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Small Office - Wilson vs B&W vs Kef

All hail the collective knowledge of Audiogon  - last time you talked me out of wasting money on upgrading my ceiling speakers (I ended up just buying a Sonos:Amp to power what I already had up there and called it a day).
So now with all of that money saved, I'm toying with the idea of replacing the stereo in my office. I won't even say what I have now (If it ain't got no highs... and it ain't got no lows...). Yeah, you get the gist.
The office is about 11' x 12' - I think this limits the size of the speakers that I'd like to put in there since I won't be sitting very far from the speakers.
Some contenders that I've been toying with:
  • B&W 805 D3
  • Kef Reference 1
  • Wilson Watt/Puppy
Amp is TBD, but I find those blue meters to be strangely attractive...
Thoughts on the selection? Any of these "too big" for my confined space?
Thanks!
eisenb11

Showing 2 responses by eisenb11

eisenb11 OP
33 posts
 
Thanks all for the comments. Reading them in the background. After a little more research I agree that the Watt/Puppy is probably way to big for my 11x12 room. I hear the Wilson Duette is good, but those aesthetics aren't jiving with me.

Still like the 805D3. Love the 803D3 that I heard, but no way that's work in this tiny room.

Really like the idea of having a 3-way (Kef Ref 1) - more bass. Concerned however that my room might be too small still? Did some measuring - the back of the cabinet would be about 4-6" from the wall. Looks like that will require the long tube over the short tube...

eisenb11 OP
33 posts
 
OMG.
So my new speakers just came in. Until now, I was running a Bose Lifestyle Acoustimass 5 system that I bought in the mid 90s for $2k. I know we like to knock Bose, but it was a decent for a little system with huge WAF.

I was originally leaning towards the Kef Reference 1 for the 3-way action, but in the end I decided it was a little too physically big for the space. Ended up going with the B&W 805D3 in piano black with the matching stands - love the way it looks too.
Holy moly, what an upgrade. Bigger sound stage. Highs. And Lows. And  Mids! Dang. I feel like I'm sitting in the middle of a private concert.

... and what's funny is that I'm powering it with a 100 wpc Harmon Kardon amp that I had sitting in a closet. Also I didn't realize I had only ordered one cable (thought I got 2 for that price) so one speaker is bi-wired with some good cable and the other speaker is bridged and using some el-cheapo thin Monster speaker wire that I found in a box in the garage (at least I didn't use the Bose cables, ha ha). The other cable should come this week sometime.

Curious, how big the difference will be when I eventually replace the Harmon with some blue watt meters. What are your thoughts on that... 200W... or 300W? Would 300W be a total waste because the speakers are rated for 50W-120W @ 8 Ohm per the specs.
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