sfdude's system

[Stino]

Are those Spatial Audio Hologram M3 speakers? They look really beautiful. Although I never heared them myself, I understood that they play above their price.

[sfdude]

Stino, yes. They're the Turbo S version of the M3s. They definitely don't offend and play well on all music. However, I'm getting a pair of the original Olympica IIIs to replace them and pair with my 220 Pro CI. The Spatials will either be off to another lucky owner or move to a second home that is in the process of being built.

[sfdude]

Finally got the Sonus Faber Olympica IIIs in my system. 

   
   
   
   
[attachment=3864]

[Jean-Marie]

Very lovely!
Enjoy fully, I'm sure then sound as good as they look!

Jean-Marie

[Marietto]

@sfdude
The Olympica are fantastic!
They deserve a gift, copper jumpers for bi-wiring

[sfdude]

@sfdude
The Olympica are fantastic!
They deserve a gift, copper jumpers for bi-wiring

Yes! I'm actually getting a pair of bi-wire cables made now so this will negate the need for the factory jumpers.

[georgev]

I have and use KS 9035 jumpers on my G2’s.
They really good.
See if you can get them.

[sfdude]

I'll be moving house soon and am debating between two locations for my system (Devialet 440 Pro CI + Sonus Faber Olympica IIIs).

1) Upper Floor: This is a bonus room that is 19 ft x 20 ft with a 10 ft ceiling height. We will likely put a sectional couch in it as we plan to put a large TV on the right wall (closest to the "HALL" area). So the thought is to place the speakers on the bottom wall (where the windows are) and the rack off to one of the corners (most likely bottom left of the room).
https://imgur.com/a/yzfVjU8

2) Ground Floor: The other option is the Great Room. We have a 6' grand piano that will be positioned on the bottom right corner of the great room, near the fireplace. That leaves only the left side of the great room closest to the stairs available. This would make it a bit more nearfield placement. The room is a 2-story open great room and the space opens into the dining/kitchen area. So there will likely be some balance adjustments to be made on my Devialets to account for dead center imaging/soundstage.
https://imgur.com/a/wHObkTX

What option would you choose? 1 or 2?

[David A]

I would strive to maintain left/right symmetry to the greatest extent possible at the speaker end of the room. That means I would go for option 1.

I've got a room that has 2 openings, one into a hallway and the other into a much larger area (kitchen/dining/living) into which the hallway opens as well. The hallway opening is to the right side of my right speaker. I can actually get a centred imaging without using the balance control but the room does have physical acoustic treatments and the space to the right of the right speaker is much, much smaller than the space to the right of your right speaker would be if you go for option 2. Even with the acoustic treatments I can not quite get a balanced soundstage, it's not so much the left/right aspect but more a sense that the acoustic space to the right is different to that on the left. I've never tried to balance the soundstage and imaging in a situation where the space to the side of one speaker is so much larger than the space to the side of the other speaker as it is in your option 2 but I think it would be difficult to balance.

I might go for the downstairs room if you could place the speakers on the wall with the fireplace but your plans for the piano preclude that. I won't suggest moving the piano to the upstairs room but if you were to place the piano in the top right corner of the downstairs room (adjacent to the covered outside area) you might be able to set the speakers up on either side of the fireplace which would provide left/right symmetry but I think your choice of the bottom right corner for the piano is the best option for the piano and it would probably not be possible to come up with a plan for whatever other furniture you're going to have in the room with the piano that would work for both the piano and the system if you moved the piano to that top right corner and placed the speakers on either side of the fireplace.

[sfdude]

I would strive to maintain left/right symmetry to the greatest extent possible at the speaker end of the room. That means I would go for option 1.

Thanks David. I am definitely leaning towards Option 1 (Bonus Room vs. the Great Room) as that would let me deal with "normal" room boundary issues given the symmetric nature of it. The Great Room was a more practical option for entertaining guests but I may just settle for something more pedestrian.