Full Range Speakers for a Small Listening Room

Let's see... piano goes to 27, tuba goes to 44, double bass goes to 41, contrabassoon goes to 29, tympani goes to 87, harp goes to 31, pipe organ goes to 16 (or even 8!).

So I guess the criteria for "normal" classical music reproduction would be extension to 27 Hz, and for pipe organ you'd want 16 Hz.

How important is pipe organ to you? The answer will ignificantly influence what your choices are. If you do want that 16 Hz extension, are you willing to use a separate subwoofer or two?

What maximum SPL's are you looking for at the listening position? Or if you don't know, then how close to realistic orchestral levels do you want to get, and relative to a seat up front or in the middle of the hall? Finally, how important is very low volume level listening?

Any other criteria that are especially important to you?

Thanks,

Duke

Thanks for the additional information, Pkaram.

You might consider the Shahinian Hawks, as I believe they meet your criteria. The designer, Dick Shahinian, shares your priorities.

Another possiblitity is the active Gradient Revolution, with a couple of extra bass modules to get you down to 25 Hz. I happen to peddle Gradients, so you're welcome to take this suggestion with a grain of salt.

In horn speakers, you might consider the Pi Acoustics 7Pi cornerhorn. Smoother than the Klipschorn, with very good bass extension, but perhaps not quite all the way down to 25 Hz. You'd have to ask designer Wayne Parham. Stunning dynamics, but corner speakers usually don't image as well as speakers that sit out in the room a little ways. If using subwoofers is an option that opens up other high-efficiency speakers as possibilities, but assuming no subwoofers I think the 7Pi is very competitive. I can go into more detail about them if you'd like.

In planars, the Magnepan 20.1 is probably the front-runner in that price range given your 25 Hz criteria. The Quad 989 is another possibility, and presumably the larger of the two new Quad electrostats is as well (I can't remember its name offhand). I'm not sure of the bass extension of these larger Quads, but it's probably into the upper 20's. Used SoundLab A-1/M-1/U-1's would also work well (I sell new ones, but they're outside your price range). Given that panel speakers are quite large and like some space behind them, they might not be the most practical choice for your room.

Best of luck in your quest!

Duke