room size and speakers

[eboz]

What sort of speakers should I be considering if I have a small to medium listening room? The room is 16x16ft which expands into a larger space toward the rear of the room of 18x19ft. The larger space is because there is a staircase going downstairs behind the couch and listening position but all furniture must be positioned within the 16x16ft space. Is it alright to go with three-ways here? I have been seriously considering trying the Audio Note AN-E speakers in the corners of the room, but I would also consider a DIY approach. What is recommended? Thanks!

[GM]

As a general rule, speaker size is irrelevant to room size as long as they will physically fit. What matters is listening distance, desired SPL at the listening distance and the BW desired, so with drivers in the corners you're listening distance will need to be at the rear of the available space and even then may be too close to completely fill the sound-stage properly unless horns or larger single wide BW drivers are used to control directivity and project enough to get sufficient imaging depth through our acute hearing BW. Add a super tweeter and woofer system to fill in the top/bottom as required to get your three way.

GM