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bookshelf speakers that sound good on an enclosed bookshelf

My friend is looking to put a pair of bookshelf speakers on a bookshelf, a built-in on his living room wall with a TV and a fireplace. I’m looking for advice on brands and designs that will actually sound good when placed in the usually not so good enclosed shelf of a bookshelf. Any thoughts on this challenge?

marktomaras

Showing 1 response by kokakolia

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kokakolia
198 posts
 

I'm currently using Closer Acoustics OGY speakers on a bookshelf. The 30cm height and 13cm width makes the OGY easy to fit on any shelf. They're front ported. They're easy to drive, even with a puny China amp, you only need 10W. I'm using a 40€ Wondom Sure Tripath amp (which seems blasphemous considering the pedigree of the speaker but the synergy is there). Tube amps are usually recommended, but anything works really. I'm still waiting for my tube amp to be repaired, but I'm worried that I'll still like the Tripath amp more. You'll want to a add a sub for deep bass, but that's expected for the size. Build quality is impressive. The enclosure is a plywood 1/4 wave transmission line and the casing is Corian. So you don't have to worry about scratches, dings and peeling veneer. Vocal and dialog clarity for movies is a 10/10. You don't see many reviews online because "audiophiles" have a knee-jerk reaction against fullrange speakers stating hot uneven treble and distortion at high volumes. This is not the case. The EMS LB5 drivers are very well-made. 

I'll say that the OGY may be on the slightly brighter side of neutral, but since the midrange is very clear you don't feel that "boom-tizz" sound you expect from entry-level Klipsch speakers. Everything sounds so coherent. I find that with other speakers like the Klipsch RP600M or Q Acoustics 2020 dialog clarity is rather poor and the boosted midbass is partly the cause. Moreover, the OGY sound more clear off-axis compared to the Klipsch and Q Acoustics (which is a plus for my poor speaker placement on a bookshelf). 

I haven't experienced the KEF LS50 personally. I just bought the OGY blindly because I liked the design and was impressed by the transparency of other fullrange speaker designs (Audax AM21LB). But the OGY cost 40% more than the KEF and it's a hard sell considering the unorthodox design (which will scare biased "audiophiles" away) and lack of user reviews. It's likely that the KEF "measure" better as well (fullrange drivers have compromises and their benefits cannot be shown on a graph). 

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