Posted by Ebay Aday on July 18, 2004 at 02:53:36:
Hi SLOGers,
I'm looking forward to very soon joining your deluxe group, but I need some final decision-making help and I'm hoping I can draw on your experience - please/thanks!
I have a room that is 12’-14.5' wide (it has a 12’ floor space width, but about 30" above the floor the room has a 2.5' wide counter so at that point the room becomes 14.5’ wide) x 18’ long x 10’ high (at the bottom of some beams) – 11’ high at the ceiling. The counter runs the entire 18’ length of the room and could be a place to set the electronics, or some of the electronics (the amps might go near the speakers on the floor).
I am right on the edge in deciding between M-3s and M-2s; I’ve made some mockups with some big black fiber boards from Home Depot (that look quite a bit like SLs) and they both seem large in my room; but it’s a dedicated listening room and I don’t have a WAF issue (or a budget issue or a power amp issue). It’s really just a matter of what will sound the best and not be too ridiculously large for the room.
I’m inclined to place the speakers about 6 feet from the rear wall and my sitting location would be about 6 feet or so from the speakers; the speakers would be pretty close to the side walls (although with the counter on one side the width position will create some asymmetry - the lower half of the planars will be closer to the lower side wall on the counter side than on the opposing side). This placement would more or less follow the Cardas positioning formula which makes the speakers and the listening spot an equilateral triangle. I’ve tried this with some Dahlquist DQ-10s in the room and it seems to dial in the imaging.
My concern is that the M-2s might seem visibly large for the room, but I’d hate to go this far and miss achieving serious low end and sound stage performance; I have no good way of doing an A-B comparison between the M-2 and the M-3, but I have a hunch they will be similar everywhere except dispersion/the sound stage and tonal balance/the low end; I just can’t determine how much of a difference there might be and if the M-2 has enough of an advantage to outweigh its extra size. For a while I was concerned that the M-2 might not sound as good as the M-3 in my small room (maybe the extra low end of the M-2 needs a longer room for the longer wavelength?), but I have extrapolated from talking to various people that this is not likely; the consensus is that while the M-2 might not reach its full potential in my size room, it will equal or outperform the M-3 in all respects (please let me know if anyone disagrees with this); I just can’t quite determine by how much the M-2 will outperform the M-3 low end and sound stage, and if that amount warrants the extra visual domination.
Currently, I'm leaning toward the M-2. My thinking is that if the M-2 does sound as good overall and better on the low end and in the sound stage then I'll put up with the extra visual domination since neither model is going to look "normal" in this room. I just wouldn't want to go with the M-2s and find that they "can't breath" (whatever that means) or they play poorly (not as good as the M-3s).
Any advice would be most appreciated.
- anyone ever see and hear M-2s (or M-3s) in a room 12 x 18 or smaller? What were the visual and sonic impressions?
- even if you haven't heard these models in this size room I'll be happy to hear any suggestions or comments you have.
Thanks!