[mlundy57]

I had an interesting development in the speaker building process. My wife, who was less than enthusiastic about me building speakers a few months ago, heard the new N1X's I was burning in and asked if I could build new speakers for the living room. She wants floor standers for the mains. Of the current models I'm looking at either the N3 or the OB7.

The living room is a 20' x 25' great room design. The half that is living room has an 8' ceiling while the dining room half has a cathedral ceiling. What are some of your thoughts, especially those of you who have experience with both systems?

Mike

[Ron]

  Either the N3 TL or the OB-7 will work very well in your large 20' x  25" living room; however, given your room size, my recommendation
would be for the OB-7's. Just my two cents worth.

[mzbrahce]

I built a pair of AV-3 TLs for a friend and have spent a fair amount of time listening to them.   I have had a pair of OB-5s in my system for over 2 years.  I love my OB-5s and feel they are a significant step up from the AV-3s--OB is very seductive.  The OB-7s will have better bass than the OB-5s.  They would be my choice.

---------------------Mark

[Captainhemo]

Hey Mike

Well,  I've  had both the N3 Tl's as well as the OB7's which I have now.    They are both  great speakers  and I'm sure you and your wife will be very impressed with either.  Now that yo  have the N1X's,  yo  know  what that  Neo 3  tweeter can  do, add the platinum  bypass caps  and   take it to another  level.

I'm  sure  you  are aware  that the  OB's are going to need to be at least  3' offf the wall, just something  you  may want to  make  clear with  the wife....
The N3 TL's are going to play down a lot further than the OZB7's,   you  cold  easily get away withouot a sub by going with the  TL's.   The  OB7's  4  bass drivers ( I went with the  M130X upgrade) are great...  really fast  and  tight but being  they are in a sealed cabinet,  they don't reach down nearly as far.  You'll  definitely want  to be running a sub with  these.  If you don't want to run a sub,  you could always consider the OB5 which use  a ported lower cabinet
The OB  aspect is  wonderful.  It  just adds so much  more dimension to the music and in a large room such as yours, I'd imgine that effect is going  to be even better.... mzbrahce is right,   OB is very  seductive

-jay

[mlundy57]

Thanks all for the input. The current speakers (Klipsch Reference Series RB-81 II's and RC-62 II) are 3 feet out from the back wall so that part shouldn't be an issue. However, the living room is primarily my wife's domain and she is not inclined to sit on the couch and listen to music. When she is in the living room in front of the system she is watching either TV or movies. Her only real use of the system for music is as background music when she has a family gathering or a party. So this system is almost exclusively used for HT.

I'm the one who listens to and enjoys music and for that I have my own room upstairs.  Based on your feedback Jay, it seems like the N3TL (with an N3S center) would be better suited for the living room system and an OB design would be better appreciated in my listening room. A side benefit would be that by the time I was ready to build the OB speakers Danny's new designs should be out 

Mike

[Danny Richie]

Looks like you already got some really good feedback by some good people here. I have little more to add.

Thanks all,