modern design speakers in a very bad room

[palmetto]

Blueroom Minipods? Mirage Omnisat? B&W VM1? Pinnacle Quantum Plasma 5s and 3s? All are great looking from afar and some boast innovative sound design, too.

The quest: wall-mountable speakers with a very modern design (eye-catching or understated exterior style, with metal, white or silver preferred). They will be supported by any design type of sub-woofer, stylish or not, for a total of $2000 approximately.

the room is NOT my primary audio/video room. design is very important in this room. otherwise, there would be more choices. if I could afford it, B&O would do just fine. music is 80%, ht 20%.

and to make it interesting, the room has challenges -- hardly any furniture, wood floors, a fair amount of windows and a 20 foot ceiling. the listening/viewing area is 17 feet from front-to-rear and 24 feet from side-to-side. (note: the windows are in the wall that is behind the front, center, and right speakers, and on one side wall. The rear wall has several very large framed paintings starting at ear level.)

contenders are

4 blueroom minipods and 1 cinepod
5 mirage omnisats
5 b&w VM1s
3 pinnacle quantum plasma 5s for R/L/C and 2 plasma 3s for rear R and L

other equipment:

Sony STR DA1000ES with 100W x 7
Yamaha MusicCast client
DirecTV STV satellite receiver
Panasonic ETV 42” plasma TV
modest DVD/CD player (eventually)

Gentlemen, your thoughts, please.

Palmetto

[Andrew Pratt]

Gentlemen, your thoughts, please.

Glad I'm not the consultant on this one

Have you considered in wall or in ceiling speakers? That might not be possible given the windows and paintings but there's some nice looking in walls available and you could use in ceilings for the rears if the paintings are in the way.

Energy's Take 5 system gets rave reviews and its available in white and gloss black...they're not as cute as say Anthony Gallo's but they're cheaper and sound better then most micro speakers.

[palmetto]

<

<Have you considered in wall or in ceiling speakers?all the walls are exterior walls so there is no way to use in-wall speakers. and the ceiling is 20 feet high, so in-ceiling speakers are too high.

i have not heard them but i like the PINNACLE QUANTUM PLASMA 5 and 3 series of on-wall speakers. have not found any user reviews and it is hard to audition them.

quantum plasma 5 ---- one 1" tweeter, two 3" midrange speakers, and two 3" woofers. acoustic suspension, shielded.

quantum plasma 3 ---- one 1" tweeter and two 3" woofers.

a system of three of the 5s and two of the 3s for $2,049. and then there is the matter of the subwoofer. what does a room like this need and what can i get for under $700?

[aud19]

Eeesh...if I have some time later today I'll try to look up the specs on some of those systems to offer advice but...

From the sounds of it, it's a fairly large room and you want to listen to music with small monitors and no sub in it. Without something to fill that large space in the lower octaves I can only imagine it's going to very thin and "top heavy".

With sparse furnishing, hardwood floors and lots of windows I'd recommend staying away from metal-dome tweeters and look for fabric based ones. Totem makes some of my favourite fabric dome speakers, but as nice as their cabinets are (VERY nice :P ) I don't think they're as sleek as what you're looking for.

Jason




Need a new display? Questions about new display technologies? Visit RPTVs, plasmas, and other monitors @ HTguide

[Bam!]

WOW I'm not even sure I understand the question here ops: but I've heard Thiel inwall speakers and they sounded quite nice....

So if I'm totally off here...my bad if not htere's my 2 cents!




Bam!

[SomaJoe]

How loudly are you going to be playing?

I used to have 5 VM-1 speakers for a 20' x 40' x 22' space. I don't listen very loudly, but there just wasn't enough to fill the space.

Is the art framed with glass in front or just canvas? I've found that uncovered canvas can help the situation; my space is highly reflective and I'm probably looking at long floor to ceiling velvet drapes eventually.

For the record, they're not in your specified price range, but if I were going for design statement speakers, I'd take a look/listen at the Vienna Acoustics Schonberg series.




Joe's HT

[palmetto]

jason -- there will be a sub. i have budgetted $2000+ for the 5 speakers and the sub. the sub does NOT have to make a design statement (although i have seen some that are knock-outs, like GALLO and BLUEROOM).



<How loudly are you going to be playing?not insane. mdoest background or maybe a little foreground for the 80% music, and reasonable overall volume for the 20% directv (5.1) use. witha sony str da1000es receiver (100W x 7).



<I used to have 5 VM-1 speakers for a 20' x 40' x 22' space. that is very encouraging for the VM1s.



<Is the art framed with glass in front or just canvas?there are 6 large (5 ft x 5 ft) glass framed photos, covering most of the wall facing the two main fronts. we have semi-transparent blinds for all the windows but will only use them to keep out major summer, day-time heat here in palm beach county, florida.



<I'd take a look/listen at the Vienna Acoustics Schonberg series. WOW ! i just checked out three of the Vienna Acoustics series: the Schoenbergs ($2500/pair and not wall mountable), the Weberns ($1598/pair and wall-mountable), annd the Bergs ($1000/pair and wall-mountable). i would drop from 5.1 to 3.1 for a pair of babies like these (with a suitable center). it seems that Tweeter/Sound Advice carries them. can a discount be had? i am interested.

[aud19]

For the record, they're not in your specified price range, but if I were going for design statement speakers, I'd take a look/listen at the Vienna Acoustics Schonberg series.

WOW ! i just checked out three of the Vienna Acoustics series: the Schoenbergs ($2500/pair and not wall mountable), the Weberns ($1598/pair and wall-mountable), annd the Bergs ($1000/pair and wall-mountable). i would drop from 5.1 to 3.1 for a pair of babies like these (with a suitable center). it seems that Tweeter/Sound Advice carries them. can a discount be had? i am interested.

Hell ya! :P :P I didn't recommend those as I figured they were beyond buget but I mean they even have a silk dome tweeter like I recommended! Besides that they're gorgeous and are supposed to sound amazing :P If you have any way of stretching the budget or like you said starting with 3.1 etc I say go for it! With most high end equipment you should be able to get a good 10%-20% off (if not a little more if you're good ) The Berg's retail for $495 so maybe you could do something with 5 of them and either save for a sub or start with 3 Berg's and a sub, then save for the rear pair?

Here's some reviews:

http://www.hedmag.com/Product-Reviews/Speakers/Flat-Fabulous-Print.asp

http://www.theperfectvision.com/newsletter/tpv49/vienna_acoustics_schonberg.html

Jason




Need a new display? Questions about new display technologies? Visit RPTVs, plasmas, and other monitors @ HTguide

[palmetto]

jason, thanks for suggesting TOTEM, but they are not the right design type.

somajoe, i am still interested in the VM1s based on your experiecne with a large room like mine.

and aud19, what have you done to me? i found out that VIENNA is now carried by just one dealer in south florida, and it is the guy i bought my PARADIGMS from for another room. the vienna bergs or more expensive weberns are both 4 OHMS and probably need a better receiver than the SONY DA1000ES i had in mind.

does anyone have a thought about what SUBWOOFER would be best for the room, as described above, 80% music/20% directv?

[SomaJoe]

jason -- there will be a sub. i have budgetted $2000+ for the 5 speakers and the sub. the sub does NOT have to make a design statement (although i have seen some that are knock-outs, like GALLO and BLUEROOM).



<How loudly are you going to be playing?not insane. mdoest background or maybe a little foreground for the 80% music, and reasonable overall volume for the 20% directv (5.1) use. witha sony str da1000es receiver (100W x 7).



<I used to have 5 VM-1 speakers for a 20' x 40' x 22' space. that is very encouraging for the VM1s.



<Is the art framed with glass in front or just canvas?there are 6 large (5 ft x 5 ft) glass framed photos, covering most of the wall facing the two main fronts. we have semi-transparent blinds for all the windows but will only use them to keep out major summer, day-time heat here in palm beach county, florida.



<I'd take a look/listen at the Vienna Acoustics Schonberg series. WOW ! i just checked out three of the Vienna Acoustics series: the Schoenbergs ($2500/pair and not wall mountable), the Weberns ($1598/pair and wall-mountable), annd the Bergs ($1000/pair and wall-mountable). i would drop from 5.1 to 3.1 for a pair of babies like these (with a suitable center). it seems that Tweeter/Sound Advice carries them. can a discount be had? i am interested.

I THOUGHT you might like them. I have a friend who has some and they're really beautiful. Even the mounting brackets are really nicely designed and are definitely out of the ordinary. If you're going to have a mostly empty, sort of minimalist look for your room, these speakers definitely work well; plus I can tell you they'll sound much nicer than the VM-1s (at a price of course).

Let me know if you go for it!

-joe

I haven't heard the sub, but it looks pretty nice as well.

-joe




Joe's HT

[aud19]

Definetely read that first review I posted as well as the reviewer made a point of reviewing them in a sparse room that sounds almost like a carbon copy of yours from what he described!

Jason

P.S. I thought Summiko (Vienna Acoustics US distributor) was based out of California?




Need a new display? Questions about new display technologies? Visit RPTVs, plasmas, and other monitors @ HTguide

[palmetto]

<I thought Summiko (Vienna Acoustics US distributor) was based out of California? when i called SUMMIKO, they said that they have a rep out of atlanta who just signed a store in flroida to sell them: front row center in fort lauderdale. i am going to call him now.

[aud19]

Ooh ooh!... keep us informed! :P

I love spending other people's money!

Jason




Need a new display? Questions about new display technologies? Visit RPTVs, plasmas, and other monitors @ HTguide

[palmetto]

friends -- i still need a sub suitable for this big, bad room. the VIENNA SUBSON COSTS TOO MUCH -- $1700. BUT I WOULD CONSIDER UP TO $1000 AND WOULD CERTAINLY PREFER LESS.

MY DESIGNATED SPACE FOR THE SUB IS THE FRONT LEFT CORNERM WHERE THERE ARE TWO WINDWOS THAT MEET AT 20" ABOVE THE GROUND. DOES THAT AFFECT THE SUB DESIGN I PICK -- FORWARD FIRING, REAR PORTED, DOWWARD?

SOMEONE TOLD ME TO NOT GO FOR ANYTHING UNDER 10" AND 1000W.

IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE MODERN LOOKING... BUT THAT WOULD HELP.

YAMAHA YST-1500 - 12" WITH 1000W, LIST: $1000 ($700)
VELODYNE SPL-800 - 8" FORWARD FIRING, 1000W, LIST: $1000 ($700)
KEF PSW 2500, 10 OR 12"?, 250W, LIST: $900 (DISCOUNT?)
MIRAGE OM-200 2 8" WOOFERS, 200W, LIST: $1000 ($700)
BOSTON ACOUSTICS PV1000 - 10", 1000W, LIST: $1200 ($840)

YOUR THOUGHTS, PLEASE?

[aud19]

You should be able to get a decent 12" sub for around $800-$1000 from any of the major sub companies. (Velodyne, Adire, JBL, Paradigm, SVS, HSU etc.) They won't be top of the line but they'll be pretty darn good.

Jason




Need a new display? Questions about new display technologies? Visit RPTVs, plasmas, and other monitors @ HTguide

[Andrew Pratt]

I'd stick to 12" or larger drivers in a subwoofer and if looks are somewhat important you might want to look into having one custom made for you. there's a few guys online that make them for very reasonable costs and they could tailor the finish to fit your room. Front, rear or down firing has no bearing on sound of subwoofers since the waves are long enough that its really a moot point which way the driver faces. Down firing is usually more kid proof though if that's a concern

Another great choice would be to buy one of the Adire subs like the Rava or the Dharma. There's always the Sadhara that's striking to look at but it might be too tall.

[palmetto]

UPDATE!!!!

i put in an oder for a 3.1 system, with 2 vienna acostics weberns ($625 each) and 1 berg ($420) for the center speaker.

and a Velodyne SPL-1000 II subwoofer. we'll see how it sounds in mid-arpil when iu do the install.

thanks for all yuor help.

[aud19]

Can't wait to hear your comments! :P

Jason




Need a new display? Questions about new display technologies? Visit RPTVs, plasmas, and other monitors @ HTguide

[SomaJoe]

UPDATE!!!!

i put in an oder for a 3.1 system, with 2 vienna acostics weberns ($625 each) and 1 berg ($420) for the center speaker.

and a Velodyne SPL-1000 II subwoofer. we'll see how it sounds in mid-arpil when iu do the install.

thanks for all yuor help.

Cool! Post pictures when it's all in place.




Joe's HT

[palmetto]

will do!

thanks again, somajoe and everyone.