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In Reply to: Re: Newbie posted by devil dog on March 11, 2007 at 18:36:58:
Sorry for shouting in the title, but this point is probably more important than which equipment you choose. You stated: "By the way, I don't have floor space for speakers so I am restricted to wall mount or bookshelf speakers." Placing speakers on bookshelves will majorly color the sound! It usually produces a lower midrange emphasis and completely destroys imaging qualities. Most of us place "bookshelf speakers" on dedicated stands of optimal height, which frequently results in taking up as much floor space as a floorstanding speaker. Your best speaker placement to optimize imaging and minimize bass overemphasis is several feet (or frequently more) from the wall behind the speakers. Do all you can reasonably do to accommodate for this. If this is not possible, your next best option is to wall mount them and choose speakers designed for such placement. You will not enjoy image depth (soundstage), but can still have good latteral imaging and pleasing overall sound, but it will not be as good as allowing for dedicated speaker floor space.
Follow Ups:
I'm thinking of building a $30,000.00 addition onto the house to accomodate floor speakers....I'll let you know if the wife goes for it. ha,ha. Unfortunately there is no where that I could place floor speakers. I'm really going to be stuck with bookshelf or wall mount speakers. Thanks for picking up on that limitation and offering suggestions on how to deal with it. I am actually thinking about retractable floor stands that could drop the speakers into the basement when not in use. How cool would that be? i'll let you know if my wife will let me cut holes in the floor.
I don't have a dedicated room for audio, either. In fact, I use our family room that is also the primary play room for my 5 children. The electronics are safely tucked away in a large adjacent closet. But I was able to find an arrangement where my speakers are pulled out a few feet from the wall. For you, I think I would look for some sort of wall/bracket mounted speaker with a subwoofer. In the past I had a pair of Celestion SL6Si speakers which stood on dedicated stands. In that arrangement, they sounded almost magical, but if I put them on a bookshelf, they became very muddy sounding. I would attempt to audition speakers designed for your intended use, otherwise I would settle for spending much less, since you won't get the full benefit of the money you spend. In that case, you can actually put together a pleasing vintage system for around $400 featuring speakers by Advent, EPI, Infinity, or similar others.
Your right. I think I will go the economic route for now until I can have a room worthy of higher end equipment. Thanks for your response and advice.
The only speakers I know of that specifically address this spectral balance problem are the Revel M20s, which have a rear panel switch for "shelf placement" that re-contours the bass. I would imagine they would sell used for $800-$1000, so that kind of wrecks the budget.I think Linn makes some shelf speakers that are designed only for placement very close to the wall behind the speakers.
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