I would encourage you to check out Harbeth HL5+, or + XD’s.
New room needs new speakers, I need your help
Hello everyone!
I have a new house and a new acoustically treated room, but it is very small: we are talking roughly 12' by 16'.
I use a pair of Dali Euphonia MS4 and I feel they need a bigger room to shine, the volume I need for them to sound full is just too much for my modest room. I really enjoy accurate timbres and I need a beautiful midrange and midbass, I listen mostly to women vocals and jazz.
I am looking for a pair of speakers that will cost me a maximum of 5K on the used market.
I am very sensitive to fatiguing treble, I don't look for absolute treble clarity, I love an easy listening speaker.
My ideal speaker would be the PMC IB2SE which I auditioned extensively, but sadly it is out of my budget.
I am open to your suggestions!
Rest of the system is
Sony Ps-X9 turntable on a Sutherland Phono
Analogue Audio Maestron Anniversary integrated amplifier
Lampizator DAC
Wattson Digital Streamer
Muon Filter
Silent Angel switch
All Luna Mauve Cables
Everything but the amplifier pluggeg in Plixir
36 responses Add your response
@maurice89 You have only listed the width and length of your room. May I ask what is the height and what have you done in the way of acoustic treatment? |
Try the Musician Knight...(around 2k new)
Review 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbCchnVOthY Review 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57AoI8QUka8 Get a decent subwoofer like a KEF KC62, Rythmik F12G, etc to go with it.
|
@bigtwin The ceiling is very low, only 7 feet. the treatment consists of bass traps in corners and a mix of diffusers and absorbing panels on all walls and ceiling. There’s a big sofa, rug and some velvety beanbags. So the room is not empty, but it is very small and the speakers are only 7 feet apart and listening position is 7 feet away. They are about two feet away fro |
Continued… from the front wall.
I listened to the Harbeths HL5 when I bought my amplifier, they sounded gorgeous in the midrange but they became quickly congested with orchestral music( which doesn’t happen with the Euphonias). While it’s not a genre I listen to a lot, it showed me the limitations of the speakers and made me consider the 40.2, sadly they are also out of my budget range… |
@grislybutter What kind of list is this. SoundLab doesn't even get a mention. I'm beside myself with indignation! 🤣 |
@maurice89 I won't make a speaker recommendation but I will suggest you try placing the speakers on the long wall. When your room dimensions are entered into programs that calculate the best combination of L - W - H, your particular room gets a better rating using the long wall placement. Just something to consider, IMHO. Cheers. |
@maurice89 fair enough. I did spend a couple months a/b’ing a set of Dynaudio Heritage Specials. What a beautiful sounding speaker. Just packed them up and sold them to fund some other investments. But, they have a really smooth high to mid transition and the bass from them was astonishing. Drove them with a Pass Labs X150.8. FWIW. |
used, and near enough to meet the seller for pickup or meet halfway makes the most sense, where do you live? If close, I would want to know more about these with that ceiling height, keeping the drivers below the center of 7’ height, aiming the drivers, especially tweeter, up to arrive at seated ear height and avoid ’equal’ reflections off floor/ceiling, angle and timing of reflected sound waves .... toe-in away from side walls, adjustable to alter imaging for one or two listeners |
I'd like to hear these used Harbeth 30.2 |
this seller's room was too big for these Professional Monitor Company website I never saw or heard them, but I would like to. |
pmc 23 has built in slant, good for your low ceiling, good anywhere actually
probably want more power in a larger room, but your amp should be enough in that size room |
@bigtwin I can add whatever people request... |
With your room,budget,DREAM SPEAKER(PMC IB2SE) & easy listening requirement you should have a long hard look at the Wharfedale Linton 85th.Anniversary...You'll save a TON of $ as well as getting a SUPERB speaker! |
I enthusiastically recommend Ryan R610's. I admit I'm kind of a cheerleader for these rather underappreciated speakers, but they do everything right, especially for a small(ish) room like the one you describe. I'm using them in a room that's somewhat bigger than yours (about 22 X 16) but they fill the space extremely well, image precisely, and exhibit a very even tonal balance. They have a very good bass response for their size, though I do use a sub with them. The other thing about these speakers is that they won't break the bank--they retail for about half your stated budget. |
@cooper52 I'm sorry but I have to disagree with this recommendation..I owned the R610's & found them very bright compared to the Fritz Carbon7SE they replaced.. |
@grislybutter It's so annoying trying to send some basic information to another member, only to have the message blocked by admin. Let's try this work around. Where there's a will.......
|
Wow. thank you @bigtwin I will post them by Monday!
|
Clayton Shaw Caladan discussed here |
Another vote for Harbeth. My room dimensions are similar. The 30.2 XD (in my case 40th anniversary) are fantastic. Easy listening , outstanding for vocals . Much bettethan the HL5+ XD for vocals and soundstage IMHO. You need to plan a budget for stands however. I have tried different stands with the Harbeth the best by far are the Ton Trager. More expensive but they make the Harbeths sing because of the cabinet resonance configuration . All in all that should fit in your budget if you get used. Pulsars (graphene) be another option to explore but more expensive. Keep us posted! |
With your preferences I would avoid the Clayton Shaw Caladans. They are rather hot in the presence region (upper mid to lower treble). Fyne F1-8 are a standmount speaker with an adjustable presence control. You might find they meet your needs. Very expensive new, but I know where you can get a beautiful used pair within your budget. Also, the QLN suggestion someone else made is a good one if you can find them used. |
I wouldn’t write off Harbeth based on their limitations with music you dont listen to. I own 40.3 XDs and had the opportunity to compare them with 30.2 XDs paired with 2 REL subs while they were up for sale. They really held their own in a big room. They don’t rock out and they don’t do classical well (at least not loud) but Jazz, vocals, blues, well recorded music like Dire Straits (self titled) - very nice and not at all fatiguing. Not the only game in town though…good luck. |
Lots of great recommendations for speakers from others, so I won't recommend speakers. I also have a small listening room, and my room is even smaller than yours and it is both my office and 2-channel music listening room. I went through a number of speakers and integrated amplifiers and settled on Focal Supra N°1 speakers on Focal stands, paired with Naim Uniti Nova integrated amp/streamer. What made the room & my setup come alive was when I added acoustic panels and reduced a lot of reflections. I feel it is easier to get by without adding anything, except maybe some carpets to reduce sound reflection in a large room, but with a small room the sound I was getting was far from ideal due to all the reflections. Getting decent (and still nice looking) acoustic panels in the past used to very costly, but these days you can fairly good acoustic panels for a good price and they look good as well. You can also do some simple sound measurement once you decide and buy your speakers and see if you need acoustic panels or not before buying them. |
Have to agree with the Clayton Shaw Caladans, being open baffle they need more room. I had them in a small room for a month or so, but really started to shine in a larger space.....and soften up. Otherwise I LOVE my Caladans. ++1 Joseph Audio Pulsar Graphenes, hard to find used (especially at $5,000.....but worth it if you do |
The LRS+ is pretty good and maybe the most interesting listen of anything listed. Only issue I have with it is the detail is not as good as something like a KEF LS50 Meta. However, the sonic presentation of the LRS+ is amazing, a wide and deep soundstage. I sold the LRS+ to get the Magnepan Mini for a even smaller room than I had before with the LRS+. I needed power for both speakers and had great success with the Sanders Magtech amp. The Mini has better detail and a smoother sound. It is supposed to be a miniaturized Magnepan 3.7. See my Virtual System for Office and Office 2 to see both the LRS+ and Mini. |
