Time to upgrade the speakers, now which ones will work?

[Impulse]

Hello again! I have a couple people that wanted to buy my speakers so now i am looking to upgrade from the Klipsches. I owned the Icon series that you could buy at Best Buy. Now, i am looking at purchasing either the Bowers & Wilkins CM8, Cm9, or The DM 683s. I have heard the 683s and will be auditioning the others soon.

Now, before i go ahead and drive 2 hours to go hear them, im wondering where i could put them for best sound. My basement is large and open and there are very few places i could put them. I have the floor plans down below and have highlighted where i can and cannot put them.

The green is where i can place each tower. The Red is where i can't. So, out of all those, where would be the ideal place to put each tower? And if i should need a bigger one to fill the space, please let me know!

 

[ski2xblack]

So you're looking for just a stereo pair for that rather sizable room? I think any of the speakers you have listed will be eaten alive trying to fill that space, as may your amps.

Just off the cuff, I would probably use the far right wall, and get something with high sensitivity, somewhat narrow directivity, and that tends to project the sound. Cost no object, I would think a pair of Danley SH50s and a couple or more subs would do the trick in that room, and do it splendidly well, but that's no small-coin setup. You're going to need some seriously big and sensitive speakers to fill that space.

Tell us more about your specific budget, what gear you already own and plan to use, etc. It's going to be a compromize somewhere, but we need more info to determine exactly what can be done and what will be compromized, and help you get the most for your $$.

 

[Impulse]

Thanks for the reply. If I was to put them on The far right wall, the couch would be maybe 15 feet away. My amp is about 50 wpc. It is an old marantz amp. My budget for the speakers would be.. $1200. I can get the cm9s half off. but any reccomendations would be great.'t thanks!

Im not looking to fill up that entire room. Im only looking ro use one of those walls for my ht setup

 

[ski2xblack]

Definitely audition as much as you can, speakers are a highly personal choice.

The problem I see here is that typically, you pick the speakers appropriate for the job first, then get sufficient amp power to drive them. Your voluminous room and listening distance makes their job difficult to begin with. If you're planning on keeping the 50 watt amp, you will either have to live within a much smaller dynamic range (boo! hiss!), or focus your search on considerably more sensitive speakers.

Take your possible CM9s. I think they are about 90db/w/m. 50 watts at your listening distance will get you to ~96 db, with no remaining headroom. Could you live with that? You'll also be running greater risk of equipment damage since your amp will be running near the redline for normal everyday levels. It's something to think about as you do your auditions.

I look at your room diagram, think about the dimensions and size, limited power available, and budget restrictions, and used Klipsch Cornwalls pop into my mind.