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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
 
@leotis  Thanks for the feedback. Exactly the type of info I was looking for.  I was thinking this over and I think i should buy the Lyngdorf 3400. With the Lyngdorf in the mix,  I will have room treatments,  DSP, and an equalizer via ROON as options to tame the room. 

My buddy with the Spendor tells me that the TAD ME1 would be the way he would go.
axo0oxa
13 posts
 
I have KEF Ref 1 and 3s and both are in rooms 12 x 15 with 8.5 foot ceiling heights. They sound great. I run both with tube amps that produce 38 watts per channel and that is plenty. I tried Electrocompaniet solid state AW400 watt mono blocks with the Ref 3s, since I kept reading people on forums claim they need lots of power to bring out the bass. I ended up finding this statement not true. I am back to my tube mono blocks that produce the 38 watts per channel in triode mode. The sound goes just as deep with the tubes but sounds so much better to my ears in the mid and upper frequency ranges that the little extra control in the bass lost with the tubes is not really noticed. The sound stage is deeper, wider and more focused also with the tubes.
honeyooi
58 posts
 
@yyzsantabarbara,
i do have same size room with you and using harbeth M30.1 ,My set up is triangle with 7ft distance between speaker and the seat .
to get you an idea is in my system pics .

audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
1,621 posts
 
Yysantabarbera,

Been following this thread for a while here is where we would weigh in with your quest.

We would not recommend any speaker with very deep bass below 30hz as the room is really too small even with room treatments and electronic room correction you will have difficulty getting clean bass if the response is too low.

2: The best compact loudspeaker we have heard is the TAD ME 1, we are not yet a dealer for them but liked them so much we are contemplating bringing them in. Are they a lot better than the Ref 1 we think they are a bit more magical in terms of the midrange and refinement.

A point source dual concidental loudspeaker works wonders in less then optimal room’s due to the quasi horn loading which creates a very large sweet spot, and can help for off access listening postions.

3: We would recommend the Micromega M150 over the Lyngdorf, the Micromega sounds absolutely stunning with a class A/B amplifier that has a powerful punchy bass response, a warm midrange, and a huge dimensional sound stage and of course the Micromega M150 has MARS Room correction which is a subtitle but effective room correction system. The Lyngdorf is a class D  digital amplifier very similar to the NAD M32 which we have on display, the sound of the M32 is very clean but lacks the midrange liquidity and the involving musicality of the Micromega. The Lyngdorf and the M32  works best with much warmer loudspeakers rather than the cleaner faster sound of the TAD's, Magico or the KEF which seems to be the sound that you like

Personally we heard the A3 and think the TAD is a more musical version of that high resolution sound.

We do like the idea of the passive treatments as room correction can help but can not take the place of passive treatments, the combination of active room correction plus passive tuning makes even a less then optimal room into a very good sounnding one.

In the 2016 New York Audio show we were using the Paradigm Persona 9H a speaker with active bass correction, when we added in room tunning pannels the sound was fantastic.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ


tomic601's avatar
tomic601
2,164 posts
 
I ran a fairly strict a/b on ROON EQ vs none to tame an issue at 80 HZ and was not at all pleased with it’s overall impact on SQ. Of course your results may vary...
whatever you are running ROON core on need be up to the processing task also

But since you have it, why not try after you get room sorted...? I also think experiments like that help with developing critical listening skills

iF you have pre out / power amp in on the future integrated, you could use a phase correct analog filter to roll off the very low base to counter room gain. so for example a Vandersteen M5-HP inserted and set correctly would help. This may allow for a larger speaker than otherwise contemplated....

In that small a room, I would stay away from anything with a cooling fan...
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