Can towers be too big for the room?

[gln2]

EDIT: Revisions in bold.
I'm wondering if the Towers NrT could be tool large for my HT room, and therefore I would be better off with 3 Sierra-1's across the front. Room is about 13ft W X 14.5ft L x 8ft H with speakers 7ft apart along the narrow wall. Seated listening position is 11ft away from mains, with my ears while seated 18 inches from rear wall. Directly behind couch is two large windows with thick roman shades drawn. Carpet and wide ottoman foot stool in front of couch.

I listen loud when playing action movies, and would like great sound for music also though room is primarily HT. I had one store tell me that people make a mistake by buying too large speakers, which overload the room. I feel if I'm playing a movie and want 105db peaks, it's going to be the same loudness whether there are 3 mid/woofer cones across the front or 8 cones. I guess it may be more of the upper bass that could cause problems.

So, would I get better quality sound with 3 identical Sierra-1s or with 2 Tower NrTs and the slightly different Sierra-1 for the center? (Tower center will not fit in my cabinet).

[Alleric]

To me, the speakers are only too large if they interrupt the core function of the room. If this is a dedicated media room, then you just have to decided at what point the largeness of the speakers starts interrupting walking paths or "just looking goofy".

I think what you'll find in the coming responses is that people will just tell you that each speaker (Sierra 1 vs Sierra Tower) will do what you ask, but will have a different quality about them. Better? Worse? Shades of grey.

[curtis]

You would still get better sound from the Towers.

The key is the Towers won't have to "work" as hard to achieve the same sound levels. Also, the dedicated midrange driver does make a difference in midrange detail.

[GirgleMirt]

No offense to the towes but they are not huge speakers.. In a general sense I agree with the idea, some speakers have twin 12 inch woofers and are jst ridiculous for a small room, but sierra towers aren't that big and imho should be more than fine. Sierras 1 would be fine, but as mentionned, its more whether u want the mid & headroom towers provide

[gln2]

You guys are right, these towers are not very big, only 7.5W X 10.5D. They looked much bigger in some of the pics; especially seemed to be very deep. I was looking at another speaker, and I had assumed the Ascend was much larger than that model given the pics I had seen and the fact it "goes so low". I was surprised that this tower is 4" narrower and 3.5" less deep than the other! So, it should fit fine in my room and won't interfere with the traffic flow. (Doorway entrance is on front wall, right side, so every time one walks into the room they will walk right past the right speaker. Narrower is better.) It's about the same dimensions as a typical bookshelf.

Hope the quality of my Marantz SR8002 can do it justice.

[natetg57]

Your receiver will do just fine. The speakers themselves are the biggest factor in sound quality. The Marantz won't get in the way. :)