What amp will you use with them? What are your sonic priorities?
In general, smaller speakers will work best. Setup will be a big consideration. Most speakers sound much better pulled out at least 3ft. from the front wall. So if that's not an option, avoid rear ports especially, and look for designs made to be used near the wall. Their aren't many but there are a few good ones. Larsen and Audio Note are the first that come to mind. Many Devores work well in smaller spaces.
The more you share about what you prioritize, the more helpful the responses will be. Cheers,
Spencer
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Dynaudio Heritage Special, you can now get them with the stand 20 included which I highly recommend. But, just my opinion.
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Not a big room to fill and dimensions may not be optimal so I would narrow it down by keeping budget under $1000. KEF LS50 or similar sized passives or small powered nearfield studio monitors.
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Where are you sitting in the room? How far can you place the speakers from the back wall? How far away are you sitting from the speakers? Can you sit facing diagonally reducing the direct reflections (for the best sound)? Is this a dedicated listening room or a multi-purpose room? How loud do you want to play and what music do you listen to?
Altec VOTT A7s would allow you to listen to music from the inside out but not very practical. Depending upon the source you're going to power them with the Omega Super Alnico High Output Monitor could work very well.
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Small rooms have two issues: First, the reflection path lengths are short, and that’s bad because early reflections are more likely to be detrimental than later-arriving ones. Second, the smaller the room, the larger and more audible the room-induced bass region peaks and dips tend to be.
A combination of narrow and well-behaved loudspeaker radiation patterns and early-reflection-avoidant speaker setup can reduce the amount of undesirable early reflections. Room treatments can help, as long as they don’t ruin the spectral balance of the reflected energy by overly-absorbing the highs.
Small rooms tend to reinforce the bass region moreso than large rooms, so having a means of adjusting the amount of in-room bass energy can be helpful. In my opinion too much bass is more distracting than not enough bass.
In general smooth bass is "fast" bass, and the in-room bass energy can be smoothed via EQ, bass trapping, or a distributed multisub system. Which if any of these approaches make sense depends on the specifics.
Danager mentions diagonal set-up and big Altec speakers. The big Altecs have very good radiation pattern control, and a diagonal setup geometry can reduce the amount of energy in the early reflections. And if you can introduce some asymmetry such that each of the speakers is a different distance from the two nearest walls, that can help with room interaction in the bass region.
Of course the big Altecs are probably impractical for a small room at least here in the USA, but not necessarily in Japan! I mention them because they have the sort of radiation pattern that I believe can work well in a small room.
Duke
speaker manufacturer
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Any LS3/5A type ( sealed woofer ) should fit the bill! Harbeth, Spendor, Falcon, Stirling, etc., etc., all make them!
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For actives, either LS60 or a pair of Cabasse pearl. I've heard both in tiny listening rooms (tinier than your dimensions) and they sound surprisingly good for near-field less than 2 meters, especially LS60. LS60 is more refined, colored and laid back. Pearl is slightly less refined but less colored and more fun, and you can put them on TV console without stands.
For passives, I may be more partial towards Cabasse because I'm using one now but I believe Riga and Baltic are perfect for small rooms and have extremely high WAF. If not Cabasse, I would get Sonus Faber Electa Amator III, Triangle Magellan Duetto, or Focal Sopra No 1.
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Anything with a rolled off bass because you will get a good bit of room gain below 60hz. Size of the speaker does not matter too much but how low it reaches will. Simple fix is just to use want ever speaker you want and EQ the bass.
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yogiboy
4,603 posts
07-03-2022 at 06:57am
“ …Any LS3/5A type ( sealed woofer ) should fit the bill! Harbeth, Spendor, Falcon, Stirling, etc., etc., all make them!…”
PLAN A = +1 as my first choice …because of your modest room size.
- with a nod to the HARBETH smaller standmount = HARBETH P3ESR XD
- One note of caution: all HARBETH speakers crave an “open form ” speaker stand (e.g. Tontraeger) to perform at their best.
PLAN B = TRIANGLE COMETE 40th Anniversary from France.
- Given your small room dimensions I would heartily these front ported standmounts to permit a closer positioning to the boundary walls.
https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1582-triangle-40th-anniversary-comete-loudspeakers
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What is your equipment? What kind of sound do you like… are there aspects you want… great imaging? Coherence? High level of detail? Musical? Warm? Cool?
Sounds like you like Jazz… other genera? Room dimensions (10 x 12)? Any kind of speakers you have particularly liked in the past? Putting some photos of the room under your UserID would be really useful. Do you have complete control of the room? Or is placement negotiated?
My first decision might be technology based of preferred sound… Planar? Dynamic, AMT/Dynamic. Then towers vs stand + subwoofer.
Then bass heavy like B&W, really natural / musical like Sonus Faber… Martin Logan, Maggie’s? Totem are great punchy and pleasantly natural.
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Small room requires an accurate and refined speaker.
Wavetouch V2 speaker may be perfect for your room. V2 needs just half to 1 foot space to the front wall. V2 is also ready for the larger room for the future. The room in video is 13’W x 20’L x 8’H and int. amp is 25watts/ch.
1080p video setting is closer to original sound.
Alex/Wavetouch audio
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Go look to used speakers...
I pay 50 bucks my Mission Cyrus 781 ....
They are generally around 200 hundred bucks.... A deal....
My room is 13 feet square by 8 feet 1/2...They filled the room perfectly...On my desk under 12 inches from the wall......
Their bass is more than good.... And we cannot fault them if we use them in an acoustically dedicated room.... In my experience, the choice of speakers , if they are relatively good to begin with for sure, matter less than acoustic and psycho acoustic specifically dedicated method for them, to embed them optimally ...
One factor most people underestimated by a great margin....And they pay big money to compensate for this ignorance... 😊 But big money for the best design there is so better it is, cannot replace acoustic ... Thinking otherwise is deceiving itself... And very good design of the past can cost few bucks with a bit of luck...
Pay low amount of money, buy a good well designed vintage speakers and pay attention to acoustic...
Anything else is temporary marketing and publicity to sell new products to you , acoustic is perennial science....
I just take notice that your 10,000 bucks budget only for the speakers, is 20 times my total audio system budget!
Most people dont trust someone with a low tag price system like mine...
Anyway my advice is for all and everyone, nevermind the price, it is the truth...
😁😊
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Another for the Harbeth P3ESR!!
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Salk Sound Song 3 really work well in my small room. Excellent speakers and driven with a variety of amps.
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- If you can find used ,or just save a bit more for with stands the MBL126 are exceptional in every respect , you may wan5 1 subwoofer ,a excellent one is the SVS -SB 4000 then you have a full range audio system ,just look up the Many awards and raves
- these Omni directional wonders are Great Period . Not the most efficient but what most forget they put out music equally in 360 degree spread meaning you get much more of a musical spread then the efficiency indicates $16 k with stands is expensive yes ,but as I mentioned with a good sub you can easily compete with any speaker system at 2 x the cost from my experience ,my friend has them and I am using them next.
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I get the feeling this OP is a fly by but I’m bored & the GF is still at work..
Room size roughly 10’x12’x10’..First off ANY speaker,regardless of size will sound best pulled slightly out into the room to let imaging & staging develope.About 24"off back wall & 18" off side wall is usually a good start.
What kinds of music will be playing?Who is listening?Looking for background music or something you & wife can sit down & melt into?
What kind of electronics are driving the speakers?Is the room highly reflective(wallboard/wood & glass),heavily damped(Carpet,heavy curtains or canvass paintings & overstuffed furniture),or something in between?
ANY ROOM ECHO to kill?Walk around the room & clap your hands overhead,you will hear the slap echo if you have it.
Based on no other intell in OP I recommend:Harbeth Monitor 30.2/30.1 on 24" stands..
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my suggestion is Genelec. i have genelec 8330 plus 7360 subwoofer. its best through the digital input. if your playback device has coaxial output you can use digital feed direct into the speakers. This eliminates all unnecessary DA/ AD conversions. the DAC inside the Genelec speakers is very good quality with fantastic bass impact.
for $10k you should be able to get the 8351B’s, check out their reviews. The included GLM room DSP is superb
regards’
Michael
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Duke is right a horn speaker may be a great choice it will interact less with the room much less than a conventional dynamic design and many horns can be used up against the wall not requiring the 3-6ft pull-out that the tragic audiophile darlings will require it will also sound better because it's a horn, not a wheezing wee little box.
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I put Thiel CS3.7 floor stander into a 12 x 11 x 9 room. I needed to spend $700 to get acoustic treatments from GIK to make this work. I also needed to move reflective surfaces as far away from the speakers. I also do not have anything large in-between the speakers, just an amp. A bookshelf with books behind the speakers also helped.
Since I am a ROON user I was able to use DSP via professionally crafted CONVOLUTION filters. That can make almost ANY speaker work in my space. However, after rearranging the reflective items and adding 1 additional acoustic panel in front of my CD rack I was able to disable the CONVOLUTION filter. I think I am hearing the best possible sound in my room. A bigger room will get more out of the speaker but what I have now is satisfying.
Even though I no longer use the filter, the company that remotely did my DSP filter was this one.
https://accuratesound.ca
They give you step-by-step instructions on how to measure your room using REW software and a mic. You give them the output files and they run that data through some very complicated software resulting in the DSP convolution files.
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The Charney Audio Maestro is designed for smallish rooms. An 8” full range single driver designed from the tractrix theory. Can be placed against or near the front wall and corners. Depending on driver and finish they run from $2800-$6500.
http://charneyaudio.com/the-maestro.html
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Any of the Sonus Faber Guarneri models will work well.
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Vandersteen VLR CT is perfect for a small room. They are designed to be placed close to wall and will not eat up much space.
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Several great options... these are some of the better ones:
1. Harbeth 3PSR
2. Triangle Comete EZ
3. Wave Touch Audio Antero
All of these sound superb.
I have the Harbeth 30.1’s, which I got because they have such captivating sound with the right amplifier. But, they’re more expensive. And require a properly matched amplifier (SS amp like Hegel).
I do not have the Triangle Comete EZ - but, they get some very good reviews by a lot of reviewers, who have reviewed them highly with some good tube amps.
I also have the Wavetouch Audio Antero’s - which also sound amazing - perhaps as good as these others, have a room filling sound, with great transparency and resolution. These are efficient enough to be driven by a good tube integrated amp - such as a Line Magnetic.
Hard to choose one set over the others... Though, the Harbeths have a big brand name, and are easy to resell... and... tend to sound a lot like the venerable Quad ESL-57’s with the right amp. But, they are much more expensive.
So... you have quite a choice...
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First priority is room correction. Second is actively driven. Then look for sonically neutral / flat speakers. I use Dirac, Linn to achieve all three, Kii has some interesting looking kit…
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Check out Aerial 5T bookshelf speakers! These speakers are front ported so you can use them against a wall if desired. A well balanced sound! Price is around $4K. Read the online reviews!
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What would probably be one of your best values and certainly the most fun, would be to build two 8 foot tall line arrays with 3" drivers. That would be something like 24 drivers/side for a total of 48 drivers. This one at the link is about $12 each.
You do that and add a couple of decent powered subs and a miniDSP DDRC24 active crossover. That would be an awesome system in your little room. And you could probably build the whole project and be done for less than $3k. Take the other $7k and go to Europe for a week or so.
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I had the Triangle Comete 40th for a few months. I loved it to bits and I think it's arguably the best bookshelf speakers for $2-2.5K you can buy now and even better than most in $3-4K range.
I upgraded to Cabasse Riga. It's 3 three times the price but in every aspect superior to the Comete and equally addictive to listen to.
The other two options under 10K for bookshelves that really warrant serious considerations are AudioVector R1 Arrete and Yamaha NS3000. I listened to both and they are very fun to listen to and are definitely flagship quality.
I've not heard many floorstanders yet, but I remembered being impressed with Amphion Argon 7LS.
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Hmmm, it seems that OP, @jazzguy1958 , is MIA. Why start a thread when you can't stay engaged.
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My room is actually a bit smaller than yours. After many years of mini monitors, including several of those mentioned above, I have settled on magnepan LRS in a near field configuration. Love them. In small room near field the soundstage is unbelievable. You do have to pull them 3 feet from the back wall, which puts me about 4.5 feet from panels to ears.
so consider a planar or electrostatic, even though this might be counter intuitive for a small room.
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This seems like a good buy if the OP is back or anyone else is looking. If you aren't familiar with Echo they sell everything a very competitive prices so things don't typically last long if they are a popular item
https://echohifi.com/details/17766/KEF_Reference-1
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@auroravengeance
The other two options under 10K for bookshelves that really warrant serious considerations are AudioVector R1 Arrete and Yamaha NS3000. I listened to both and they are very fun to listen to and are definitely flagship quality.
What country are you in? I was not able to locate the NS3000 in the USA, but I can get it shipped to the USA from Toronto, Canada.
When I demoed the NS5000 locally I thought it was a very nice sounding speaker. It is too big for my office but the NS3000 is high on my list.
My room is only 12x11x9. I am currently using the KEF LS50 + KEF KC62 sub in this small room. Would the NS3000 be a substantial step up from my current gear. I would assume I would keep the KC62 sub.
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I highly recommend Fritz Carrera BE standmount speakers. They are supremely balanced and sound much bigger than they are. The quality of material and fit and finish are superb. They have a crisp, modern, and balanced sound but they never sound harsh or thin. Handmade in USA.
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