Small speakers for retail store


Looking for recommendations for small speakers that can be wall/ceiling/shelf mounted or placed inconspicuously for use in a retail store or coffee shop (think "Starbucks" or about the size of a large living room) for background music (but still looking for as good quality as can be had for the budget, something non-fatiguing to play all day).

Budget in the $300-500 range, recommendations for used ok but would like some options for new as well.
joncourage
I think that Mirage Omnisats or Omnisat Micros are ideal for this type of application. They're omnipolar so you don't have to be sitting in a specific sweet spot. You can move around a room, such as would occur in a retail appication, and the sound will be consistent. They're small and can be wall or ceiling mounted. You can see them at the company's website at www.miragespeakers.com and hear them at whatever dealer is closest to you.
I would suggest omnidirectional speakers, as what you want is good tonal balance throughout the room with little consideration for imaging. Mirage comes to mind.

The problem with conventional speakers listened to well off-axis or from far away is that the tonal balance sounds wrong. This is because it is impossible to design a conventional small two-way to give good on-axis response and good power response (summed omnidirectional response) at the same time. The farther off-axis you are, or the farther away from the speakers you are, the more the power response dominates the perceived tonal balance. A speaker designed for good omnidirectional response is much more likely to sound good under those conditions.

Duke
See what Gallo Due would run.Go to their site.Must say smallest spheres and little sub does not cut it but if you go to a dealer listen and see what you might get the larger metal more pitch accurate sub.All have good wall mount brackets availible.Check out there site then just run model numbers through google to get prices.
Cheers
Chazz
Just for the record, I happen to be a Gallo dealer - so I appreciate the thumbs up they're getting here. However, I still think that for this particular application a pair of omni-type speakers makes more sense.

It occurs to me that you might even want to play a mono signal through each speaker rather than stereo, so that a person seated close to one speaker and far from the other isn't hearing only one channel. This is assuming the speakes are widely spaced - if not, then it probably doesn't matter.

Duke
Take a look at the morel chorus loudspeaker at www.renaudio.com (morel usa Brookline MA). I have a pair of the 11" squared cubes on either side of a couch in a small room. Good quality background music and easy to place.
I am selling them plus a mission cyrus intergrated one and matching tuner to fund a purchase for my main system. They retail for $900 and mine can be had for $450 plus shipping.
Art
I think that for new speakers, the Paradigm Atom will do very nicely as they are a credible full range for their small size. If you can accept a slightly larger sized speaker, the Paradigm Titan would have a bit more bass. These speakers represent truly good value and would surprise you with their sound. The Atom's are around $200 for a new pair, and the Titans are only slightly more. Research the reviews to see how well they are touted, and do listen at a showroom. For your use, you need not spend more nor do you need much better speakers. Even at home, these speakers will amaze you at how good they are.
Joncourage,

My apologies in advance for what may look like a thread hijack attempt, but that's not my intention.

I have a stalker who sends me threatening e-mails when he decides that I'm being too commercial. He has e-mailed me three times about my postings in this thread, and he threatened to e-mail others here to try to discredit me. His moniker is Stanhifi, and his e-mail address is stanhifi@cs.com. I apologize if he tries to drag you or anyone else into his dispute with me. And as I've done before, I challenge Stan to make his case against me in public instead of stalking me and others on Audiogon.

You can check the Audiogon posting rules and do a search of my posts and draw your own conclusions about me if you want. And I invite anyone who objects to my posts (including this one) to make it known in public and/or e-mail Audiogon and make your case. I've tried to be helpful more often than purely commercial, but yes I do have a commercial interest in audio.

Unless Audiogon tells me not to, or unless the members here object, I will publicly identify Stanhifi as my stalker in any thread that he sends me threatening e-mails about, as one of his threats is to contact others in the thread. I have repeatedly asked him to stop stalking me and stop e-mailing me.

I do not know if Stanhifi makes good on his threats to e-mail Audiogon members and badmouth me. But if he does I would appreciate people letting me know.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Duke

A.D.S. (Analog Digital Systems) has been filling this application for decades with their die-cast mini-monitors.
Original models were the L200 and L300, followed by the current all-weather L210 and L310, respectively.

Web site: www.adst.com
dude go for a big openbaffle design with a little fr125s fullrange driver from css in the middle (roughly). a moth cicada driver would do superbly as well for low volumes if you are using a low power amp. use the surrrounding area as a sign for your prices and items. this way the speaker is out of the way. get the speaker a meter away from the back wall. do it. thank me later.