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Big speakers in small room at moderate volume levels

My office is 11’W x 10’L x 9’H and is where I can listen to music for the next few years. I have a toddler and, for now, he has commanded the big spaces in the rest of the house. I have auditioned the Magico A3 and wanted to buy it but that was before I was relegated to the smallish office (I was expecting to move to a bigger room). I have removed the closet doors in this office room. The removal of the closet door gives me another 4 feet of depth to this room, though for only 1/2 width of the room. I can sit unobstructed 8 feet away from the speakers before I hit the area where the closet ends (so near field listening).

I currently I have KEF LS50 with Peachtree Nova 150. It is good and I can listen for the whole day without fatigue. I listen to FM, digital files on ROON, and my Sony SCD-1 SACD player. I want a bigger sound so I am looking at bigger speakers. I also do not want to use a sub since I am not a fan. I will also upgrade the NOVA 150 to the NOVA 500 in Spring 2019 and use with the LS50’s in a bedroom.

I came to the conclusion that my tastes would be best served by one of KEF Reference 1 or Magico A3. I was thinking that I would use the Lyngdorf 3400 in this room but I am having seconds thoughts on this now (some A’gon comments that it maybe a little dry). I am interested in solid state AB units like the Hegel H590 and Mark Levinson 585 to drive the speakers. I have heard the ML 585 and it is a fatigue free sounding unit that was a joy to listen to. I have not heard the Hegel H590 yet (but have heard other Hegels with KEF) and I am in the process of getting an audition of the H590. I have also discounted the class AB Micromega M-One 150 (with MARS room correction) because I do not want a cooling fan blowing in the room.

I must mention that I do not listen that loud when I am working and when I am working very late at night the volume is very low. The Mark Levinson and A3 combo was very good at low volumes during my demo but that was in the dealers perfect large room.

1) Am I making a mistake foregoing room correction with the 2 integrateds I am considering? Should I go with the Lyngdorf and A3 or KEF Ref 1, though I have never heard the Lyngdorf?

2) Will the Magico A3 work in this small room at moderate volumes WITHOUT room correction or will I subject myself to headaches and fatigue?

I am going to ask the dealer selling the A3’s this question when I am ready to buy but i wanted to ask on A’gon first to get some feedback. I doubt I could get the A3’s into my room for a trial but I have not asked the dealer yet.

I think (not 100% sure) the KEF Reference 1 with a non room correcting amp should work in my office space but I would prefer to buy the Magico A3 for the office. I have plans to buy another KEF model once my kid is a bit older and I can kick him out of the big room.
yyzsantabarbara
yyzsantabarbara OP
647 posts
 
@ kahlenz What I mean by "full sound" is the the LS50 compared to both the A3 and KEF Reference 1 do not have the same size soundstage and depth. The separation of the instruments was also better with the bigger speakers. I was able to visualize the performance way better with the A3 and KEF.

One examples is the TASH SULTANA Blackbird track from FLOW STATE. When I hear it at home with the LS50 it sounds great because the music is awesome. However, when I heard it at the dealer with the A3 it was like TASH was wailing away on the guitar in front of me. I was at her recording studio and felt emotionally connected to the performance.

Same thing with Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. When I heard it on the KEF Ref 1 it was almost like when I saw Floyd live in Toronto years ago. With the LS50 it sounds great but it does not take me back to that show.

So maybe the Full sound I say is not a good technical audiophile term. I guess I am referring to my emotional reaction to the tunes.

With regards to subs, I have a small room and a lot of computer equipment (super quiet) and I do not want to add subs to add to the collection. I also do not want to learn how to integrate subs into my monitors. 
kahlenz
168 posts
 
Yes, Harbeths are amazing.  I have been accused of being a fanboy, so I won't say much about them other than I bought a pair (P3esr).

Those SHL5s would sound excellent using the amp you have.  I doubt that spending $10k for an amp would improve the sound much.
ohlala
993 posts
 
The TAD ME1 manual suggests closer wall side and front wall placement than KEF suggests for the R1. I heard the ME1 in that suggested spot at a show. The bass was lumpy as expected from that small speaker, but to be fair others in the room expressed they liked it. Despite that I really, really like its is smooth, graceful presentation and tonality without it crossing over in to being boring and frustrating. Not a particularly high resolution speaker, but neither is the R1. The R1 - you may find - blows out the LS50 for every nickel of the $6500 premium. I am interested in hearing your thoughts between the TAD and the R1. How interesting that a dealer carries both KEF and TAD and has those models in stock.  Your room dimensions are subject to difficult bass problems with mid and HF more easily solved. It is hard to project your success or understand placement restrictions, especially with the A3 and any three-way. Hopefully your dealer can help you test it.  Speakers I know first hand do well in small rooms are the Wilson Sabrinas and YG Carmels (both versions), and JBL 4367, but they themselves are fat.  
yyzsantabarbara OP
647 posts
 
@d2girls I love the new KEF speakers. I have heard the KEF Reference 1 sound awful and also excellent. It was bad when firing into glass windows at a dealer. Headaches ensued  and it was rather unlistenable. Then at a show, it sounded great in a largish room driven by Wyred4Sound Class D monoblocks. 

Once my kid is older I hope to buy the KEF Blade for the downstairs living room. The KEF Ref 1 has a slice of the Blade sound. The Ref 1 is geared towards smaller spaces. My small office space maybe a little on the border of acceptability.
yyzsantabarbara OP
647 posts
 
@tomic6011 My current LS50 and Peachtree is NOT fatiguing. However, in the past I have had bigger speakers in various room sizes, Thiel SCS4, Revel Salon 1, NHT 2.9. These speakers overloaded some of the rooms  and gave me headaches. Now the amps I was using at the time were not considered the smoothest so that could be a factor.

One thing that I realized was that I had my head very close to the back wall in the bad sounding situations. I was reading the Vandersteen setup manual today for the Quattro CT and in it it stated to add some dampening to the wall behind your head if the head is close to the wall. My current office has the same positioning where I am sitting right next to a partial wall. No fatigue with the LS50 but I was thinking with a bigger speaker it would be deja vu again.
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