The best speaker for a small room...at any price point.

Excel Audio in Newport Beach (near the airport) has the TAD ME1 speaker setup with the Luxman m900u and c900u. If you are close by go have a listen to that system. I am buying the Luxman set and unless I find something I like better and will work in my small room, I will get the TAD ME1.

I am currently using a KEF LS50 and it sounds great in my treated room in 12x11x9 room. I have been thinking about getting a floor stander in their using DSP but I abandoned that idea recently after hearing some non-DSP capable electronics.

So now I am looking at better monitor speakers than my KEF LS50 to use without DSP. I recently heard the Harbeth 40th annviersary 7es-3 and it sounded rather good. A very pleasing sound but lacking some details. I was told to check out the much better, Harbeth Super HL5+ for my room. I have heard the 2x more expensive TAD ME1 with the same electronics and that speaker sounded incredible. It had details, a very smooth sound on top, and not too much bass to overwhelm a room (a perfect amount).

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/770-tad-micro-evolution-one-loudspeakers

Yesterday I messaged an A’gon user who owned the TAD ME1 in a similar sized room and he said it worked well after he added room treatments, especially for the first side wall reflection. I already have room treatments (take a look at my virtual system page). I am looking to buy the TAD ME1 once my lottery ticket hits.

The TAD ME1 can SUPPOSEDLY be placed closer to the back or side wall due to the fact that it is ported to the side. The Harbeth’s I looked at are front ported. Everyone I spoke to tell me that means it can be placed closer to the back wall. However, I read a discussion by Alan Shaw, the Harbeth designer, who said that front, read, or side port does not have any bearing on closeness to the back wall. I bring this point up because with a small room from every little bit of space counts.

https://tmraudio.com/speakers/bookshelf-monitors/tad-micro-evolution-one-bookshelf-speakers-me1-black-pair-w-st3-stands/

@daveyf I looked at your virtual systems page and see you have your current speakers away from the wall. These speakers are getting some buzz and I am curious to hear them. They would not work for me because I like my speakers closer to the back wall with some distance from me.

https://vimberg.de/amea/

You did say price did not matter.

The Vimburg are not available yet in my area, Southern Cal,  but the Canadian distributor said that they are working on bringing them into my area.

I would recommend you to have a listen to the TAD ME1. A real great monitor and in your treated room should be amazing. It is a little more expensive than the Vimburg with the non-diamond driver.

I have never heard Marten speakers but they came to my attention recently and I will have a listen to their smaller products soon.

https://www.marten.se/products/oscar/oscar-duo/

Focal Kanta 2. For some reason I never auditioned this one. Think I will before I buy the next speaker.

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/focals-kanta-no-2-speakers/

Tipping the scale at just under 80 pounds each, the Kantas are extremely manageable. Only 44 inches tall and slightly more than 12 inches wide, they will be at home in all but the tiniest of rooms. Like any speaker, a little extra room to breathe is always a good thing, but the Kantas deliver excellent results in even our smallest listening room, measuring only 11 x 13 feet. Thanks to one of the two ports being front firing, this speaker is easy to place for optimum coupling to the room.

@smodtactical I am going to do a home trial of the Persona 3F with an Luxman which should soften the top end. I expect this to be too big for my 12x11x9 room but it does not hurt to try the home demo.

I was considering the Magico A3 before I heard the PErsona 3F. I thought the top was better integrated with the Persona and excluded the A3. For that same logic I am not looking at the A1.

As I mentioned before something the size of the TAD ME1 is what will work best in a room my size but I want to try the 3F floorstander just in case it works without DSP.

@jayh31  Take a look at my virtual system (the room) the acoutic panels in the room were recommended to me by GIK Acoustics. They looked at my A'Gon virtual system and with me on the phone with them they recommended 9 panels to add to my room. The consultation was FREE and the cost of the panels was $700 + $200 shipping from Atlanta to California.

If you have a dedicated room and aesthetics are not a primary concern then I would recommend you call GIK because those panels work wonders.

At one time I was considering the Vivid Kaya 45 for my 12x11x9 room. However, I eliminated that from consideration thinking that the side firing woofers would pose an obstacle to good sound in a small space.

However, I wanted to revisit that logic since I liked the Kaya a lot. I do not think I will be able to do a home demo of the Kaya 45 but I have heard from manufacturer and also a local dealer that it can be placed close to the back wall (good for a small room). 

The sound of the Kaya is fantastic. It is fast, clear, and a bit like the KEF Blade.

Here is a photo of the Kaya 45 next to the Vivid Giya G1.

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/vivid-kaya-45.28007/

Anybody want to chime in on their experience with side firing woofers in a small room?

Let me add a little more on GIK. The remote sound technician that designed my room panels, via telephone and photos told me to contact him in the future if I needed further assistance.

I am going to buy new speakers for my small home office. I wanted to get the Vivid Kiya 45 floor standers but was under the impression it would not work in my space, especially before the treatments. My current treatments were based on the KEF LS50’s. These Vivid speakers have side firing woofers and in a small room that does not seem a good idea.

I got feedback from Vivid on the speakers dispersion characteristics and I passed this info to my GIK tech. He and I were able to determine that these speakers would work, no charge for that advice and no extra GIK panel purchases needed. Huge fan of GIK.

@supermerio Thanks for that feedback. I may have to send you a message to ask some questions. I need to first compare the G3 to the Kaya 45.

I also have 2nd bigger room (odd shaped) that my wife is saying it would be nice to have music in.

The G3 is a physically bigger speaker than the Kaya 45 which in my case is a good thing. The Kaya may work for me.  I am posting some feedback below  I got back from previous USA Vivid distributor and Vivid themselves. Could be useful for someone.

My room:  https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7605

Here is the feedback I got from On A Higher Note regarding room size for Vivid Giya.

Thank you for your inquiry and the detailed questions. Below is our general feedback for your system.

1. Some listening rooms have different height and some open up to another area. We normally try to get a floor plan with dimensions to help a client figure things out but all else being equal, we would say that the minimum size for a pair of G3’s is 250 s.f and for G4’s is 200 s.f. It also depends on what else is in the room, where your sitting area is etc.
2. You should know that G3’s punches well outside its weight and is quite an exceptional loudspeaker while the G4’s are really not a match. From a technical standpoint, G3’s have the same mid range drivers as the G1’s and G2’s while the G4’s use smaller drivers.
3. Historically speaking, you should know that G4’s were originally developed for the Japan market that have small listening rooms. However, even the Japanese opted for the G3’s, rendering the G4’s a poor seller worldwide by far.
4. Given the height, to put the G4’s drivers at ear level, Vivid has to offer a plinth underneath each speaker. That’s extra cost and when we were distributing them, we actually couldn’t justify the cost to our clients when compared to what clients would get for G3’s from a $/performance standpoint.

Here is what Vivid management said to me about the Kaya 45:

Thank you for your valued inquiry.

Your request is not a simple as a yay or nay, unfortunately! Your room, although small, is perfectly adequate for high quality audio reproduction. Personally however, I would add acoustic treatment if required, a little at a time. With absorption anyway, less is more in small room acoustics.
I presume your walls are of dry walling construction? If so the LF energy is of little concern due to the transparent nature (to LF anyway), of the studded wall construction.
The least of your worries are the side firing woofers - this is a common fallacy which folks seem to make - in that the wavefront emanating from he bass units is directional. Not so at all.
The size of the room would necessitate careful placement ensuring the front drivers (higher frequencies), are not squirting too much energy on the primary and secondary reflection points of the room, as with all loudspeakers.
Essentially we could have placed the LF drivers on the front baffle or the rear baffle - acoustically due the long wavelength, their relative position on the loudspeaker is irrelevant.
The room will "see" an LF source centered about the median of the loudspeaker. In the case of the KAYA K45, this LF source is a particularly clean well behaved one (not the norm), resulting in easy placement in rooms.
Are you perhaps able to try out a pair in your room?

@supermerio From your feedback it sounds like I would be foolish not to do a home demo of the Kaya 45. The dealer is reluctant, but it’s my money so he may have to reconsider that stance.

@spinaker01 Based on my store demos my consensus is down to the following:

Vivid Kaya 45 (ask for home demo)
Paradigm Persona 3F (already OK’ed for home demo)
TAD ME1 (no need for home demo)

@supermerio I have heard Wilson a few times. I liked the Alexa 1 a lot, thought the Alexandria XLF was amazing, and also recently demoed the Sabrina ($16K).

The Sabrina was physically small and was the only candidate for my current room. However, in the very large space I demoed them I thought the bass was a little heavy. It was OK in the large space but I did not think it was going to be translate for me in a smaller space.

Your feedback on the side firing woofers is really giving me pause on the Vivid. No deal unless I can do a home demo.

@jayh31 In my current 12x11x9 space, 

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7605

I needed acoustic treatments to make the very small KEF LS50's sound their best. Without the treatments I was getting a headache listening to these small speakers at moderate to low volumes. Now it sounds great without fatigue.
 

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2019/09/19/sonore-bricasti-design-vivid-audio-cardas-audio-rmaf-2019/

Good report on the Vivid Kaya 45. Which I will shoehorn into my small 12x11x9 room.