To TL or Not to TL?

BC6

I just replaced the tweeters, capacitors and resistors on my SDA 2's, and absolutely love the sound. Unfortunately it's made me just want more, so I'm looking at upgrading to bigger speakers. I heard a friend's Martin Logans recently and actually preferred my SDA 2's to them in almost every way except for the wall of sound the ML's put out. The 2's can put out sound, but they lack the presence of the ML's. I've preliminarily narrowed it down the the 2.3's, but I don't know if I should look for 2.3TL's instead. I've read some of the comparisons on the forums here, but I wanted to get your opinions on which way to go (and try to up my post count. I'm starting a project to create a wall of video games and stereos this summer and I'll have some old stuff to sell. I figure that gives me a couple of months to find 100 things to say. )

My room is about 12' x 20' with an open kitchen on the right and the 20' wall on the left. The speakers have to be on the 12' wall because I can't sit in the kitchen to listen. I listen about 6' in front of the back wall. Right now speakers are about 1.5' into the room with an entertainment system between them, but that will change when I start my video game wall project. I included my other equipment in the signature below.

I've also considered trying other companies, but I've had the SDA 2's for 30 years and I've been indoctrinated to their sound. I've gone to RMAF the last couple of years and have mostly been unimpressed - or at least not impressed enough to spend thousands more to get a small upgrade. The only speakers that had me drooling were the Davones, and I was intrigued by Bob Carver's speakers, but not $20,000 worth of intrigued.

Thank your for reading my rambling and thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

F1nut

My 2 cents. Unless you can get the bigger SDA's on the long wall you're not going to get the best results and may be hampering your current results. SDA's really need a minimum of a 15 foot wall.

gmcman

I had my 2B's on my narrow wall, roughly 13', was the bare minimum and they did pretty good.

Once I put them on the long wall, 28', they really opened up. Having them 18" from the wall is hurting you, in bass and likely soundstage but not 100% sure on the staging part.
I have 2.3TL's now on the long wall and they fill the room much better. Not saying the 2B's did bad on the long wall...they just performed better than the short wall.

Proper placement is paramount.

Forgot to ask, are you using the interconnect cable?

BC6

Yes, I have the cable and it works well. I really can't find much wrong with what I have other than a little muddiness in the low midrange, which I suspect is due to the walls, and I'm jealous of the wall of sound I heard from my friend's MLs. Plus, and this is more important, I'm in a sweet spot where I have a little extra money and my wife isn't mad at me - yet.

Are you thinking that the 2's on a 12' wall would sound better than 2.3's on the same wall? I could probably move the speakers more into the kitchen area to get them close to 15', but that would cost wife points.

nooshinjohn

Jesse is right about the bigger SDA’s. Better to look for a pair of 1c’s for that room, or perhaps a set of Magnepan MG 1.6 and a nice subwoofer.

machone

You might try room treatment. It worked wonders for me.