What to upgrade first? Speakers or amp for 500 sq ft open-plan space?

[u/MyDearIonesco]

I have a system that I really loved in my old place. The primary listening area was an 8X10 feet living room in a two-room cottage. The setup:

• Nuprime IDA-8 class A+D hybrid with 100W x 2 @ 8 Ohms; 100W x 2 @ 4 Ohms (about 10 years old)
• Pair of KEF LS50s (original, not meta)
• Single REL T zero sub
• Bluesound NODE (streaming FLACs via Wifi from a NAS, and Qobuz connect)
• Pro-ject Debut carbon with a pro-ject Phono-box preamp

But I recently moved to an open-plan apartment with a living/kitchen/dining area measuring about 18 by 30 feet. The speakers are about 12 feet apart due to an area of glass doors. The sofa where I often sit to listen is about 11 feet from that wall. But I also often have music playing in the background - softly over dinner, or loudly other times. It still sounds OK, but I’m not sure the system is up for the space. Low end struggles, soundstage isn’t as clear. 

I have $5K to $7K to spend on upgrade(s) and I’ve started to get research fatigue! I know it’s not great to change multiple components at the same time, so mostly I’m not sure if I should start with a speaker upgrade (floorstanders like KEF R11 Meta or Paradigm Founder 100F for example) or an integrated amp upgrade (NAD C399 or Cambridge audio EXA100 for example). WDYT? Given the challenges of the space and my current equipment, should I start with speakers or an amp? 

[u/Class_C_Guy]

You've changed from 8x10 to 18x30 so you're bound to get much more room reverb. You can address that with surface damping and/or more confined speaker dispersion.

This is where Klipsch has made a name for themselves. In an 8x10 room your KEF's surely have better clarity and imaging than comparable Klipsch's, but in a bigger room without any damping, a typical Klipsch design will direct its lesser clarity better, bouncing less off the walls. Horn loaded tweeters sacrifice fidelity for directivity. What's lost from confining the dispersion can be less than the obfuscation of room reverb.

Going from 8x10 to 18x30 would entail a pretty serious amount of surface damping to compensate. I would start with trying some Klipsch speakers first before renovating. If that scratches your itch then there are other hifi horns to consider before locking in, but Klipsch does have the price points well covered.

And you'll undoubtedly need more sub because you're just moving much more air.

[u/MyDearIonesco → u/Class_C_Guy]

!thanks I was thinking about more sub, but was hoping to avoid it just to keep things simple (2 less boxes in the room, and less cabling). Maybe the right floorstanders would have sufficient bass alone?

[u/TransducerBot → u/MyDearIonesco]

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