble will exacerbate the harsh quality.) The ringing on the bottom will obscure low level detail (hence the "not enough detail" comment in your post).

 

So, my first recommendation is to treat the space. (I do not recommend the flat panels sold as "traps". ASC's Tube Traps, based on Harry Olsen's cylindrical "functional sound absorbers", along with the do-it-yourself variations on these -recipes for which are available on the Web- are the only ones I've heard that are truly effective.)

 

Second, as far as speakers, I'm very partial to Magnepans, finding they have that rare ability to often sound, not like a "good speaker" but like Music. (If you get to hear these and feel similarly, you'll know exactly what I mean.)

Aside from their inherent sound quality, planar dipoles have the additional advantage of only exciting room resonances in the front-to-back dimension. Planar dipoles like Maggies send very little sound side-to-side or vertically, so they start out by exciting only 1/3 the resonances quasi-omni monopoles (i.e. box speakers) do.

 

For more on setting up a room, perhaps this article might be of interest.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

Barry

www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

 

 

 

[flacdaddy]

Hi Mike,

just thought I would chime in as I also have owned the Diva Ti's and am a musician. For around $2500, I would also recommend the Salk Songtowers (great overall speaker), and I also really liked the Epos M22's (great soundstage). For around the same price, you could try my current setup: a Peachtree Nova and Zu Audio Omen's. It is a pretty satisfying combo that gives you some options, but I really need to do some room treatments to get the best sound given my very live room. It's plenty loud, pretty reasonable, looks good but I must admit I am already wondering what the Salk's would sound like in my room!