A future city dweller's dilemma...


Hey all:

Just wanted to ask all the experts here your opinion on things. Currently I live in the suburbs where space and such is never an issue. But in the (very) near future I will (hopefully) be living in a condo in the *big city.* Which means, certain sacrifices have to be made... (IE: my Magnepan 1.6QRs).

So the question is this... What tablet speakers should I pick up for about the $1000 mark (used price.) The current equipment that I have (that I hopefully plan on taking with me) are the following:

Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1
XBox 360 (not really relevant, but wanted to throw that in)

And EITHER:

Krell KAV-300r (Integrated Amp)
OR
Cary Sixpac Monoblocks and
Dynaco PAS-3 Preamp

I currently have a pair of MMGs also (as a back up, bought it all for a good deal, but I loaned them to my uncle) Which I could always sell off or try using those instead.

For the most part I'm a jazz/vocals/instrumentals listening kind of guy for my CD collection.

I was originally look at any of the B&W tablettes but I don't think any of them are in my price range. Then I looked into ProAc's also which looks like that might do the trick. Can anyone recommend any others that I should look into?

Thanks all for your help in advance!

~W.
neway317
My not so expert opinion is that your better off waiting untill you know exactly what room you'll be using.
Keep the maggies if at all possible.

USe the smaller mmgs if necessary and add a good subwoofer but only if you think it is needed.

You might pick up a pair of Dynaudio monitors second hand for a bit more. I was able to live with these nicely as a replacement for older Maggies I owned and parted with for similar reasons.

A pair of Ohm micro walshes go for about $1000 and are also a reasonable replacement for Maggies in a smaller room.
Going from a free standing house to a multi unit housing unit will create major problems in 'listening' conditions, mostly negative. Work to correct those problems before spending any funds on new equipment.
Maggies are one of the best low volume speakers in my opinion.

Match them up with a high current amp with damping factor of 50 or more into 8 ohm and they should really sing at typical condo listening levels.

Also, check out the discussion with Atmasphere on the "mo better bass" thread which describes a less common in practice yet intriguing scenario for how to coax more bass out of a system in lieu of a sub.
VMPS monitor. I think www.affordableaudio.org has a review in this month issue