Requesting Your Expertise - Best Options - High Sensitivity Speakers For A Smaller Room


As the title says, I am looking into the best options for higher sensitivity speakers for a somewhat small room. The room itself is 12.5 feet by 9.5 feet. The speakers would be placed along the 12.5 foot wall. Amplifier power is 8wpc. 

The system will be used for a variety of music, including folk, instrumental, rock, jazz, and singer songwriter offerings. Budget is a max of $3k, used. And a quality subwoofer, chosen specifically for the room, and use with whatever speakers that I choose, is available to employ.  

I already have some ideas, but, clearly, none of us are aware of everything, and, in the higher sensitivity space, things can get a bit tricky. Your experiences, thoughts, recommendations and expertise would be appreciated in terms of outlining all the worthwhile options available. Thanks. 

nightfall

I am considering Omega’s. I am a fan of the Fritz speakers, but never thought they would work with 8wpc?

For Fritz speakers, I think it depends on how loud you like to listen. In my room, I compared them to other standmounts with the same sensitivity and the series crossovers make a meaningful difference. Fritz does in-home auditions and can tell you about his speakers on 8w.

Below video is 2A3 amp (4 watts) with Wavetouch v2 speaker. 8w tube amp is excellent match with v2 spkr. Alex/Wavetouch audio

WT v2 - The home entertainment show 2021 - Long Beach, CA

nightfall OP  power amp is a Coincident Frankenstein 300B MK V. 

+1 ZU, they make several speakers in your price and size range, new. 

I drive my ZU ODS’s (I'm not recommending these for you there 55” tall and 105lb ea) with a 25 watt pass labs XA25 amp in a 24x21x8’ room easily to concert levels bringing in 2 15” sealed Rythmic subs at 40hz no cut to the ZU’s. They make several speakers in your price range and more appropriate to your room size. I think the ODS’s are 98 db sensitive their smaller platform units are 95 db’ish I think. They have a return policy so very little risk. Build quality is excellent, these are likely my last speakers, for my listening room anyway.

Wharfedale Evo 5.2.  88 dB is high enough, and you shouldn’t overemphasize sensitivity over sound quality itself. High sensitivity does not guarantee either superior SQ or good sound at low volume. The host below compared the 5.2 with the 4.2, which I owned for a short while and absolutely loved—except for its low end. This younger brother greatly enhances the weight and punchiness in the low frequencies that Terry was raving about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL0DtZDhOMw&t=1177s

High efficiency speakers within budget:

  1. Tekton Perfect SET
  2. Klipsch Heritage
  3. Zu