Best Speakers for a small Nearfield room, budget at most $10000 (used is also ok)
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I used a pair of Totem Model 1’s for years in a small room. I then moved up to a pair of Totem Mani II’s which require a powerful amp. Both speakers need stands. Another option which is a little more money are the Usher mini-x stand mounted speaker with the diamond tweeter. I have multiple pairs of usher speakers in my home all with the diamond DMD tweeter. |
I use Omega Super 3HO’s in a similar environment...high efficiency, transparent, fast and beautiful — also perfectly suited to your taste in music... https://omegaloudspeakers.com/collections/monitor-speakers/products/super-3-high-output-monitor?vari... |
Floorstanders (with manageable bass for small room): Focal Kanta 2 Vivid Kaya 45 Paradigm Persona 3F Monitors: Magico A1 (I liked the A3 but not heard A1 yet) Yamaha NS3000 (have not heard the NS3000 but loved the NS5000) TAD ME1 (have a lot of bass) KEF Reference 1 I plan on using the following guys work to control the bass in my similar sized room. See virtual systems. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/59000-a-talk-on-digital-room-correction/ BTW - The KEF LS50’s would also be very good in your room. I had to acoustically treat the room for my LS50’s to sound great though. |
Hello, The Omega and Joseph Audio Pulsar are rear ported. You will have to pull them too far from the wall or spend a fortune on bass correction. No rear ported speakers for you. I do like the Magico A1 with the stands.( fill them with sand if not weighted) I believe you will have great sound without doing too much acoustic correction for the room. 35hz is good for the bass and you can add a subwoofer later for the days you want to really turn up the volume. Make sure your amp has 4ohm capability but not too much power. 50W to 100w At 4 ohms so you can use the power or turn in up at least 20% of the way. the Magic’s A3s are way too much bass for your room. 26hz is low stuck near the corners of a small room especially without bass traps which can be large and expensive. Also you might have to keep the volume lower because of too much bass So you won’t get to utilize the power of the amp. No Maggie’s either or Maggie type speakers. You do not have enough room to pull them out. Last but not least are the ones with power and possibly room correction. Like Elac or Kai speakers. Full range and the amp already matches the speaker. You have to be careful about too big or too much power because you won’t be able to utilize it in that room without $10,000 worth of room treatment. Magico A1 with the tall stands and a nice tube amp. You can go lower on the amps power say 20w at 4 ohms since you will not be using Solid state. Ask Magico a recommendation for the amp and or preamp. I would go with integrated if you can unless the speakers are farther away from the preamp. Then do longer interconnects from the pre to the amp and shorter speaker cables. Good luck and stay away from the rabbit holes! |
Ayanamisk, thanks for responding to my question a few days ago. These thoughts come to mind regarding the challenges in a small room: First, the reflection path lengths will be relatively short, so the reflections will arrive earlier. Second, low-frequency boost from boundary reinforcement will usually be relatively strong. The low-frequency boundary reinforcement issue can be dealt with either by using speakers designed or adaptable to that situation, or by using subwoofers which are inherently highly adjustable. The short reflection paths issue implies that the speaker’s off-axis response matter a lot, since most of the reflections will originate from its off-axis response. You want the off-axis response to track the on-axis response as closely as possible, to minimize the discrepancy between the two. Also imo it would be desirable for the speakers to have a fairly narrow radiation pattern over as much of the spectrum as possible, so that they can be aimed to minimize the early sidewall reflections. The Dutch & Dutch 8c’s suggested earlier in this thread address both of these issues, though they are above your price range. The Gradient Revolution is an unusually small-room-friendly and less expensive alternative. I was a Gradient dealer for many years before becoming a manufacturer. Duke |
Absolutely buy used on Audiogon, US Audio Mart or Canuck Audio Mart. There is a nice pair of Raidho C1.3 currently on AG for half of $17K. My first choice would be the TAD mini monitor. A used speaker may have some small marks on it but most people are very careful with their gear. A used speaker is also broken in which is significant since most speakers can take months the start to open up. |
Considering your original list...I am a Raidho dealer and am a huge fan of the brand. They are best with more than 20" from back wall. They are amazing speakers but 3' of space behind them is essential for the sound stage to come together. Proximity to sidewall is not a big deal. You might find a smallish floorstander from scansonic (MB-5B???) will work better in your room assuming amplification is ideal. I think I am missing what amp you are driving them with and what sources your have? Even at modest volumes you don't want the system to sound bright. What other speakers have you heard that you liked? Everyone has their favorite brand but we really need to account for your personal taste and your amplification. There are a million options. Given your taste in music, something like an Avantgarde Zero would be brilliant and would work in your room but is not a "small speaker" and needs to be paired with a warm amp or they can be unpleasantly bright. Magico is awesome, but requires a neutral to warmer amp. AVM is brilliant with Magico but Chord would be unpleasant. Alternatively, something like Chord paired with a Spendor D7 could be brilliant. Matching is critical. A little more info could help get away from list of everyone's favorite brand and help narrow and target your search. Full disclosure, I am a Raidho, Chord, Avantgarde and Scansonic dealer and have access to some other brands (including my own, Verdant and others mentioned in this thread) that might work well for you. |
I have to throw my hat in the ring in this one and recommend Studio Electric m4. I have two sets of the early art deco version. They are never harsh sounding, never seemed strained and are sealed so no worries about chuffing ports or weird bass resonances from rear ports. If you do get something else at least get a transmission line with front port. Oh did I mention the SE are way under your price range. Try them I think you'll like them. |
Yes, that is a small room. Your definitely going to want a speaker ported in the front so you can get it closer to the wall. A Harbeth HL5 Plus would be great but might overload the room and a Harbeth 30.2 monitor may be a better choice. Both are great for near field listening, are ported in the front and would go well in a small room....and they fit in your budget. |
You may want to look at the Q Acoustics Concept 300 speakers. John Atkison from stereophile compared them with much more expensive speakers like Wilson's Alexia 2, Magico's S5 Mk.II, and KEF's Blade Two. Here is a link: https://www.stereophile.com/content/q-acoustics-concept-300-loudspeaker-page-2 |
A pair of Evolution Acoustics MicroOne’s will work great in a space that size. Check out this pair listed for $1775: https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa4275-evolution-acoustics-mm-micro-one-excellent-condition-see-... |
i second the PSB Imagine B. I bought a pair used about 4 years ago and used them in a room about your size. Their range is great and your only problem would be if you don’t have adequate sound absorption in the room the bass can become a bit boomy. That’s easily solved by the addition of the bass port plugs in back. Prices on these seem to have risen slightly but a used pair is still under $700 on EBay, not that I’m recommending you buy them there. |
+1 to a sealed box like ATC, though you’ll still have a considerable amount of boundary reinforcement. Audiovector speakers work very well close to the rear wall, their recommended distance for the R1 is as little as 15cm even with the rear port. I suspect in your room it will give you a really strong bass response with speed and slam. The only caveat is they are not the most engaging speakers at low volumes due to being quite neutral/slightly lean in the lower midrange and presence region which means they are best closer to realistic volume levels (they can play crazy loud without compressing), however the R series seems better than the SR I had in this regard and I believe this will be even more of a problem with Magico. For lower level acoustic listening I suggest comparing the “neutral-ish” speakers like Magico, Audiovector, and ATC to the warmer ones like Spendor, Sonus Faber, Devore, Vandersteen and seeing which style clicks for you. The good thing is in your smaller room there’s less risk of the neutral-ish speakers sounding lean. |
One thing that is kind of neat about Audiovector is when you place them close to the wall, instead of collapsing the soundstage depth at the wall they instead throw the soundstage in front of the speakers. It’s not as “holographic” as a typical mini monitor and some might find it a bit forward, but it’s very engaging and kind of lets you walk around inside the stage rather than being relegated to watching a cardboard image plastered to the wall. |
I have been extremely pleased with my purchase of the Wilson Benesch Vertex Loudspeakers
http://wilson-benesch.com/vertex-stand-mounted-loudspeaker/ Worth a look and they fit your budget. I recently added a single subwoofer....truly giant killers in a small space! Good luck. |
Here's a used pair of Dutch & Dutch 8c. https://www.gearslutz.com/board/gearslutz-secondhand-gear-classifieds/1301736-dutch-amp-dutch-8c.html |
If you will have the speakers near the back wall (likely in a small room/nearfield setup), strongly consider sealed/acoustic suspension designs. One of those is the Magico A1 you mention...I've read great things about it. One is for sale used at another website (California pickup only). My favorite nearfield speakers are ATCs. You could get either SCM12s or SCM19s (both sealed 2-ways) and have money left over. |
