Room size and speaker selection, Cornwall, La Scala??

[Dnelsd]

I am soon to have a dedicated music room with insulated wall and ceiling. The size is not big 9' 6" X 14'. Because of door placement for the room and closet I can only put speakers on the 9' wall. I would like to get some La Scala or Cornwall speakers because I want a large sound stage and dynamics. I will be powering this with a Sophia Baby 10watt tube amp with volume only control no tone adjustment. This is a two channel system only. Most listening will be a lower volumes.

My question is 'am I nuts to think of using these speakers in such a small room'. Keeping in mind I'm looking for a large sound stage and dynamics is their better choices? Thanks for the assistance.

[PrestonTom]

"are you nuts"

Absolutely not! Feel free, you are among friends.

I would not worry about the room size or having the speakers along the 9ft wall. The width of the sound stage is mostly determined by the spread as a function of the angle (not the distance per se). So simply move your chair closer to the front wall. This will also help with the some of the slap back echo (from the rear wall).

Although others will disagree, I am fan of the Cornwalls over the La Scalas. Listen to both before you buy

Good Luck,

-Tom

[colterphoto1]

I think positioning the LS in a smaller room is problematic.

CW would be my choice.

[Guest " "]

I have a room simular to this and have had khorns, LaScala's, Hersey's and Cornwalls in them. As stated earlier....the problem is that the listening position would be about the 6 - 7 foot mark into the 14ft lenth of the room.....meaning....there would be 8 ft of room behind you.

The problem will exist reguardless of which speaker you put on the 9.6 foot wall.

If you can position the listening area 6 - 7 ft from the 9.6 wall, you would be in good shape.

[artto]

1. I am soon to have a dedicated music room with insulated wall and ceiling. The size is not big 9' 6" X 14'. Because of door placement for the room and closet I can only put speakers on the 9' wall. I would like to get some La Scala or Cornwall speakers because I want a large sound stage and dynamics.

2. I will be powering this with a Sophia Baby 10watt tube amp with volume only control no tone adjustment. This is a two channel system only. Most listening will be a lower volumes.

3. My question is 'am I nuts to think of using these speakers in such a small room'. Keeping in mind I'm looking for a large sound stage and dynamics is their better choices? Thanks for the assistance.

1. With a room that small you're not going to "achieve a large sound and dynamics" regardless of the speaker size. In fact, larger speakers may not have enough "breathing room" for the sound to "meld" together. Also too many near term reflections off the room surfaces.

2. The amplifier power isn't going to make much difference in a room that size with relatively efficient speakers, unless you're going to do the metalhead thing. Every doubling of amplifier power is only going to increase output by 3 decibels anyway.

3. No, you're not nuts. Many of us have tried the same thing at one time or another. Those of us who now know better have moved on and done what's required ~ if "a large sound and dynamics" are you're objectives.

It all starts with the recording ~ and ends with the room. The room is part of "the system". Also, while a very quiet room is a good room, it takes more than an "insulated ceiling and walls" to make the room good for sound (for live, recording or playback).

And.....as far as the room goes its more about the proportions (all 3 dimesions) than the size.

[jdm56]

'am I nuts to think of using these speakers in such a small room'

You may well be nuts, but not because you want to put huge speakers in a very small room. I tried that once myself about 30 years ago, with ESS speakers (Heil air motion transformer / 12" woofer & passive radiator). Not recommended! (The small room / big speaker thing, not the ESS speakers) I tried to do a stereo set-up in a 9X11 spare bedroom. I had it in there about a week and then it was back to the family room. The sound was closed in and airless (of course). The big klipsch speakers would be an even worse fit. I find you have to sit further away from horns than from conventional speakers for the drivers to blend --to not "hear" the tweeter, squawker and woofer as separate sound sources.

The Heresy would be the only Heritage speaker I would try in that size space. A two-way Reference Series speaker may be a better choice even. RF-62's perhaps? Or better yet, RB-61's or 81's with the possibility of adding a small sub if needed. Any of these options will give you big dynamics, but nothing is gonna give you a big soundstage, save maybe a small pair of Mirage omnis.

[Budman]

cornwalls over lascalas, but heresys would be my choice

forte's would be good also.

[Klewless]

I vote for 1--LaScala with sub, 2--cornwall without sub, 3--heresey with sub. My experience has been that proper placement is more important than the speaker within reason. Shifting them slightly forward and/or sideways usually work well for the image. I am currently doing what I preach with Khorns with sub in a very bad room (long and narrow like a trailer) and am very happy. I aim the horns to cross about a foot in front of my face (therfore the Khorns touch only the outside walls).

[WMcD]

I have Forte II in a small room, an office. Very excellent.

IMHO, the tractrix horn is a very good thing for problematic rooms. And the passive radiator just works better than a port.

I'd sugggest the line which is the Chorus II, Forte II and Quartet (only one model of the Q. They are the papa bear, momma bear, and baby bear of the series. They all have the tractix horn and passive radiator for bass.

I love my Quartets at home but put them on risers to get the mid and tweeter up to ear level.

In any case, all these have a smaller footprint than a CW or LS and thus may be suited for your situation.

Best,

Wm McD

[Dflip]

William, good advice. The Fortes would work well in the room due to their size and if the listener is into rock they do that well and go fairly low.

[BE36]

Go with the Speaker of your choice. I listen to La Scalas on a 9' wall sit about 8 ' away and love it. I have heard great La Scalas and bad La Scalas. Same goes for Cornwalls. Crossover's & Amps can make Corwalls sound better than La Scalas and vise versa.

Get a cross over that is friendly to your 10 watt amp and low level listening, reconditioned AA etc. in a La Scala. I love the ALK networks in my La Scalas and low level is good but high volume is were it really starts to shine.

La Scalas need something to enhance the bass below 80 Hz, I use a sub. My Fortes had lots of bass all the way down below 40hz and I really did not need a sub. Sub works great - tight Bass down below 25 hz from the sub and lengendary tight La Scala Bass above 80hz.

Some poeple listen to La Scalas without the Sub - Depends on what you listen to and how you like to listen to it. Most La Scala poeple go with a sub?

Some pople swear by Cornwalls, Some by La Scalas, others by Cornscals others by Khorns. Get the Cross overs and amps right and they all sound great it becomes personal preferance.

No amout of amps and networks can make my old Cerwin Vegas sound great, good for college party but not great.

[twistedcrankcammer]

Dnelsd,

With a 10 watt amp, I would guess that you are more interested in Quality sound, then you are in Quantity soud, am I right?? First, I would state to you that Paul Wilbur Klipsch calculated the Golden mean ratio for a pair of corner horns years ago to a room of 16 ft by 24 ft, with a 10 ft ceiling. I have seen many people put big heritage in small rooms if you want LOUD, but unless they have experienced a large room, they have absolutely no idea of what a set of K-Horns CAN sound like. I believe the most important factor of sound reproduction to be the speakers, second is accoustics, above amplifiers and everything else as long as you have descent equipement, crappy acoustics with great equipement will sound worse then mediocre equipement with a good accoustical environment. I have a friend who has a 5 channel K-Horn and LaScala surround sound in a room not much bigger then what you describe, and my brother in law has K-Horns in a 24 ft wide by 32 ft long room. I would get you a listen at both if you want to come to my part of Ohio. After all this has been conveihed, I would suggest that you could be totally happy with a set of Forte IIs or Quartets in the room you describe if clarrity and quality are your goals.

Roger

[mark1101]

I would agree with Gil and choose Forte or Chorus family. However, between lascala and corn I would choose corn. Size and performance in a smaller room.....corn. A final comment. If you pick lasclas then I would recommend considering Khorns instead. A lascala takes up a ton of room in a corner. A Khorn does not.

[winchester21]

Somebody else who had ESS Heils back in the day?????? Small world. I had a set of the towers with an SAE amp and later a Phase Linear 700B. However I can not agree with that comparison because it took a truckload of power amps to drive those inefficent monsters. My 100 watt SAE would barely do the job. The Phase 700B was adequate but certainly not excessive. You had to play the ESS towers LOUD or they did not sound good at all IMHO, The large heritage speakers sound great at low volumes.

I have a 7 speaker Heritage mixture + a RSW-15 sub+ a stack of amps in a 14 x 24 room. When I play action movies the neighbors think that they have captured Bin laden in my back yard.LOL- Seroiusly- you are on the right track. I would sure as heck listen to both the lascala and the Cornwall if possible. They both sound nice with the volume turned down. I give the nod to the Cornwalls over the Lascalas. I have listen to both of them as well as the k horns at great length. I have 3 lascalas and 2 cornwalls in my room. I love the k horns but I most likely like louder stuff than you. The Cornwalls have a killer low volume bass response and you can run them on nothing for power. If you have corners the k horns are reported to be heavenly with low powered tube amps. In any case I do not think you could go wrong with Cornwalls.

No - you are not nuts- buy as much speaker as you can afford and cram into the room. Skip the upgrade bug later. If you hang around here- you will end up with the Corns or LS anyway... or worse.

[Coytee]

If you hang around here- you will end up with the Corns or LS anyway... or worse.

Is that my cue?

[A]

[winchester21]

Not unless I rob a bank. This is a bad bad place.