Full Range Speakers for a Small Listening Room


Do they exist? I listen primarily to classical music in a small dedicated listening room. The speakers must go low. The dimensions are 11 ft wide by 16 ft deep. I currently sit 9 feet from the speakers. My budget would be limited to $10k. Assume I do not have any amplifier restriction. I would be willing to re-do amplification if necessary. I would build a new system based around the speakers. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
pkaram
Well, following yr data it looks like full-range choices would be corner loaded speakers -- & I'm not too sure you have enough room there either.

Most probably you'll have to opt for a good pair of satellites + (two) subwoofs as Duke hints above. You'll be listening at ~1W average energy, so electronics shouldn;t be a problem.
If you are comfortable going down to about 28 hz and no lower (w/o a subwoofer) the Merlin Vsm-MX's are terrific speakers and the manufacurer is invaluable as a resource, whether you buy his speakers or not. You should call him, really. The Merlin's are highly resolved and very involving. They sound great with EL34 based amps and OTL's. Bobby now also distributes a new integrated (the ARS-Sonum Filharmia) for about $3500 which is supposed to be terrific match for his speakers.
My room is about the same size as yours and the bass is very tight to about 28hz. And the speakers are beautifully finished and do not take over the room. I like my REL sub (which I use for movies as well) and with them there are really not limits, except those dictated by the room.
For a different, but also satisfying sound I would recommend Vandersteen Quattros with Quicksilver V4 amps and an Aesthetix preamp. Very balanced and coherent. If you want to know who to contact regarding these speakers, please feel free to email me directly.
Good luck in your search.
Best bet is a two-way monitor that you love with a good subwoofer... the hardest part with a small room is the mid-bass and bass, and with careful positioning from the wall of the loudspeakers and dialing in of the lower bass with the sub you can get the sound you want. 'Pre-packaged' full-range speakers are just too hard to place in my opinion, with drawbacks at every distance, from the mids too far away from the wall and the bass too close to it.
Thanks for the additional information, Pkaram.

You might consider the Shahinian Hawks, as I believe they meet your criteria. The designer, Dick Shahinian, shares your priorities.

Another possiblitity is the active Gradient Revolution, with a couple of extra bass modules to get you down to 25 Hz. I happen to peddle Gradients, so you're welcome to take this suggestion with a grain of salt.

In horn speakers, you might consider the Pi Acoustics 7Pi cornerhorn. Smoother than the Klipschorn, with very good bass extension, but perhaps not quite all the way down to 25 Hz. You'd have to ask designer Wayne Parham. Stunning dynamics, but corner speakers usually don't image as well as speakers that sit out in the room a little ways. If using subwoofers is an option that opens up other high-efficiency speakers as possibilities, but assuming no subwoofers I think the 7Pi is very competitive. I can go into more detail about them if you'd like.

In planars, the Magnepan 20.1 is probably the front-runner in that price range given your 25 Hz criteria. The Quad 989 is another possibility, and presumably the larger of the two new Quad electrostats is as well (I can't remember its name offhand). I'm not sure of the bass extension of these larger Quads, but it's probably into the upper 20's. Used SoundLab A-1/M-1/U-1's would also work well (I sell new ones, but they're outside your price range). Given that panel speakers are quite large and like some space behind them, they might not be the most practical choice for your room.

Best of luck in your quest!

Duke
My room is smaller than yours and I use Thiel 7.2s with great success. I do have room treatment. I would never think of replacing them with smaller speakers.