Young audiophile metal head looking to level up speaker choice

Legacy Audio Studio HD for your smallish space. They don’t have ports, so easy to place. Big woofer for metal, very easy to drive. And you can trim both bass and treble depending on room size and listening area. 

 

I have been listening to Evoke 20s for 2 years. Happy with them but they aren't for heavy metal imho

Horns can actually work better in small rooms than direct radiating speakers. The horns control the dispersion a bit which will help reduce side wall reflections. All the speakers you mentioned are good speakers but they all sound pretty different. I would add wharedale as you get a lot more for your money. I think they are priced 30-50% of their market value (link below)

For rock it is tricky and I would focus on 2 things, dynamics and a smooth response. I listen to rock as my main music (all music too) but rock/metal is very demanding of a speaker. You need good bass for rock music. I would always add a sub, subs work fine in small rooms as they are adjustable and a mini dsp can be used to tame them. The other thing for rock is you want a downward slipping treble in room which is a good target anyway. Some hifi speakers are pretty bright and that does not blend well with poorly recorded metal.

anyway my #1 choice would be horn loaded JBLs but current models (4349) would be out of your budget even used (based on the speakers you listed) so you would need to shop older/used. Anyway too many good options to even list. I would get out and listen to stuff.

You might get away with a small tower speaker like the Revel 206 used (the 226be is outstanding but $$$$) It measures very well and has good tech despite looking kind of simple.

Your music tastes are screaming for ATC speakers.  Check out their lineup and read the reviews.  What you're looking for with your music is dynamics, and ATC absolutely excels at dynamics.

Fellow metal head here, +1 on Tekton.  My room is just a little larger at 12x17. I had a pair Zu Omen DWs but once I heard a pair of Tekton Pendragon in  my room I got rid of the Zu's. The Pendragon have a huge sound stage, they won't overload your room, and they're very efficient if you decide to try tubes in the future.

@killingforcompany I encourage you to listen as many brands of speakers as you can.

I like a variety of music and Black Sabbath's War Pigs is a song I often use for auditioning speakers because it includes simple dynamic shifts and has areas with lots of music coming from a variety of instruments.  And the kicker is I have been listening to Sonus faber speakers for the last 15 years - and most people view them as ideal for classical music.

Your Rogue amp is a nice unit and how it works with speakers is something your opinion matters more than anyone  Good luck in your journey and enjoy the music!

Get a nice set of Klipsch Quartets, very live sounding, can go very loud and good prices

Thanks for the responses and engagement here everyone...

With speakers like the JBL 4429 and Klipsch Forte, should I be concerned that I'm in a 11 x13ft listening room?  

while they are a significant jump up in terms of quality, offer almost full range listening, and are dynamic horn speakers - my concern is that they might overload my room and also might not be synergistic with my Rogue hybrid tube/class D amp?

Look at Klipsch Forte III or Forte IV. Both can be found on the used market from time to time.

These should fit the bill!

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_700L100BU/JBL-L100-Classic-Blue-Grilles.html

I cannot voice my opinion on those speakers because I have not heard them. Elac makes some great speakers, but everyone will give you their opinion and my guess is that you will be overwhelmed with the responses.  No bookshelf speaker is going to fully give you the low-end frequencies in metal music (or any other).   You should really consider adding 2 subwoofers to your budget to whichever speakers you choose. You don't play your music loud, so you could get by with relatively inexpensive subs.  I would get sealed enclosures though, just my preference.  Best of luck.

Personally I would x Usher off the list for Metal, at least the one I had. Dynaudio are pretty goodish for metal but need some beefy amplification. Never heard the Evokes but the Focus series was really nice for that kind of music. There is a Focus 140 for sale pretty cheap on another site. older but really fun speaker.

I would absolutely recommend Tekton for metal. The newer Paradigm Monitor SE series are also fantastic for rock and metal, much better IMO than some of their higher end series for that kind of music. You don't want a straight up audiophile speaker that looks at everything under a microscope for that kind of music.