Speaker advice - open plan room

[davidsrsb]

You have a room which is close to 3x1x1 ratio, so likely to have some strong modes at 33 and 66 Hz.
It is roughly 5x the volume of most rooms, so expect domestic speakers to have a bass shelf below ~150 Hz, when the lack of ceiling gain happens.

 

[Alex S]

Don’t think you’ll like my reply but I would simplify the system further by selling the Supernait and PMCs and buying active speakers, preferably with room correction.

My choice would be Genelec but there are others and Gens aren’t that beautiful to look at in a living space (although there are wood burners that look similar).

 

[tuga]

I’d not bet against it. They behave by entirely different rules and they will energise the whole area albeit with a 180 degree phase-shift in the space in front vs. behind. My suspicion is nothing else, aside from maybe properly large corner horns (in the ‘lounge‘ corners), stands much chance. It’s a big space. It needs a lot air moving, and moving in the right direction. Whatever the answer is it is going to be big IMHO.

The problem with corner speakers in this particular case is that one of the corners has a fireplace.

 

[tuga]

I’d not bet against it. They behave by entirely different rules and they will energise the whole area albeit with a 180 degree phase-shift in the space in front vs. behind. My suspicion is nothing else, aside from maybe properly large corner horns (in the ‘lounge‘ corners), stands much chance. It’s a big space. It needs a lot air moving, and moving in the right direction. Whatever the answer is it is going to be big IMHO.

Lyngdorf used to sell an acoustic system which consisted of 2 tweeter & midrange open-baffle speakers and 2 corner woofers.
I once attended a demo in a very large room and it worked surprisingly well.

 

[jjmarriott]

Update:

Without the opportunity to home demo, I decided to take the plunge and order some preowned PMC Twenty5 26’s from Fanthorpes. The guys there were fantastic! Ironically I purchased my PMC Twenty 21’s from them a number of years back before I went travelling (I knew I liked the PMC sound, which made the decision easier). The 26’s arrived at lunch time today (couldn’t believe how quickly they arrived!!) and I was able to do a comparison with my Akurate 212’s. Whilst I think the 212’s had the 26’s on the top end (they’re somewhat magically in that range), the 26’s are very close, but offer a much better balance of bass in my room.

I must admit, in recent days without my REL subs I’ve been choosing to listen mostly acoustic tracks. The 212’s really excelled in this area. They are very relaxing to listen to, and really do sound quite amazing!! Like I said, possibly better than the 26’s. But given the size/layout of my room, the 26’s have them beaten in most areas - particularly as I listen to so many genres. It was very interesting to compare!! I usually never have the opportunity to do so as I typically sell my previous speakers before buying another set.

A big thank you to everyone for your input!! It was great to hear everyone’s views, particularly from a technical perspective. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to most haha, but I’ve ended up with a great solution for me and my room