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Large speakers in small room

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amazement

pfm Member
What are your thoughts? I’ve a small room but would love to try some JBL 100 classics or some Klipsch.

Watching a video of Michael Fremer he has some large Wilson’s in his small room and back in the day I heard a pair on Linn Keltics in Griffin Audios small listening room upstairs at their premises on Bristol street in Brum many years ago.
 
Borrow/home dem' some.

I have never owned any small speakers and have always had a very average/ordinary sized lounge. I am using 180 litre cabinets in a room of around 15 x 12 feet.

For most people there are likely to be two actual limitations - acceptance by others in the household, and designs that need plenty of distance away from a wall.
 
I found it didn't work for me, only tried once though with one brand of speaker and amp, both got sent back, they were a ported 3 way floorstanding model, I could hear the boxes/port chuffing away and the bass was boomy.
The dealer thought they were great, I thought they were crap. They were about 7/8 times the price of the speaker I was using, I was expecting a rather large upgrade in SQ.
I guess speaker & cabinet design is going to affect what way a larger speaker performs in a smaller room, whether rear, front, side or downward port, TL, or one of many others.
Probably listening volume and arms will have their part to play as well furnishings & room dimensions.
 
Large speakers can work perfectly fine in a smaller room. Just because it's a bigger speaker, doesn't mean it will have more low frequency extension (although they often do). Obviously, more low frequency extension means more chance of boomy bass (try before you buy).

The other thing to consider is - the more drivers the speaker has, the more likely you will need to sit further away for the drivers to integrate properly.
 
It pays to know your room - a room eq quick sweep measurement with a suitable mic tells all, and really, can spare so much heartache and put you on the track of what will work and what will not.

By way of example, my room is relatively large but has an approx 49hz mode that is relatively high and absolutely clouds midrange. Physical treatment is out, so I can either buy typically small speakers or do digital room eq etc. There's no way around this. Believe me, I've tried amps, different speakers etc. It's there.
 
I've seen Naim DBLs installed in two rooms, and heard them in one. Being able to place them against the wall, and not being ported, makes them work - the pair I heard sounded great, and finally convinced me to buy a pair.
 
Actually, what's really useful is the room eq room sim feature. You can input your room measurements, listening distance, speaker characteristics and get very useful insight. It's well worth doing as a first order of business.

Also, your current speakers and their characteristics will lend some very useful insight.
 
There is no definitive answer to this, it depends on the speakers, the room and the rest of the system.

The potential issue obviously is bass. If the bass is tight and well controlled enough it's surprizing what can work in rooms that really shouldn't. Conversely, you can get bass problems even with relatively small speakers if things aren't right.

So yeah, you can get big speakers to work in a small room. It's just harder.
 
amazement said:
What are your thoughts? I’ve a small room but would love to try some JBL 100 classics or some Klipsch.

Watching a video of Michael Fremer he has some large Wilson’s in his small room and back in the day I heard a pair on Linn Keltics in Griffin Audios small listening room upstairs at their premises on Bristol street in Brum many years ago.
Click to expand...

You'll need to compensate for the wall proximity by EQ'ing the low end (reducing the bass output). Plugging the ports might help too.

The best system I've listened to in a home uses of a pair of B&W 801Fs in a 12sqm untreated room.

Upstairs rooms in typical UK (board on joist, plaster ceiling) construction are "lossy" in the bass.
 
Something else worth taking into consideration is that upstairs rooms in typical UK homes are hard to get to and it may prove difficult to move a large speaker to the first floor.
 
IME a lot of large speakers (and for me that means a 12” or larger bass unit, I’m not counting little drivers chuffing about in a big box!) are far better behaved than many smaller ones as the bass is ‘real’ rather than a stunt or artifice generated by aggressive port loading or whatever. My bet is this is a timing/phase thing. As many will be aware I have absolutely huge Lockwood Tannoy monitors in a typical Victorian terrace front room and they are very well behaved indeed. The bass is clean and extended without booms or honks and they were far easier to get working than many far smaller but more aggressively ported speakers I’ve tried.
 
The largest speakers i’ve owned were Martin Logan Hybrids, not sure if they would be regarded as large speakers, they sounded fab in a previous moderately sized room and SBL in current room which sounded great and better than the larger room I had before.

I don’t get along too well with ported speakers.

Currently using Proac Tab10’s, which i love but occasionally notice the bottom end missing.
 
As so many people have written before, the room is the key.

I am currently using a system with Dynavcector amps driving Obelisks. These are not massive speakers but are larger than many would consider in a domestic environment. In their previous location (30’s built semi with suspended floor) they sounded good but could provoke a ‘boom in the room’ which was a shame. I am now living in a relatively modern house with solid floors and dry lined walls and it all sounds so much better despite having a solid wood floor (don’t worry there is a rug to tie it together).

Either get a demo or buy 2nd hand and move them on if it doesn’t work out.
 
Tony L said:
IME a lot of large speakers (and for me that means a 12” or larger bass unit, I’m not counting little drivers chuffing about in a big box!) are far better behaved than many smaller ones as the bass is ‘real’ rather than a stunt or artifice generated by aggressive port loading or whatever. My bet is this is a timing/phase thing. As many will be aware I have absolutely huge Lockwood Tannoy monitors in a typical Victorian terrace front room and they are very well behaved indeed. The bass is clean and extended without booms or honks and they were far easier to get working than many far smaller but more aggressively ported speakers I’ve tried.
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I agree.

It's more than just a timing/phase issue. Large woofers potentially produce less distortion, 3-ways idem, and ports tuned to a high frequency (≥ 50Hz) show their limitations regarding transient response and tonal discrimination when compared to sealed cabinets (in other words they become audible flatulent machines).
 
amazement said:
The largest speakers i’ve owned were Martin Logan Hybrids, not sure if they would be regarded as large speakers, they sounded fab in a previous moderately sized room and SBL in current room which sounded great and better than the larger room I had before.

I don’t get along too well with ported speakers.

Currently using Proac Tab10’s, which i love but occasionally notice the bottom end missing.
Click to expand...

Really how do you have the Ab FAb 10's positioned?
 
Snufkin said:
As so many people have written before, the room is the key.

I am currently using a system with Dynavcector amps driving Obelisks. These are not massive speakers but are larger than many would consider in a domestic environment. In their previous location (30’s built semi with suspended floor) they sounded good but could provoke a ‘boom in the room’ which was a shame. I am now living in a relatively modern house with solid floors and dry lined walls and it all sounds so much better despite having a solid wood floor (don’t worry there is a rug to tie it together).

Either get a demo or buy 2nd hand and move them on if it doesn’t work out.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t say Obs are at all large really but they can shift air. I’ve heard Hawks sounding great in a small room. I guess Shahinian general design is a factor but you need an amp with grip like your DV.

All but near field mini monitors will sound bad in a bad small room. Many things can sound excellent in a good small room. As you say, the room is key. I’ve had great speakers sounding bad in an acoustically crap, large concrete cube but I learned a lot.
 
I had a pair of Klipsch Heresys and ran them serveral times over the time I had them in my bedroom. They sounded wonderful. Don't need a lot to drive them either and you can get into valves if you are keen.
 
I think I’ve got my ATC SCM40a’s singing pretty well & that’s in a small room, probably 3.5x 5m or so.
Being a well controlled sealed box design probably helps as it allows placement fairly close to the front wall (approx 60cm) without having excess rear port influence.
I have some GIK Panels in the room, bass traps in corners & absorption at the 1st & 2nd reflection points.
I like it anyway.
 
I think my Ardens work fairly well in my modest room, and I think they qualify as 'large' by most people's standards. I think I would benefit from a touch of room treatment, but that's not surprising given the 15" DCs. I think I get a couple of areas of mild emphasis and a couple of mild cancellation that becomes more noticeable at higher playback levels. For normal levels - avg. 80dB or less - they're fine.
 
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