Need Suggestions -- HT Setup & small room

[Vasanth]

All,

I have had to sacrifice my media room and move to a much smaller space. The room I have now is about 12x12 and I need suggestions on speaks that would be adequate for such a room, but satisify both audio and HT requirements.

I was thinking about B&W MT-20. I currently have the the following and it takes up too much room in such a small area.

Receiver: JVC DP-10VBK THX Ultra
Speaker: Acoustic Research Phantoms 8.3, 5.2, 252C and ARS300 Sub
DVD: Samsung DVD HD-941 upconverting player
TV: Proview 32" LCD, 8ms response

Thanks,
--Vasanth

[htsteve]

B&W options

Vasanth,

I have a 12 x 15 room. I have B&W N804s, HTM1 and 705's in there. B&W does make good amount of small footprint speakers (600 to 800 series) The XT series seems to be quite slender and capable, based on some threads I've read. I'm thinking small towers because stands for standard size bookshelf speakers are as big or bigger than many tower footprints. Also, B&W make a variety of IN wall and On wall speakers, one of which you've mentioned. I also like the LM1's. Very nice sounding for the size.

Hope this helps.


PS What kind of budget do you have in mind?

[wkhanna]

Hi Vasanth, welcome to the Forum.

You mention your using the system for both music and HT; is your first choice for music 2 ch or multi?

Regardless, your biggest problem I predict will be the dimensions of the room.
Square and nearly square is unfortunately the worst-case scenario when dealing with room acoustics.

This may be less of a problem with HT than music, but I will let other members with more experience in this particular matter take it from here.

[Vasanth]

Well, the exact dimensions of the room is more like 12x14, but it still is an issue. The minute you add seating, the component stand you have already lost 5+ feet.

Anyway, my budget for all of this depends on how much I can sell my older speakers for . I'm looking in the range of $1500-$2000 for now. I will certainly check the other B&Ws out tonight when I go to the store.

[Vasanth]

There was another question regarding primary use. I invested a lot in SACD 3 years ago, so I have a lot of multi-channel music content and with the DVD HD-941 from Samsung, I also am able to play DVD-Audio. I have only a couple of DVD-Audio discs, but I do have quite a few SACDs. I guess it still doesn't answer the question, but I would say the use would 60% for music and 40% for HT.

Thanks for all your suggestions Steve/Khanna.
--Vasanth

[wkhanna]

I guess it still doesn't answer the question, but I would say the use would 60% for music and 40% for HT.
--Vasanth

O Contre, you answered thoroughly.....
If you plan on using SACD, then you may want to consider speakers/components that have better performance in music rather than HT.
B$W should fit the bill, but listen to as many as you can, and take your favorite SACD's with you when you evaluate. JMHO

[Vasanth]

Ok, has anyone listened to Jamo speakers? I'm curious to know what others have to say... I need to research all possible speakers that are in my budget and just spend an entire day listening to my favorite music/DVDs on these selected speakers to make my final decision.

cheers,
--Vasanth

[David Meek]

My last room was 11'x13' and served quite adequately as a music and theater room. I did have my 58" RPTV recessed into the wall as well as all the components. My speakers are/were Aerial Acoustics 7Bs which are fairly good-sized units, 46" high by 15" deep by 8.5" wide. I had the TV and mains on the long wall, and after a bit of experimenting got a nice soundstage and imaging out of the system. I guess my point is "don't give up until you've actually set things up and experimented with seating and speaker locations".

[Glenn Kuras]

Well, the exact dimensions of the room is more like 12x14, but it still is an issue. The minute you add seating, the component stand you have already lost 5+ feet.

Anyway, my budget for all of this depends on how much I can sell my older speakers for . I'm looking in the range of $1500-$2000 for now. I will certainly check the other B&Ws out tonight when I go to the store.

Glad to hear it is not a squ., those can be the hardest rooms to get together. Even with the room size you have I hope you are planning on some bass traps and acoustics for the first reflections.

Glenn