[jaylevine]

Hi,

Looking for opinions regarding what is too small? I have a square space 11ft by 11ft with 12 foot ceilings. Would like to put a small system in (my headphone room right now), but am concerned at the end of the day it is just too small given my tastes for dipoles and their need to be off the back wall.

Jay

[Phil A]

Hi,

Looking for opinions regarding what is too small? I have a square space 11ft by 11ft with 12 foot ceilings. Would like to put a small system in (my headphone room right now), but am concerned at the end of the day it is just too small given my tastes for dipoles and their need to be off the back wall.

Jay

I have a 11x12.8 room with a 10 ft. ceiling and I'm fine with my Ohm Microwalsh Talls.  They sound great.  It's a secondary system for me.

[Phil A]

[Phil A]

I should add that I originally was going to get MMGs.  The doorway as you can see is diagonal and there is not tons of wall space (there's a diagonal bi-fold closet door on the same side of the doorway (closet goes under the stairs going up to the bonus room) and a pair I got came up locally a bit before I was ready but I just jumped on them.

[*Scotty*]

This subject was discussed with viewpoints expressed on both sides of the question. See link
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=133088.20  My thoughts based on experiences with both SMGs and MG 3s  is that while maggies can always benefit from more space, as long the room isn't the size of a bedroom and very hard acoustically speaking, then you should be able put a pair of maggies in the room. If and when you get and bigger space the speakers will step up with a bigger sense space and bigger reproduced soundstage.
 A small box speaker can perform to its fullest potential in the small space but it will fall down when moved to a bigger space and asked to fill the room with music.
Scotty

[macrojack]

They'll work in terms of reproducing sounds but, if you want to get your money's worth, you'll need to have a larger space. This isn't like a parachute where it either works or it doesn't.

[SteveFord]

If your "local" dealer has a Mini Maggie System available to demo, that and a small sub in a corner will work really well.
Magnepan spent so much time back pedaling from their show demo that they really missed the boat - I've heard this combo in a room larger than what you're talking about and they sounded great.  Stick them on some little pedestals and you'll be good to go.
Now that I think of it, Magnepan might have some sort of in-house demo program for the Minis so if you have the money up front you really can't lose.

[FullRangeMan]

Hi,

Looking for opinions regarding what is too small? I have a square space 11ft by 11ft with 12 foot ceilings. Would like to put a small system in (my headphone room right now), but am concerned at the end of the day it is just too small given my tastes for dipoles and their need to be off the back wall.

Jay

Unfortunately there is small rooms for planars;
For Carver Amazings 48'' Ribbons the minimum wide is 3,25/3,30M wide.

[mick wolfe]

Hi,

Looking for opinions regarding what is too small? I have a square space 11ft by 11ft with 12 foot ceilings. Would like to put a small system in (my headphone room right now), but am concerned at the end of the day it is just too small given my tastes for dipoles and their need to be off the back wall.

Jay

I have essentially the same sq. footage, but with an 8'ceiling.  Phil A. has hit the nail on the head. I've found the Ohm 1000 to work better than anything I've ever tried in this room. Nothing else has come close in fact. I only sit about 6.5' from the Ohms yet they disappear in a very convincing manner loading the room with a very ambient, lifelike presentation. No surprise as both the Micro's and the 1000's are designed to work most effectively in a room of this size.

[jaylevine]

If your "local" dealer has a Mini Maggie System available to demo, that and a small sub in a corner will work really well.
Magnepan spent so much time back pedaling from their show demo that they really missed the boat - I've heard this combo in a room larger than what you're talking about and they sounded great.  Stick them on some little pedestals and you'll be good to go.
Now that I think of it, Magnepan might have some sort of in-house demo program for the Minis so if you have the money up front you really can't lose.

Actually they do have a 30 day no risk trial and I am getting temped. The only problem I see is that I don't even have 1/2 foot of rear space available unless I get some stands, which I don't have anyplace in the room for. the  speakers would have to sit on the fireplace mantal in the room. Everything they say on their website indicates that even as a desktop system the left/right panel should be set up with distance from the rear reflecting wall (makes sense given they are still maggies).

As an aside, here is a great write up on this subject:

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/magnepans-mini-maggie-system-revisited-playback-53/

[SteveFord]

The way I heard them was two Minis on a desk, a DMW under the desk, a small REL sub in a corner far behind the listener's seat and it was all hooked up to some crappy little integrated and the source was a PC.
It was VERY impressive but it all fell apart when I switched the REL sub off.
I can't comment on how two DMWs would work in place of one DMW and a sub but I know that combination (one DMW/REL) works out great.

[ebag4]

While not MMGs I have run OBs in my small room with success.  I am currently running GR Research "Wedgies" with the servo subs (stereo pair of 2 12" servo subs in "H" alignment) but for several years I ran the GR Research V1s.  My room is not quite square but close at 10.5'x12.5'x8'.  Here is my layout:




Best of luck!
Ed

[mick wolfe]

Yep....I've used Spatial M2 Turbos in the small room I've mentioned above. My set-up was similar to yours in allowing a decent amount of breathing room behind the speakers. Although the presentation is far more "upfront" than with the Ohms, there are no serious acoustic issues due to room size. OB's are very room friendly. More so than Maggies in my experience. With this said, I think all these designs benefit from a decent amount of breathing room behind the speaker. Not sure the OP has that luxury.

[ebag4]

I missed the comment regarding placing the speakers on a mantle, please disregard my previous post.

[kwashabc]

I am using Sound Labs in a 12x14 room to good effect. They use a curved, electrostatic panel. I would imagine that a curved panel might work better than a flat panel in a smaller room However, I must admit that I think a curved panel is always better than a flat panel for an electrostatic.