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Audio Empire Audio Empire is offline
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Default Need advice for a small room

On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:58:37 -0700, Robert Peirce wrote
(in article ):

In article ,
Andrew Haley wrote:

Robert Peirce wrote:
In article ,
Andrew Haley wrote:

Regardless of room constructions and shape, there are speakers
that work well if you are in a single position but not so well if
you are not, and speakers that possibly aren't the best for a
fixed location but provide good sound throughout the space.


This is to do with the directivity of a loudspeaker and the way
that it interacts with a room. Many loudspeakers that have an
excellent frequency response on axis are very ragged off-axis. The
most desirable trait, from your point of view, is that the
directivity of your loudspeakers should be constant, or at least
only gradually changing, over most of the frequency range.


Thanks. I couldn't exactly describe the desired characteristics of
the speaker but I think that is pretty close. The panel speakers I
have probably aren't terribly directional, especially since half the
sound is bouncing of the front wall. The mini-monitors I have
described as working well only at a point are probably highly
directional.

So, where does one find information on small, non-directional
speakers that can get down to, say, 25-30Hz, probably with the
addition of woofers?


With the addition of proper subwoofers, ANY small speakers will "get
down" to 25-30 Hz. The thing about small speakers is that price-wise,
they're all over the map. You can go for a pair of Magico Q1's
(approx. 14" X 14" X 9" - two way) for twenty-five THOUSAND dollars a
pair, to a pair of Usher "Tiny Dancer" 2-way for about $2,700 a pair
down to the similar (and also excellent) Monitor Audio BX1s at less
than $500/pair. Hint: The British are really good at making this type
of speaker and most British speaker brands have these small
stand-mounted speakers as part of their product lineup.

I have heard the Magicos, and they are magic, but I've also heard the
BX1s and they too are amazing for 1/50 the price with an on-axis
frequency response of 55 to 30KHz +/- 3 dB! But whatever you decide on
don't forget to budget for some decent stands.