Speakers for a larger room

[Oenophile]

Hi team,

I have a man cave that is around 85 square metres, 12 x 7m. Need speakers for TV and music. Exercise in there but sometimes like to rock out.

Currently have  a small system - NAD 3020 and Tannoy Revolution speakers that do pretty well but I am looking for a  bit more bass extension and room filling qualities. Have considered upping the amp to give the speakers more headroom, but considering upgrading to other passives or actives and then amp if required.

Question is do you need larger floorstanders with bigger bass drivers for a room of this size??

Thanks in advance.

 

[THOMO]

See if you can find a pair of JBL Studio 590s.They work really well in a big room and do not need a lot of power to produce a big dynamic room filling sound.JBL stopped making them but  you might be able to find a used pair.They were not expensive but were very good and designed by the same design team that developed their high end models.

[Grizzly]

G'day Wineman, for the most part there is "no replacement for displacement" so chances are some bigger bass drivers will asssit in the rocking out department

[mwhouston]

  On 10/05/2024 at 12:34 AM, Oenophile said:

Hi team,

I have a man cave that is around 85 square metres, 12 x 7m. Need speakers for TV and music. Exercise in there but sometimes like to rock out.

Currently have  a small system - NAD 3020 and Tannoy Revolution speakers that do pretty well but I am looking for a  bit more bass extension and room filling qualities. Have considered upping the amp to give the speakers more headroom, but considering upgrading to other passives or actives and then amp if required.

Question is do you need larger floorstanders with bigger bass drivers for a room of this size??

Thanks in advance.

 

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Depends on type of music played at what volume.  Too bigger speaker with say a a 15” woofer may get too boomy in a big low dampened room.

[surprisetech]

  On 10/05/2024 at 12:34 AM, Oenophile said:

Hi team,

I have a man cave that is around 85 square metres, 12 x 7m. Need speakers for TV and music. Exercise in there but sometimes like to rock out.

Currently have  a small system - NAD 3020 and Tannoy Revolution speakers that do pretty well but I am looking for a  bit more bass extension and room filling qualities. Have considered upping the amp to give the speakers more headroom, but considering upgrading to other passives or actives and then amp if required.

Question is do you need larger floorstanders with bigger bass drivers for a room of this size??

Thanks in advance.

 

Expand  

 

If you like the sound you've already got from those 2 classic pieces of kit, then the simplest solution might be to just add a powered subwoofer.  Since the 3020 doesn't have a sub output, you would need one that takes speaker level inputs and has it's own variable low pass filter, phase switch and level control for matching it to the Tannoys.

[Satanica]

Budget?

Do you want to buy from only local or from abroad?

Is secondhand acceptable or do you only want new?

[Oenophile]

Don't have a budget specifically, other than that will be applied retrospectively by the household treasurer

Secondhand definitely acceptable. If I could put something together for under $10K that would be good. Always lusted after ATC actives but I just cant justify $30+ K at this stage.

Interesting comment above by Thomo re JBLs - I see a few older studios on classifieds here from time to time.

I live in the country so not easy to demo.

I did try some QSC Pro powered speakers but they just weren't refined enough.

 

[Satanica]

  On 10/05/2024 at 1:14 AM, Oenophile said:

Don't have a budget specifically, other than that will be applied retrospectively by the household treasurer

Secondhand definitely acceptable. If I could put something together for under $10K that would be good. Always lusted after ATC actives but I just cant justify $30+ K at this stage.

Interesting comment above by Thomo re JBLs - I see a few older studios on classifieds here from time to time.

I live in the country so not easy to demo.

I did try some QSC Pro powered speakers but they just weren't refined enough.

 

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JBL could be a goer and you could do worse than these both in performance and price.

https://www.jbl.com.au/JBL+STUDIO+698.html

https://www.jbl.com.au/HDI-3800.html
https://instylehifi.com.au/products/jbl-hdi-3800-open

Edited May 10, 2024 by Satanica

[Oenophile]

  On 10/05/2024 at 1:40 AM, Satanica said:

 

JBL could be a goer and you could do worse than these both in performance and price.

https://www.jbl.com.au/JBL+STUDIO+698.html

https://www.jbl.com.au/HDI-3800.html
https://instylehifi.com.au/products/jbl-hdi-3800-open

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How do you think the hdi 3800 would go with an 80 w amp ? Do you think more power would be required to get the best out of them?

[Satanica]

  On 10/05/2024 at 9:52 AM, Oenophile said:

How do you think the hdi 3800 would go with an 80 w amp ? Do you think more power would be required to get the best out of them?

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To me, more watts doesn't really give you better, it gives you louder and more headroom. If one never uses more than 80 watts then it could be kind of pointless. Compared to an 80 watt amp, a 160 watt amp will be capable of 3dB louder and a 320 watt amp will be capable of 6dB louder. On the official website it says "Recommended Amplifier Power 25W – 300W" so an 80 watt amp is in the range. I would be careful when turning an 80 watt amp up loud, listening for any sign that the amp is running at clipping power which should not sound good and can be damaging to speakers. The HDI-3800 seems quite sensitive/efficient with JBL rating it a 92dB sensitivity, although some manufacturers can exaggerate a bit with that kind of figure. If it were me, I would consider more than 80 watts, but I would try the 80 watt amp first.

Edited May 10, 2024 by Satanica

[Sansui77]

I think a horn loaded speaker would be the way to go. Maybe a set of Kliptch Cornwalls or a set of large floor standers running twin subs.

 

Cheers

[dreadly]

Monitor Audio 300 gold 5th gen speakers (on special) will pressurize your room no probs plus give you superb balanced music + class A balanced pre amp + class D power amp (March Audio) and mogami/canare connecting leads.

Good luck  with your search

[Al.M]

  On 10/05/2024 at 12:34 AM, Oenophile said:

Thanks in advance

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If you want to stick to the NAD 3020, amp, which is a legendary classic some other vintage or newish used speakers like Wharfedale E90 with high efficiency 96dB or Cerwin Vegas of similar configuration (will need to test with amp) for around $600-2000 may do.

 

The NAD is rated conservatively at 20w into 8 ohms and peaks of 40-50w to drive bigger speakers surprisingly well and you may struggle discerning if more powerful amps are any better, however I would still go for more power if you want to go that way even though theoretically only another 3dB loudness as there other advantages like it will just drive more hungry speakers comfortably, not heat up excessively, trip curcuits etc and musical qualities like fuller and deeper bass might appear.

 

A subwoofer with a Y splitter RCA connector on one input and other connection methods is an obvious olution as well. There are lot of very cheap used subs with big output that were about $600-2000 rrp and now $100-1000 used. A Rel T9 or similar for around $1000 used would be good, but check connections will work. Many others in the range like SVS, JBL, Yamaha, Velodyne, KRIX, Kef etc.

[Oenophile]

  On 18/05/2024 at 8:41 AM, dreadly said:

Monitor Audio 300 gold 5th gen speakers (on special) will pressurize your room no probs plus give you superb balanced music + class A balanced pre amp + class D power amp (March Audio) and mogami/canare connecting leads.

Good luck  with your search

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Do you have any reccos for class A balanced pre amp?

[dreadly]

Hi mate not really im not rich so i make crucial decisions about what i buy, i just recently bought a Gustard H26 preamp/headphone amp thing which is class A and fully balanced it sounds fantastic BUT the specs about the matching my power amp are strange but thats for another day.
Just like anything else you have to do your homework.
Goodluck

[blakey72]

@Oenophile You could also consider these:

https://addictedtoaudio.com.au/collections/focal/products/focal-aria-k2-926-floorstanding-speakers-pair

 

Or

 

https://addictedtoaudio.com.au/collections/focal/products/focal-aria-926-floorstanding-speakers-pair

 

Put them with two of these:

https://thehifishop.com.au/collections/subwoofers/products/svs-pb-1000-classic

 

And drive it all with one of these:

https://thehifishop.com.au/collections/exposure-electronics/products/exposure-3510-integrated-amplifier

 

For under $9k you will be a happy camper.  Why the Exposure amp? Well I haven't heard a better sounding amp as far as synergy goes with the Focals, beautiful combination. I am running a pair of Aria 936's, a single Rel R205 and an Exposure 2010S2 Pre/Exposure Classic XXVIII Power amp (70w/ch). I consider it the best sounding system I've owned over 35 years in this hobby. You're welcome to have a listen if you are willing to drive to Horsham 

Edited June 13, 2024 by blakey72

[Guest]

  On 10/05/2024 at 1:14 AM, Oenophile said:

Secondhand definitely acceptable. If I could put something together for under $10K that would be good.

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Suggest these

I borrowed a pair for my open plan family room which is as large as yours, and it could go very loud (and louder than my Kii Three's).   Don't let their size deceive you.  The Purifi speaker cones go deep and loud. And it has HDMI ARC input which can take your TV audio output.

[Oenophile]

Thanks this has been a really helpful thread.

I actually ended up purchasing the JBL HDI 3800s mentioned upthread. Before this is probably not a brand I would have considered previously.

I love the speakers, they do have presence, depth and detail. I utilised my son's Cambridge Audio Azur 851A (120W/ch into 8 ohms) and bought a Bluesound Node streamer from this site.

I am seeing nuance, soundstage and bass detail that I did not see in my previous set up and it's effortless. I watched the Essendon v Melbourne match on the weekend and somehow the football seemed more exciting! The speakers are physically large and they seem well suited to the size of room.

This is a good result as I don't really have the opportunity to audition or home trial.

Now to find an amp, although I can use the Azur indefinitely, so I am in no hurry - I have been reading a lot and reasearching @dreadly as I want to find something that's a keeper. I would rather pay a bit more and get something that I won't want to changeover in 5 yrs, unlike many on this site I don't know whether to jump to a class D or stick with a high output tried and true class AB. A couple of Class ABs that I have seen online at good price are Parasound A21+ and pair Bryston 7B3, but I suspect the Bryston's would be overkill and are well beyond what I was initially intending to pay.

But I really think I need to get my ass to the big smoke and listen to a few, but it seems there are some good deals at the moment.