What to buy for $5000 or so

[Mash]

ChrisR
I have been there and done that- I had a 20' x 20' room c 1977 - 1990. It had carpets and all that other good stuff. The 56 Hz peak was really noxious. And I was using Magneplanar Tympani, which do not over-excite room dimensions the way those cones-in-a-box speakers will.

A 20' x 20' room will also be bad for you, and the carpet, blah, blah, blah, will not fix it for you.

So you have an 18' ceiling? More bad...... I had about an 8' ceiling. You can calc your primary and diagonal modes, you know..... And YOU will have several near 56 Hz.

You had better deal with the acoustics before you spend any money on audio gear. The 56 Hz peaks will get tiresome rather quickly, and you may be forced to select speakers that will fit around your acoustic solutions rather than the other way around.

I built a slanted wall behind my speakers- the bottom was almost 4 feet from the rear wall, the top mated with the corner between the original wall and the ceiling. Of course your 18' ceiling would make this solution more interesting.....

My next house was built to my specs and the acoustics were quite good. Then the house after that had a room 32 x 26 x 20h max/8'h min symmetric, i.e. a Cathedral, and it was perfect....