[JoeS]

Am looking for speakers to put into a 18'x14' living room. The room goes into a dining room/kitchen: 7'x16'
I want to set up a listening area in the living room with the speakers about 5'-6' away from listening position.
Will this work in a room this size?
I live in a basement suite and want to contain/minimize the sound going to the upstairs.

Questions:
What would be the choice of speakers for this setup?
How much would the base extension of the speakers matter in sound going upstairs. I like good base, but don't want to have problems with the neighbours if I turn it up to a good listening volume; not that I like it overly loud.

What would the difference be between floorstanders and bookshelf speakers?
Things like:
- soundstage
- stereo imaging
-sound quality

I don't care if the sound fills the suite, just so it sounds good at the listening area.

 

[wotef]

Bass extension is a factor of speaker placement in the room, speaker cabinet size, midwoofer/woofer driver size, and sensitivity. Unless you are playing at party levels with a humungous subwoofer and 3-ways, I doubt you would disturb the upstairs people.

Differences between floorstanders and bookshelves..generally more bass from floorstanders due to larger cabinet size and drivers, and higher sensitivity. Ironically, you probably won't save much floorspace using stands and bookshelves vs floorstanders. Don't forget that good stands also eat into one's total budget.

There are exceptions but IMO, from the same manufacturer/product line, the bigger speaker with bigger cabinet, bigger drivers and higher sensitivity will give better sound per dollar!

You have to go to dealers and listen to different speakers, preferably with your source/amp/cables. They are the most personal thing...

Brands I like with imaging and overall sound quality are ATC, Aerial and Dynaudio.

 

[Whazzzup]

may I

 

[JoeS]

How do monitors compare to the sound of regular speakers for the sound quality playing music?

 

[wotef]

There's no single answer. depends on the speakers compared. Generally when people like monitors over floorstanders, it's cause they'd want the monitors to do better mids, maybe separation, perhaps treble. Everything else (depth, weight, scale, dynamics, bass), the bigger speaker should win if it's well designed. If you mean monitors as in true studio monitors, their goal is to present the recording as-is, with no frills, with a flat frequency response for mixing. There's nothing to say good monitors will do any different from good home speakers; a lot is about system matching at that point and listener preference. Most studio monitors will also be active with their own amps and generally expect balanced XLR inputs as used in pro gear.

 

[thegen]

For me there is simply one speaker brand. Genelec. Small cabinets with superb sound and depth which you can adjust in many ways to fit the room or location of the monitors. Don't mind my signature with the 6010/G One. I've had the 8030's aswell but my current living room is very small.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

What would the difference be between floorstanders and bookshelf speakers?
Things like:
- soundstage
- stereo imaging
-sound quality

Size. A larger cabinet opens up more options. Larger airspace (even for the same drivers as the standmount version) allows for more aggressive port tuning to reach lower into the bass if not make it louder (response varies from 1m to 2m, so what might seem overdone at 1m might be fine at 2m the same what measures flat at 1m might be lean at 2m), or for more drivers like using several woofers (being dedicated bass drivers, though smaller, allows for more excursion without distortion, especially penalties for high excursion when playing higher frequencies that require faster movement).

These are not all just flat out benefits - you have downsides. Too aggressive port tuning can result in loud but distorted bass; too many drivers can result in hearing them out of sync since the distance from your head to each individual driver varies more than a tweeter and mid-woofer smack next to each other, which requires you to move your seat farther to make them equidistant but you may not have that space; the added size means it weighs more by default, but needs more bracing, which adds more weight, unlike with standmounts where you can separate the stands (and empty out the sand or ball bearing ballast) and speakers if you have to move them; etc.

Am looking for speakers to put into a 18'x14' living room. The room goes into a dining room/kitchen: 7'x16'
I want to set up a listening area in the living room with the speakers about 5'-6' away from listening position.
Will this work in a room this size?
----
What would be the choice of speakers for this setup?

You still have to take into account how far the speakers can be from the walls - roughly 2ft from the rear wall and preferably 3ft from the side walls. If you can still move the seat to be at 6ft to 8ft, then you can try floorstanders, this way you can experiment on a sitting position between 5ft to 8ft. Otherwise get some 2-way standmounts, or 2-way floorstanders. Just make sure the drivers are at least 5in but preferably use 6in to 7in.

I live in a basement suite and want to contain/minimize the sound going to the upstairs.
---
How much would the base extension of the speakers matter in sound going upstairs. I like good base, but don't want to have problems with the neighbours if I turn it up to a good listening volume; not that I like it overly loud.

No way to really guess but you can line the ceiling in sound absorption panels. Maybe line it with Dynamat first to mass load it so the wood won't rattle, and given it will vibrate less, there will be less of the noise leakage as well. Then line the ceiling with more absorption panels.