Is a 17x15 room too big for B&W 805S?

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  • romnation
    Junior Member
    • Jan 2010
    • 8

    Is a 17x15 room too big for B&W 805S?

    Right now I have a pair of B&W 805s, which I am using in a 14 1/2 x 13 room. I have them set up on the long wall, about 6 feet away from the rear wall, and I sit about 6 feet from the speakers. It sounds great in there. I am running 200wpc into them. I am moving though, and will be having a 17x15 dedicated listening room. My question is, am I going to lose volume when I go into the new, bigger room? I will only be having them about an extra 1/2 foot off of the rear wall (and sitting about an extra 1/2 foot back) I like to listen pretty loud at times (85-90db). Will they still fill the room like they do right now? I know I will lose bass, but I plan on adding a sub (or two), I really hope I can integrate the sub well. I'd really like to keep the 805s, as I like them a lot and don't really want to blow bunch of money on towers.
  • sskim
    Member
    • Sep 2007
    • 52

    #2
    Since you were happy with 805S without a sub in 14.5'x13' room, and if you'll be adding a sub or two, I think you'll be fine using them in your new bigger listening room. I have 805S--feeding 150wpc--and SVS Pb12+ sub in a room slightly bigger than yours (14.75' x 22'.) And they do perform well.

    Comment

    • stuofsci02
      Super Senior Member
      • Nov 2009
      • 1241

      #3
      If you are adding a sub then you will have no problem... I don't think even without a sub you will have any problem, other then less bass. If you move them a little closer to the wall you can get a little more bass out of them.

      Sounds like you new room would work well with an 8ft equal triangle between you and your speakers..
      Main System:
      B&W 801D
      Emotiva USP-1 Pre-Amp
      Chord SPM-650 Stereo Amp
      Oppo BDP-105
      Squeezebox Touch


      Second System:
      B&W CM7
      Emotiva UMC-1
      Emotiva UPA-2
      Oppo BDP-83SE
      Grant Fidelity DAC-09

      Comment

      • RedRock
        Junior Member
        • Jan 2010
        • 29

        #4
        I recently demoed a pair of the 805s speakers in my listening space (18'x16'x9'). The mid/high-end sound quality was very good, however, as expected the base was severely lacking. Once I turned on my Velodyne Optimum-10 SW, the balance was much better and the base was seamless across the listening area - much better - I could live with tthe setup if I had to. However, I felt the 805s were a bit lacking at higher volume levels and didn't fill the room with sound. I decided to wait and purchase the new 804-di's coming out next month. Best thing for you to do is simply give the 805s' a try in your new space and judge for yourself.

        Eric
        B&W 804Di (L/R mains)
        B&W HTM4Di (center)
        B&W SCMs (surround)
        Arcam AVR-600
        Arcam DV-137
        Arcam irDock
        Velodyne Optimum-10
        Furman Elite 15 PF

        Comment

        • style
          Super Senior Member
          • Feb 2006
          • 1562

          #5
          Hi RedRock,

          is for a stereo system correct?
          I don't know what do you have as ampli,....but the 805S is a great speaker and give you sure satisfaction in your room.
          a sub, give you the bang that maybe you search... but vefore go with a new 804D see if you can have great 803D "from today`"! = save money and great sound!!!

          the new serie is sure a evolution, not a revolution and is possible that this "evolution" dont is not a justification money / performance!!

          Style

          Comment

          • dan87951
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2005
            • 379

            #6
            In my opinion yes. 805S's are just to small to fill a room that size even with a sub. I went through this about a year ago and decided on CM9's for our backup system over the 805S's. I found I had to cross the sub to high up and the sound wasn't as smooth or seemless. It was rather obvious I had a sub playing to get adequate bass in my room. There are pictures somewhere on this forum when I did the back to back comparison. In the end I came home with CM9's which I felt had a bigger sound stage and obiously more bass. Don't get me wrong the highs on the 805S's were just a little crispier and more detailed but I wasn't looking for just one piece of the puzzle I wanted the whole package (highs and lows).
            dan87951
            audio guru

            Comment

            • Blindamood
              Senior Member
              • Sep 2003
              • 899

              #7
              Originally posted by dan87951
              In my opinion yes. 805S's are just to small to fill a room that size even with a sub.
              I have to differ with that! My room is about 15' x 19', and I've got 805S, HTM4S, and SCMS fed by the Rotel RMB-1085 (5 x 100W Class D). Sub is an 8" Velodyne Mini-Vee. I don't think they have any problem filling the room with sound. This is true whether I'm listening in surround, or to 2-channel music. I have not compared to floorstanders in this space, but I'm more than happy.
              Brad

              Comment

              • jamesdaman
                Senior Member
                • Apr 2008
                • 136

                #8
                my 805s are in my 15x15 room and they Fill the room with sound no probs

                Comment

                • emig5m
                  Senior Member
                  • Aug 2008
                  • 646

                  #9
                  Well... can't give input on the 805S but I compared my 683 and 685 pretty good back-to-back as front mains crossed over to a sub at 80Hz. Max volumes was a little lower, not too bad, only had to turn the sub down one or two clicks in the setup menu to level match from the 683's setting. So they got plenty loud enough for me. Last time I did this comparison I actually went and borrowed the proper stands from my local dealer. I was seriously ready to dump the tower speakers and go 685s all the way around they where that good, very impressive for bookshelf speakers.

                  The main thing that really held me back was the midrange performance of the 683. Going back and forth it was easily noticeable that the 683's FST mids where more open and detailed. As far as noticing a sub in the mix, well, I used to be anti-sub for 2-channel music listening simply because I could never get the sub to blend well and the sub would draw too much attention from poor settings making the bass sound lopsided. One day I was determined to figure it out...took a while, but finally got it and now I almost never consider listening without the sub. I normally will now spend a couple months with fine tuning (crossover points for example).

                  I think the number one problem is people crank their subs up too much. They possibly set it up so movies crash and boom the loudest then music will sound lopsided. I really like testing for a seamless blend with a sine wave sweep starting at 20Hz going up and well through the crossover to the mains (it's not the only test I do, but one of great value to me). Level matching right through the crossover frequency and not over doing it is really important. Placing the sub up front near one of the mains or directly in the middle seems to help with blend. Even if you supposedly can't detect direction of a sub at lower frequencies, it always sounds lopsided to me if it's off to the side.

                  After I've done all my fine tuning, my sub blends so well that you're hard pressed to hear any major differences in the sound switching from sub off to on and then cycling through all the crossover frequencies starting at 40Hz and going up to 100Hz. The only difference I can tell is after about 60Hz, my sub is noticeably more slow and tubby than my 804S's bass which is quicker and more controlled...fine...I just set the crossover the lowest I can (I'm using 40Hz as my final setting). For bookshelf speakers I don't think I'd venture much lower than 80Hz though just to keep the power handling higher and more compression free. I think my Velodyne MiniVee had nice and tighter upper bass compared to my Sunfire, but it just didn't have the max volume and power for me for when I really wanted to get down, heh. Nice little musical sub at moderate volumes though, but forget going ultra low and loud.

                  I heard the previous 600 series bookshelf speakers at the dealer one time, around say 2003, and even without a sub, I thought they filled the room very nicely. Their room was around 16x20 and the speakers where wall mounted. Well...the biggest speaker your room can fit will probably always give the you the best overall performance, but these bookshelf speakers can do more than what they look like they can do. For me, it was mainly the better midrange of the tower speaker...when a sub was in the mix.

                  Comment

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