Monitors for a small room - please help


I've begun the difficult task of finding a new set of speakers and an amp for my now-smaller listening room. I prefer smooth, warm, musical speakers over a dry, analytical sound. Detail is always good, but I don't like detail that sounds forced or unnatural. Musicality is important, and so is timbre and musical texture.

So given those facts, what pair of monitors can you suggest that will fit my tastes and a small listening room?

Thanks
jwglista

Showing 3 responses by jwglista

I should have put the budget in my original post. I'm trying to stay around $2000 for integrated amp *and* monitors. I already have a turntable, phono stage, and DAC, so I'm not rebuilding entirely from scratch. I know $2000 is a somewhat constrained budget within this hobby, but I'm going to try and make it work for me. This should be the perfect opportunity for me to find a good match between speakers and amp. My room is about 10 x 11, so it's pretty small. I've been interested in the LSA 1 monitors, but I recently read that they can sound forward, which is not what I want in a small room. Either way, I think because I have to sit so close to the speakers, that really limits my choices on full range speakers, hence my decision to try for some monitors.

Thanks
Drdennis: The toys are tempting, but I have a feeling they would be very shy in the bass area. I'm not expecting to get a thunderous amount of bass from any monitors, but I think those might be a little too bass-shy for me. Other than that, I'm sure they sound great. From what I've read about Sonus Faber, they are outstanding speakers.

Jl35: I will check out the Haydns. I've heard good things about them.

Krell_man: I appreciate your suggestion and have no doubt that they are fantastic speakers for a fantastic price, but I have to keep my budget around $2000 for amp and speakers. I know that will limit me quite a bit, but I have obligations coming up next year that I will need money for, so I have to keep sane here and stick to my budget. I really would like to hear those Caravelles though...
Thanks for all the input. Just an update, I bought a used Rotel RA-1520 last week and am still awaiting its arrival. I read many reviews on it that say it sounds pretty good, so I'm looking forward to hearing it. Last Saturday I had the chance to listen to a few speakers at a local dealer. I heard the Usher S-520, the Monitor Audio GS-10, and Totem Staff. I honestly think the Usher's were my favorite among those 3. The Totems had significantly better midrange, but sounded a bit bright to me. So I'm probably going to stay away from Totems. The Monitor Audio's were a bit smoother, but still a tad "aggressive"; they were, however, very lively and dynamic. But they definitely struck me as speakers that can get fatiguing. The Ushers did not have quite the refinement as the other two, but were the least fatiguing. They also had very good midrange "snap", and seemed very listenable overall. I have an appointment this Saturday to go hear the speakers that I really have my heart set on, the LSA1 monitors.