my own "little" speaker quest

Have you thought about B&W 600 series or Genelec? Both in my opinion sound a lot better than the other brands listed and are top notch! Both brands are widely used in recording studios because of their neutral accurate dynamic sound. Check them out if you get a chance. I have sold all of these brands and the 2 I listed here sell themselves over any others without trying.

Never heard of Genelec. What model would suit my needs?

Todd,

I like you screen. Who makes it?

you could try three of these:

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...iq6c-black-ash

by the way, nice a/v credenza. what kind is that?

What about the SVS SBS-01s and an SCS-01? I'm dying to try these speakers out myself... they should provide you a nice seamless soundstage.

Todd,

Can you tell me what you didn't like about the Klipsch WB14? I am trying to find a local dealer who has these to audition them.

Thanks,

Nick

Todd,

I have not owned Klipsch before but did listen to Klipsch RF52s and RF62s which I did like. Unfortunately, I am restricted to bookshelf speakers. The WB-14 is the bookshelf and the WC-24 is the center.

Those are the two I plan to audition this weekend.

Good luck on your quest. I feel your pain!

Nick

Smaller speaker will sound thin as you crank them up, which is why you have an excellent subwoofer.

Have a listen to the Ascend HTM-200SE's....they come in right at the 11" height mark. You originally had a post of about the Sierra-1 center, I think three of those across the front in your room would work well.

I have the SVS SCS-01's for my center and mains and the SBS-01's for my surrounds in my main HT, 7.1 set-up, love em!! Upstairs in my living room I have Orb Audio speakers. The are quite small and produce excellent sound for their size. I originally had Orb's in my main set-up but preferred the SVS sound, fuller, seamless. Both are on-line retailers and offer an excellent return policy. Have a look. Let me know if you have any questions.

It looks like you could use 3 of most any brands center channel speakers. Most centers are well below 11 inches tall, so buy 3 of the one you like the most.

Another option, which I think sounds great, would be to buy a second MFW15. Then you could use the MFW15 as a speaker stand with virtually any speaker you wanted. Probably wouldn't look as classy as the setup you have going though.

Really another option would be something similar the Magnepan MC1. Or another wall mountable speaker system. The Maggies would probably look good with your setup.

I think the Sierras would be better.

The lobbing issue is generalized for MTM designed centers.....it really depends on the overall design of the MTM. That said, your room is relatively narrow, and it doesn't look like anyone would be sitting very far off axis where lobbing would be a problem. I really don't think any speaker would have a dispersion problem in your room.

TP

Don't cross off all multi-driver centers from your list. Many designs address the lobing in different ways. KEF does it with a Coaxial design iQ6C, NHT Classic Two or Three C's have a stacked tweeter/mid, just to name a few. Center speakers are key in a multichannel set up.

Standard 2 way bookshelves would not have this lobing dispersion problem. I have used three identical bookshelves (normal orientation) and the sound was nearly perfect. and dispersion very god. Also have used currently a center with stacked tweeter mid. Excellent.

With the massive size of your screen it would be beneficial for you to have as much speaker as you can afford so the sound matches the size of those talking heads.

Consider these Bookshelves:
NHT Absolute Zero
PSB Alpha
Paradigm Atom


An interesting low profile (under 7" tall) set up option:
KEF iQ2C for Left/Right + KEF iQ6C at Center
that will give lots of sound for $740 at vanns dot com

What is your AV receiver and/or amp?

Go listen to some great speakers near you first! Good luck

Great point Curtis!

Mirage OMD-5 are also a good choice. On clearance at vanns.

Those are small speakers. I had them in my house for about two hours

That big beatiful screen, needs big sound. No way anything small is going to make the OP happy.


I know you like it but you might want to consider removing it and adding bigger speakers across the bottom. This is the maybe one of the only way I see you having the performance that room deserves. Then remove the plant from the corner and have a nice AV rack their....say sorry to your spouse too for me

Is the 11" limit the height to the bottom of the screen border, or the bottom of the actual white part of the screen? If it's to the bottom of the border you could expand your options by letting the height go all the way up to the bottom of the white part of the screen. I would look at JBL L820s and LC2 center if you can squeeze that extra 1.5" in there. Also, while it might compromise aesthetics a bit, you could also remove the feed from your AV shelves to get another 2" or so of speaker height. Another option, do you have somewhere in the rear of the room you could place your subwoofer? This would allow you to use tower speakers or bookshelfs on stands to the left/right of your AV shelves.

Small speakers can never do anything well under maybe 140Hz from what I have measured.

Its not that you can not be happy, we all can compromise and be happy but once you get a taste for a better LCR setup you will simply wonder how you thought the smaller choices where any good.

You have a great choice in sub, you have a beautiful HUGE picture and then you have small speakers.....You are fine now but the upgrade will come, I only know because many of us have been there You will keep wanting the mains to give you slam like the sub and you will come back asking about mid-bass module only to realize that you should just upgrade your mains to something that can give you the dynamics needed for movie playback.

You decision isnt wrong. Just want to make sure you understand that small speakers will not give you the ultimate impact you maybe be looking for at some point.

That's a huge price range.

I would throw the NHT Classic Two's into the mix, PSB's, and the HTM-200SE's (now that I think about it, the CMT-340SEc would work too).

If the MFW-15 does have an issue with upper bass, you should definitely try speakers than can be crossed lower.

The Onkyo 805 is a good deal right now.

If you could have done 14" then Salk HTS - MT monitors would have been my recommendation.

http://www.salksound.com/htshome.shtml

Vandersteen VCC-1 would fit also. Coaxial design.

If it were me I'd take the feet off of the furniture you have up front... 2" more height would really open up your options.

I'll throw in another vote for the SVS's, just wall mount the mains. They are affordable and I personally thought they sounded very good with music and movies. You could look at either 3 x SCS-01 for the front with 2 x SBS01 or 4 x SBS01 if you are looking for 7.1. Both options would be under a grand and fill that room very well.

http://www.svsound.com/products-spks-scs01.cfm

I've never been a fan of a large horizontal array of drivers. For some t may work out great but my attempts in the past failed. They just never sounded the best that way.

Best of luck.