Advice on speakers for a small room

[drpatterson]

Having recently moved in with my girlfriend I'm faced with speakers too large for my room. Looking for advice on changing them to something a little more suitable.

My living room/dining room is about 22'x11' and the speakers fire across at the living room end. My current MA gold reference 20SEs are a little too big, they can;t get far enough from the wall to really breathe.

Coupled with the fact this is a mid terrace and I like my neighbours I'm looking for something that will do nicely fairly close to the wall (about 12" max) and plays well at lowish volumes.

Any advice? Music tastes range enormously but as my years advance it seems to be tending towards vocal/acoustic/instrumental. Bedget would be up to about £2000.

The current mess of boxes is based around oldish MF kit but that may be changing soon.

Any advice much appreciated.

[Thekop]

Hi

It's a shame about your Monitor Audios being to big, they are lovely speakers indeed...

I will obviously recommend B&W 805s ( £1600 ) with matching stands ( £400 ) as I've recently just purchased a pair myself.. They have a stunningly natural, detailed and open sound.. They excel with acoustic music and are superbly musical....


A demo would be highly recommended in my opinion..

Goodluck

Tim

[Knightshade]

It would need to be something fairly sensitive to give you the low volume audibility. And much as I like the B&W 805's they only sound good when hooked up to some powerful amps. Same as the Revel range.
If you can live with the look try the Tannoy Autograph Mini, with matching stands should come in at £1550. I don't know how many dealers are stocking them yet but they are a cracking little speaker.

[Thekop]

The 805's sounded pretty good on the end of my old NAD C350 Amplifier.. But obviously the more you spend on the amps, the better the sound. Particulary with low level detail at lower volumes... They have a very even handed responce at almost any volume, in my own opinion... Worth a consideration though

[dynamic turtle]

Sorry for adhereing to the old cliche of recommending kit that I own, but from the brief description you've given, a pair of Sonus Faber standmounts would probably do the trick. Very high WAF, beautifully made, gorgeous-sounding (particularly with the genres you've listed) and long-term keepers.

Totally different to the MA sound - should be a massive improvement by all means. I've owned a pair of GR10's in the past and quickly sold them on - hated the sound (which was bright & thin with zero mid-range). My friend's RS6's sound awful too. IME, MA speakers seem to be massively over-rated.

Thinking either the Concerto's, Signums, Elector Amator II's or Cremona Auditors - depending on your budget of course. Seeing as you're budget is £2k, you'd be absolutely stark-raving bonkers not to give KJ West One a call and make them an offer on the ex-dem Cremona Auditors they have. £2,150 including stands (which are stunning too). They're great guys to deal with and might accept an offer. SF come with a 3-year warranty BTW.

Easily one of the best £2k standmount speakers in the world today.

DT

[drpatterson]

Thanks for pointing out the Tannoy's, never seen them before. Look quite good but from a review I found on stoneaudio they don't like rear walls. Seems to be the case with a lot of stand mount speakers.

I think I may take a trip to KJ west one and see what they can do for me.

[kid rock]

Kef xq3 will definitely do the job and they like it up against the wall

[alexs2]

For my money...B&W 805s,Wilson Benesch Arc,and maybe the Revel M22 and Totem Model 1.

All are excellent loudspeakers in their own right but as you would expect,some sonic differences,so you should be able to find at least one you may like.

As has been mentioned above,all of these benefit from good quality sources and amplification,but particularly the B&W and Revel.