Best speakers for small listening room


I'm new to audio and am setting up a mid-priced system for my home office. The space is small (11'x11'x8'). I currently have B&W 803 Matrix, Sound Anchor stands, Plinius 8150i, Creek CD-43, Harmonic Tech truthlinks and Pro-9s. Would stand mounted speakers (JMLabs micro utopias or the Dynaudio Confidence 3's) be a good choice for this small space? Thanks.
joeldoss

Showing 4 responses by paulwp

Every room in my house is square. Standing waves are driving me crazy. I dont know the speakers mentioned but best to stay away from the ones that have an upper or mid-bass hump to compensate for their size.
I was trying to be responsive. If you like the sound of the B&W's and you dont think they are bass-heavy in your small room, I'd leave well enough alone. If you are unhappy with the B&W's because (1) too much bass or (2) cant get them to image correctly with the amount of room in the room, then surely a smaller speaker would be better for the size of your room. I would think you might have both problems - not a lot of room to work with. But be careful with little speakers that boost the mid to upper bass.
Im not sure I know what a standing wave is either but I know one when I hear one. It's sort of like turning on a light in a room full of mirrors. I can get my little mini-monitors, supposedly down 6db at 60hz, to put out a 10db peak at 60 hz if I put them in the wrong position in a perfectly symmetrical room.

What you want in your room with your electronics, I think, and some might disagree, is a small but warmish speaker. I've never heard of the Dynaudio speaker you mention, but the Contour 1.3 is small and very good. Not really warm though, might be a little bright with the Plinius in your room, unless Ive heard wrong. I would suggest little Spendors, but I dont think they're known for having "tight" bass.

For my home office, I chose to go with very inexpensive speakers, Acoustic Energy Aegis Ones, ample bass but not "tight," nice detail, but a little soft on top. I listen off axis closer to one speaker than the other and found that my cleaner, more revealing, more detailed little mini-monitors were too bright in that situation. Small rooms are tough, especially if you cant listen in the sweet spot.
Ok, I was curious so I did some research. I hadnt heard of the Dynaudio's you mentioned because I dont shop in that price range (on principal, sort of, but I guess if I were filthy rich I might). Properly sited they would probably be fine and a better match for your room than the B&W's.