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 soix

Congrats on the new speaks, and glad you’re enjoying them!  Don’t know your personal tastes and what specifically you’d like to improve upon, but if it’s me I’d take a hard look at a used Hegel H300 that has plenty of juice and will likely blow away your HK in every way.  And it has a decent onboard DAC you may be able to make use of as well.  Also, if you can pull the 805s a foot or so further out from the wall, even if it’s just temporary for more critical listening, I think they’ll reward you with even better imaging/soundstage.  Hope this helps, and best of luck. 
You’re basically parking the speakers against the wall, so I’d choose speakers designed to be placed that way.  I’d do something like the Von Schweikert Vortex VR33 that is not too big of a floorstander and will sound great placed near the wall, and they’re easy to drive so tubes and low-powered SS amps are fine.  Best of luck.