Hi - I've got a colleague at work who wants to set up a reasonable system in his apartment. I asked him to send me his room layout which is pictured here. His chief concern is acoustics given the doorways into the room and the desire not to bring the speakers out from the wall. I'm not an acoustic expert so I thought I'd throw this one out to the experienced folks around here. With all the speakers I've had, they've really needed breathing room from the rear wall, and that won't be the case here (have marked the two positions identified for speakers with grey circles; the listening point would presumably then be in the middle of the sofa). If the speakers are light enough, he could always move them out for critical listening and move them back afterwards.
He wants a music server system and a transport. I've recommended the PS Audio PWT and PWD combo which he's fine with. I'm recommending the First Watt J2 as the amplifier (no preamp between), although this clearly needs to be a function of the speaker selection which is a function of the room. So need to start from the room and work back to the amp (source should be great in just about any direction). So given the layout and setup issues would greatly appreciate suggestions. Budget is flexible, but if the room and acoustics are the constraining factor, it would be silly to over-spend on equipment that's overkill. So rear-ported speakers may not make sense, maybe single drivers? He doesn't want to have large speakers for aesthetic reasons. (I started trying to talk him into a pair of Magico Mini II demo's I saw, before I realized I was just projecting with the benefit of his wallet and not mine....and started feeling guilty
).
Thanks!
