Hi Spud, my room is 5m by 3.8 (couple of in steps steps that reduce/increase by 30cm’s) As I said above constructions is a dog (house is a hundred years old and has been extended and some of the plaster board has large gaps causing wall judder) Hard to get good bass….
When I I tried the 50’s I had done less work in the panels and didn’t have the Townshends podiums but the 40’s worked better hence went for them.
I do see plenty of people with big speakers in small rooms, some close to the side walls etc and they seem to get them to work despite the principles of speaker placement….
As with all speakers the only way to really know if they work is to demo with a friendly and patient. dealer! Therefore I would not rule out the 50’s based in room size and despite not working in my room they were superb - was gutted I couldn’t get them to work but will revisit in a couple of years when I retire.
I’m using the Podiums I purchased for use with my reflex (rear ported) Ushers. I am considering something that will fit relatively unobtrusively in the room corners near the speakers.
Behind me I have floor to ceiling Form Konnects containing CDs and DVDs, to my right a window with radiator below, then French doors close to the r/h speaker, to my left, three Mana racks, and to my behind left the door to the room.
I have, briefly, experienced a potential option, and have a good relationship with a very helpful dealer who will let me try them at home.
At the minute, I am holding fire, but what I have bought, and the changes I have made since 2020 have been with this being my retirement set-up in mind.
I wish my room was as large as yours appears to be, but I don’t want to start getting rid of stud walls and losing the downstairs shower room…
Gary, search the forum and check out @Camlan. He is using 100aslts in a relatively compact space, with the speakers firing across the room.
Our house is late 90’s build with blocks faced with brick with plasterboard room “walls”, but I believe the board is closer to the block-work than yours, which sounds like it is acting as a drumskin to a degree.
So glad you enjoyed the review Marc and I hope it helps to inform your choice. That’s a very fine line-up of loudspeakers to shortlist, just make sure you give the ATC’s enough volume. I find 80dB or so at the listening position is when they start to really come alive. Also consider room size - the 50’s being ported and with that huge bass driver need a whole lot more space around them to avoid boom than the 40’s which are very easy to accomodate.
My space isn’t massively dissimilar to yours size-wise – I’m about L6.4m x W4m (in effect) x H2.4m, with glass behind on the long axis (with some treatment panels/coverage in front & behind). I’ve peeked at your room pics from 2021(?) and note your speakers are back against the wall, which if you put 50s there might generate further bass reinforcement.
I have ART 'speakers which are quite ‘bassy’, and they only really work ~215cm from the rear wall/glass – otherwise, I get many LF issues – and room treatment will not deal with these.
It’s interesting how near-field @Farthings-cat ’ set-up is, which I know helps to remove/mitigate the LF issues i.e. puts the listener in the focal sound spot, noting also how toed-in the speakers are (as are mine).
I get soundstage across and behind the speakers (mine are wider baffle), nothing in front.
Perhaps food for thought?
One of the learnings with bass management which I found and appears counter-intuitive (at least to me!), is that it’s better to get closer than retreat! – obviously on the basis any pesky reflections can be tamed/even doors left open to vent the bass.
Hi HL,
Thanks for your input. Which Arts do you have btw?
2m into the room would be a bit impractical for me. Eventually if I decide to look to upgrade I may need to look at speakers that can stay a little closer to the back wall, can come out max 70 cm because the room doubles as as a home cinema room and the settee according to REW measurements is in the best position. I’d find the speakers in my face - will probably replicate my Motorhead gigs from the 70’s lol.
Thanks
Spud
I have ART Alnico Signatures, 3-way, with a 9’’ bass driver (no longer made) – and they stand with very similar dimensions to the 50s when the stand is included. I have them on podiums (as pictured by Farthings-cat).
Unfortunately, if I push them back towards the rear, the lay-out of the room is overly compromised due to doorways, plus the bass gets ‘out of order’. In some ways, my lay-out isn’t that different, in that (I think) your settee is forward of the rear wall, whereas my seating position isn’t.
I think, and with some hindsight over the years, it’s better to stay with a bass-lean speaker, as otherwise LF (bass) issues can become a right pain.
Problem is, the fun of the likes of Motorhead, is massively reduced when you remove the bass!
My room is about the same size as Gary’s but is not a dedicated listening room, so room treatment for bass is a little problematic. In spite of the 40As reputation for being agnostic in respect of positioning, I found it beneficial to experiment and ended up shifting them from firing across the room to down the room and about a metre from the back wall. This pretty much removed any room-induced bass lift, apart, perhaps, from a slightly unrealistic warmth on the lower strings in some orchestral recordings and an oversized bass on some jazz albums. Setting up Space Optimisation on my Linn streamer finally got rid of that.
Active ATCs are such wonderful speakers IMO, that it’s worth spending some time and effort to get the most out of them.
Probably totally impractical and ludicrously expensive, but remove the plasterboard fill the void space with the insulation panels they now put in new builds, put new battens in and re-plasterboard. Or something.
Thanks Jonathan, very wise counsel. Ahead of actually listening, it’s my one anxiety. My room is not small, but the current arrangement will allow then to be 2 ft off the back wall, but a little squeezed by furniture either side. Hey ho, with the state if the world, a ‘nice’ problem to sort!
Have you thought of trying expanding foam to fill the gap between plasterboard and brick. The types put in with a gun only require a small hole. Available from screwfix and the like. It would be worth considering for one wall to start with.
Has anyone had any experience of using a lyngdorf amp (as a preamp) into a pair of atc actives?
I’m considering a possible replacement of my passive pre and am intrigued about the lyngdorf.
I’ve seen this tried. The foam settled at the bottom of the cavity before it fully expanded and then made the whole bottom of the stud wall bow outwards.
That’s not unusual, in a limited space PU foam can exert quite a bit of pressure and unless very well fixed, plasterboard can easily be distorted.
If you were able to measure the volume of expanded foam and put in a suitable amount it might theoretically be possible to inject the right amount. You would need to know the spacing of the timber battens, including any horizontals (noggins) if used. Chances are you’ll guess, and get it wrong.
