ReQuests and room size

[bigbanger]

(I posted a similar question in another thread here, but it's kind of buried at the bottom of the thread and thought I'd start a new one - apologies if this offends anyone).

I'm curious if the ReQuests will work in my smallish room of 14'x13'. I've got an opportunity to purchase a pair locally which will avoid the shipping hassle and risk involved in purchasing blind. According to the seller, they are virtually mint. He is asking $2100. Any chance these will work in my room? Is this a fair price? I assume I'll need some solid-state muscle (or a powerful tube amp that can deal with the impedance dip) to get the best out of them, true?

 

[Jeff Zaret]

First, I would look at the time line here to get the dimensions. I think you will have to make the judgment call on whether it is overkill or ok for you room. I think your tube amp will be fine but down the road I would get a SS amp for the woofer and keep the tubes for the panels. If you want to listen at what I call "head-banging levels" amybe not but I think with the size of your room you will have plenty of sound. The only way to know is to hear it.

Maybe you can take your amp over to the persons house who is selling it to try?????


Just a thought

Good Luck


Jeff

 

[bigbanger]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the response. I'm actually more concerned about the applicability of the ReQuest to my room than the amplification. I'm willing to purchase an appropriate amplifier if the speaker works well enough in my space.

 

[Pcar928fan]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the response. I'm actually more concerned about the applicability of the ReQuest to my room than the amplification. I'm willing to purchase an appropriate amplifier if the speaker works well enough in my space.

Why wouldn't they?! It is like Horsepower in a car...to much is still not enough! The same is true with a TV if you think a 42" will do guess what...in a year you will be in the market for a 55"! Trust me, I know ALL ABOUT THIS ONE! And for that matter the HP one too!

 

[bigbanger]

Why wouldn't they?! It is like Horsepower in a car...to much is still not enough!

Not sure why you find my inquiry so puzzling. Not every speaker will work well in every room. The ReQuest is quite large, and sports a 12" woofer, which *could* prove problematic in a small room, couldn't it?

 

[johnwa]

I get the you can never have enough horse power analogy and have found the ML's to be an incredibly versitle speaker in almost every enviorment. I currently have a pair of Sequel's in a rather large room as part of my HT system and a pair of Monolith III's in a smaller room not to far off from what you are thinking about for the Quest's. If I could find and afford the Statements, I would cram them in my small space as well as that is my dedicated room. Bottom line is I don't beleive the Quest's will be over kill for you in that space.

 

[sebrof2000]

bigbanger,
I've been working on bass boom and room acoustics since I dropped my Ascents in. I have made a lot of progress to the point that I think I'm just about done.
Although they work very well in my 12' x 13' room, I'm curious if a smaller set would have been less work to tame. I also believe that a (much) larger set would not be an improvement. As I said in another post, I was looking to upgrade from the 1.6s and the 3.6s would have been too big. I believe the same applies to Logans or any other speaker.
Since you're working in a dedicated room and you can get the ReQuests set up properly, then I believe they would probably be great (they're only slightly larger than the Ascents). Be prepared to have some fun with placement and treatments, and the -4db bass contour switch might come in handy as well, especially if you're going to play loud.
Please be aware that my entire Martin Logan experience started only a few months ago when I bought my used Ascent i's, so I don't want to come off as knowing more than I do (I realize this post is SO convincing ).

 

[Tj Bassi]

I own reQuests (two pair, actually) currently set up in a small-ish room 12.5 x 22 feet. Our placement has the speakers pretty tight in the corners which does alot for the low end (bass) but kills the soundstage. Best scenario would put each speaker 2~4 feet from each side wall and 3~3.5 (?) feet from the rear wall. I've heard reQuests placed this way and the imaging is superb.
ReQuests arent known for having exceptional bass so plan on a sub at some point.....concentrate on the best amplification suited to drive the panels and dont expect stellar performance from the integrated woofer.

T-

 

[Sambob2]

Bigbanger,

I just listened to my ReQuests last night which (since the birth of our daughter and division of the upstairs loft into two bedrooms, closets and bathroom) now reside in our bedroom. The ReQuest are "stored" against the wall when I am not listening however each time I want to listen to them I have to position them to get proper imaging.

The room size is about 14 x 16 with a cathedral ceiling. Because I have to move them everytime I want to listen to music, I always found that placing them 8' apart (center to center) and 4' from the back wall always provided the best imaging I could get in that room. Seating position is 4' from the wall behind the listener. That gives me about 8' between me and the front of the ReQuests. While this room is much smaller than when the loft was all one size at 24 x 32, the imaging is still good though not as large as before. The room is limiting that large soundstage I was used to before. I would assume your 14 x 13 room is going to be dedicated to audio equipment? They will probably sound good but you will not get all the advantage of larger ReQuest stat panel has to offer as far as the soundstage size. I would go with something a little smaller...or bust out a wall and increase the size of the room! The ReQuests can throw a very large soundstage with a larger room, you'll be missing that in your room.

Prior to the division of the upstairs loft my ReQuests were 10' apart, 4 1/2' from one of the side walls, 4' from the wall behind the ReQuests, 12 feet from me with 8 feet behind me. Cathedral ceiling. Soundstage was huge only the dynamic range was limited by my amplification!

Sam

(I posted a similar question in another thread here, but it's kind of buried at the bottom of the thread and thought I'd start a new one - apologies if this offends anyone).

I'm curious if the ReQuests will work in my smallish room of 14'x13'. I've got an opportunity to purchase a pair locally which will avoid the shipping hassle and risk involved in purchasing blind. According to the seller, they are virtually mint. He is asking $2100. Any chance these will work in my room? Is this a fair price? I assume I'll need some solid-state muscle (or a powerful tube amp that can deal with the impedance dip) to get the best out of them, true?

 

[C.A.P]

The Re Quest and the Quest like to breath. It is a tad bit small as I had mine in a similar sized room and the bass was terrible, and the image never was dead centered . To much cross cancellation. As soon as I moved them to a larger room 25 x17 they came to life. The bass was there as was a dead center image . Small rooms with big panels will tend to blur up and sound image-y- funny. The SL3 or smaller panel will work better in a smaller room. Plus the Re Quest are a big speaker that looks big in a small room. Their foot print can become intimidating to some

 

[JonFo]

I'd also recommend a possibly smaller panel in such a small room.

I've proven that an SL3 sized panel can play quite loud. What's needed is good subwoofers and enough woofer/mid-bass to keep up.

Good placement and acoustical treatments are where to spend the money.