Big Room or Small Room is better?

[richidoo]

That makes sense, to think of room as integral part of the system. It absolutely is. 

The last time I tried moving into the 11x12x9 room, I put a pair of usher Be-20s in there and tons of acoustic treatment to control the bass overload.  http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=1150.0  That failed not because the room was too small, but because the speakers were incompatible with the room. There's a piano in there now, but I could still try it real quick with lesser speakers. Actually I think I did try that once with little Infinitys 2ways, the success of which prompted me to move in the Ushers.

I do remember breathing a sigh of relief when I moved back into the big room, it just sounded better even disregarding the bass.  But maybe that was only because I was accustomed to it.  I had much less acoustic treatment in the big room then. I still like the sound of the big room. The little room will require a lot more midrange absorption than the big room to stop those early reflections. I don't have that problem in the big room.

[tmazz]

I agree, acoustically a bigger room is almost always easier to work with.

A few years ago my Pastor asked me if I could bring g some equipment down to the church to provide music for an event they were holding there. I brought down a Sony Discman and a pair of Bose Roommates, which are a 1984 vintage portable powered speaker. Each one as a single Bose 901 driver in it, so they are not your typical $25 computer speaker, but they are small portables ( 10 x 6x6 x6 inches) none the less. Well I put them in the choir loft, threw in the CD of Catante Domino and went down into the pews to see what it sounded like. What I heard was simply shocking. These speakersare decent, but not great in a normal home sized room, but in the church I was shocked at how realistic the sounded. Now if I could just find a 50,000 cubic foot listening space in my house I'll be all set. 

[tmazz]

Funny story about those Roommates. I was traveling on business in the early 90s and I took them with me packed in a gym bag along with the Discman and a bunch of CDs so I could have some music in my hotel room for the week. I was going through airport security when all of a sudden I was surrounded by TSA agents demanding that I empty the bag. Once I did they made me set up the speakers and play some music (they were impressed by the sound BTW). once they were satisfied that it was indeed a music system and I had packed it away I asked one of them what the big deal was. He brought me over to the XRay monitor and when I saw the picture I immediately knew why they all went on high alert. As an XRay it was a pretty low resolution pic but the voice coil of the speaker was the same size and shape as an alarm clock and the wires coming out of it connected to the circuit board right by some electrolytic capacitors (Long cylindrical in shape). I'll be damned it it didn't look like the silhouette of a home made bomb. And this all took place pre-9/11. Imagine what would have gone down if this happened now. Can you say full body cavity search? 

Needless to say the roommates have not seen the inside of an airport since that day...........

[richidoo]

My daughter's ballet studio uses a couple small 6" Bose cubes and a Bose sub in a corner. 2 cubes cover a 30 x 60 x 12 foot room. I always enjoy listening to the music they play when I go for "parent observation." Very dense full midbass, and great tone. I don't mention that to my wife though. 

[Werd]

Sonically - Big Room. Smaller room easier to manage and afford. There is just too much flexibility in a big room. You can do anything including mini monitors to floorstanders. Luckily i have a pretty large basement room for a 1100 square foot home. Been in some some 3000sq foot homes that don't have this space.

[tmazz]

My daughter's ballet studio uses a couple small 6" Bose cubes and a Bose sub in a corner. 2 cubes cover a 30 x 60 x 12 foot room. I always enjoy listening to the music they play when I go for "parent observation." Very dense full midbass, and great tone. I don't mention that to my wife though. 

Rich you have hit the nail right on the head. That was always the Bose hallmark. They get a good handle on tonality and couple it with a decent dynamic punch for the size of the speakers and in doing so they have met if not exceeded the needs and desires of 98% of the electronic buying population. Forest the fact than for the most part the don't image worth a damn, nor can they project any sense of height depth or inner detail, the average consumer does not understand or care about any of that. They have figured out what is most important to John Q. Public  even if it means making a "lesser quality" speaker overall than the could be. You as an audiophile can enjoy the Bose system in short bursts but over the longer term would tire of them and begin to miss the things they do not do well, but the average consumer will enjoy the pluses and since they are not concerned (or are just oblivious of) the things that a Bose speaker lacks, so they will be happy with them forever. In a way they are lucky guys. They get to just enjoys their systems since they know no Nervosa. 

But like I have brought up a number of times before, you can say what you want about Bose, but the one thing they seem to be able to do better than most everybody else in the industry is sell.

[rollo]

   Back to your rooms boys. All that Bose talk will stunt your growth. If you listen long enough you will go blind. Bade been bose boys.
    Eh eh I as well have Bose for our TV.  Hey Tom I can see the Steeple being installed in the living room.


charles