I too have a small listening room, 10x11'. I have Klipsch RB-5 speakers, and an Anthem Pre1L and Amp1, which is EL34 based with 40 watts. When I first put the equipment in the room, I had the speakers on some folding tv tables, the Anthems and my CD player on another folding table, and an old metal office chair. It did not sound good. Echos and hollow sound, with boomy bass. Well...I got stands for the speakers, a rack for the equipment, a nice solid oak listening chair, and a thick 5x8' oriental rug. This helped a lot. Then what really helped was positioning the speakers away from the corners, as well as positioning my chair. Things really started to sound sweet. But...I was missing some bass, so I added a Klipsch KSW12 sub. I am now happy. This may not sound as high end as some other systems, but I love it(and that's what it's all about). The 40 watts from the Anthem is more than enough (my wife tells me it's kind of loud, even when she is outside, and she's a rocker). My whole point is really to experiment, and even with our "small" listening rooms, sometimes the simple things work best.
Small Dedicated Listening Room???
My dedicated listening room is very small (12D x 10W). Because of this I have no choice but to listen in the nearfield. I would like to know if anyone else is challenged with similar listening enviroments and advice one might have reagarding speaker placement, room treatment, tweaks, etc. Thanks...