Good morning. I have been out of any kind of audiophile circles for a long time. We moved into a house with built-in speakers about 5 years ago, which I really enjoy, but of course it's better for casual listening at a party than for quality listening. Our family room is in a pretty open space that borders our living room and kitchen, so my wife is very focused on speakers being unobtrusive in appearance. I was therefor looking for small speakers and got turned onto KEF LS50s, which sounded really nice for the price, and more than good enough for my desires. And they are small. But I didn't really focus on their "untraditional" looks. It turns out that was a deal-breaker when I brought them home to demo.
So, I am back to square one. What I would really like is a speaker that is about the size of the LS50s, or maybe a little bigger, and has a nice looking, traditional wood finish. Bright colors and artificial surfaces, no matter how good they sound, need not apply...
I would say my self-imposed budget is around $2,000 at the top. Unless new speakers leads me down the audiophile slippery slope, the speakers would be powered by my old Adcom 545 II amp and GTP 500 II tuner, with either an Adcom CD changer or Apple TV streaming the music. Not exactly Audiogon Best In Class, but I think it will bring a smile to my face. And you never know if this will lead to upgrading the whole shebang.
Any thoughts appreciated. Not that it matters, but I am in the Chicagoland area.
I mentioned my Adcom amp and tuner in the very first post. I mentioned the classic rock music I mainly listen to in subsequent posts. The room size is the issue. It's kind of a family room and living room in one open area. And that is open to the kitchen as well. That is why the speakers have to blend in visually and be more traditional looking than the LS-50s.
The area, excluding the kitchen side of the house, is about 13' wide and 28' long, with about half the length of the room being the family room area with tv and stereo, and the other half being the living room.
I am zeroing in on the Harbeths, but haven't yet seen them, heard them or pulled the trigger. ;-)
Well, I ordered a pair of Harbeth P3ESRs, sight unseen, woofer unheard. I appreciate all of the responses here. With this being my first set of posts here, it was very helpful and somewhat surprising to get so many good, well thought out ideas.
I ended up with the Harbeths because I felt that they were about as compact and nice looking (and traditional looking) as any of the suggestions, and the reviews were overwhelmingly favorable. I was able to get a deal through a friend's connection that was cheaper for a new pair than any of the slightly used pairs of Harbeths here or on eBay. The deal includes speaker stands and cables, so I should be good to go.
Perhaps this will encourage me to replace my vintage Adcom amp and tuner and start spending way too much money on a sound system. We will see!
Thanks again for all the thoughtful comments and ideas.
I should clarify that the total price of the speakers/stands/cables was not less than the cost of used Harbeths here. Just the cost of the speakers. :)
Ohmspeakers.com. Has all shapes and sizes of their Walsh models for placement most anywhere and I find they tend to sound as big and open as anything for their size. Might be worth a look.
I don't know if you were able to find what you were looking for. I do know you good attempt to find a custom build. I know that Stetron International has several speaker options that can be tailored to your needs. https://stetron.com/category/speakers/
Thanks. I did get the Harbeth P3ESR speakers quite a while ago. For me, they're perfect. Sound is neutral and excellent. The speakers are very, very small and very traditional looking. Fit and finish is very good and attractive. My wife can live with the size and look, and I love the sound.
chiguy said: "Will try to check out the Harbeths (never heard of that brand!)"
I say: You must listen if you want to end your search :) If you like them, you will probably hold on to them for many many years until you replace them with another Harbeth:)
Thanks! I really appreciate all the advice in this thread and spent a lot of time googling pictures, hunting down demos, and reading reviews. I made the right decision for me, and if looks and innocuous appearance are on your list, the Harbeths are a great way to go. I loved the sound of the KEFs, but the appearance (orange tweeter looked like an orangutan's sphincter) were a bit problematic for the spousal unit. lol
The best small speaker I have heard, at that price point, has to be the B&W PM-1. I heard a pair of these on stands and could not believe the accurate tonality, clarity, soundstage and low tight bass. I really thought I was listening to the big floorstanders sitting next to them and I thought there was a subwoofer playing.
Ahh, William (Bill) Watkins Sr., inventor of the famous Infinity Watkins Dual Drive woofer. Dude is a genius. His son Bill Jr. is a pleasure to work with on driver refurbishment. Top drawer.
For me too it would be the Harbeth P3ESR. If more low frequency extension were required I would add two small subwoofers, tucked away somewhere and kept in check by a DSpeaker Antimode 8033 room eq. My P3ESRs are on my desktop, but I did try them in my main system with a B&W PV1d - they integrated perfectly. They like a bit of amplifier power. In my study that is a refurbished Quad 405-2 and for the experiment in the main system in my big living room it was a Quad 606-2.
Couldn't agree more on the P3s. It does things that seem impossible for their size, and they sound like music. Easy to listen for hours but still focus on the details in the music if you want to.
If the issue with the LS50 was the Orange Doily, KEF does have other colors available (or at least they used to). I almost purchased a pair of LS50s that had a Black Enclosure but with the a Blue Baffle. I instead purchased the Sonus Faber Venere 2.0 in Walnut. I'm using them in a Media Room. They have a more forward and fuller sound compared to the Harbeths, which works great for movies.
When you have a moment, consider calling Kurt at Echo Audio to see what kind of alternative colors are available for the LS50. Also, I'm not affiliated with Echo (but I can say that they're legit, and have become a semi-frequent magnet for my disposable income).
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