Speakers for small and large rooms?

[MarkSJohnson]

I’m in the process of upgrading my HT step by step and the last purchase (probably 6 months to a year away) will be speakers.

My living room is approximately 12’x12’ with 8.5’ ceilings… small by many HT standards. Unfortunately, for the foreseeable future, that’s what I have to work with. (My business is mostly on the first floor of the home, so much of our personal living space is what was originally intended to be bedrooms when the house was built 100 years ago.) The thing is, it’s very possible that we might refinish the attic, giving us a large 25’x40’ open “great room” three or four years out. A little further out, we might even end up buying another house to live in, leaving this one for strictly commercial uses.

Currently, I have DCM TimeFrame 600’s as my mains, a DCM Center, and Optimus (LX-6? LX-7? The ones with the omni tweeter on the top!!) for the two surrounds. There’s the background, so here goes….

I’m torn between two general speaker directions for the ~$4,000 speaker budget I’m setting at this point: Large speakers that can kick some butt in a big room (think Definitive tower-type) or small, but high-end speakers on stands (Think something like Canton Karat series).

My gut feeling tells me that many large speakers really need some room to “open up” and yet smaller speakers are not likely to be satisfying in a large room…. And I don’t want to revisit the purchase in another couple of years. I see speakers as a longer-term investment over electronics with their periodic upgrades. I'd like to do it well and have them last me awhile.

I’m not really asking for specific recommendations, although I’d welcome some before starting the long auditioning process. My area, (Concord, NH) is not exactly rural but I’ve seen what I think most of you have seen: The many “stereo” boutiques and small stores of the 70’s and 80’s are essentially gone due to the Best Buys and Circuit Cities. The ones that are left seem to have found a larger market in aftermarket car systems. In other words, my auditioning process will likely take me on quite a few day trips around New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and maybe even Connecticut and New York…. So a few ideas of specific models/manufacturers wouldn’t be objectionable. The goal would be for a 5.1 system soon, with the option for 7.1 later with the larger room.

Knowing that it’s all so subjective, however, my point is to instead ask the broader question: Do you feel that there are speakers that offer good sound without overwhelming a small room, and yet can fill a large room as well? Is there a “best of both worlds” or are all the choices going to end up a compromise if I’m trying to fill two diverse needs?

Thanks for any and all wisdom!!

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

I'd say there are probably any number of more compact floor standing full range speakers that would work in both situations. The PSB Stratus Silver is an example of what could work and probably worth a listen. The RBH T-2 Signatures....nah, probably not! When you get a larger room maybe you could add a sub to push more air and restore the bass you might lose in a large room with relatively compact speakers. Or they might be fine.

I am not aware of any hard and fast rule (or even rule of thumb) to say whether a speaker is too large or too small for a given room - wonder if there is one besides how it looks, i.e., if it looks too large...?

Still, those DCM Time Frames were quite the cat's heinie in their day, weren't they? Maybe you should keep those unless you can really improve on them!