Need advice to purchase speakers for living room

They look far too small for the space you want to fill with sound
Oh really?
The dimensions are 12 x 6.5 x 9.25 inches (HxWxD), which is considered large for a bookshelf I think. Also I read that:
"The maximum output is specified to be 109dB at a distance of 1 meter from the stereo pair", so I thought this would be plenty enough.

What makes you think they are too small for the space?
 
Oh really?
The dimensions are 12 x 6.5 x 9.25 inches (HxWxD), which is considered large for a bookshelf I think.

How times have changed. Thirty years ago such speakers would have been called 'miniatures'!

No, even by today's standards, these Klipsch Fives are small bookshelf/standmount speakers and are indeed far too small for your room, even with a sub and a high pass filter. You can't defy physics and a 4.5" bass.mid driver can only move so much air.

An example of a large bookshelf/standmount speaker would be:

and

Also, whilst I've never heard the Klipsch speakers, £800+ sounds like a lot of money for small powered speakers when you can get these for under £300:


I repeat what I said in an earlier post: if you choose a bookshelf/standmount speaker + sub, then add a high pass filter to the main speaker pair for improved audio and higher max. volumes.
 
The m-audio bx8 d3 are great, I got some a few weeks ago. They are the best bargain I've ever come across in hifi. Only issue is they don't have auto standby so you'll have to turn them on and off manually by the switches on the back, or by the plug. They have very clean bass which you don't really find in smaller bookshelves, that I attribute to the 8" woofer. They made me discover I love large woofers :D
 
How times have changed. Thirty years ago such speakers would have been called 'miniatures'!

No, even by today's standards, these Klipsch Fives are small bookshelf/standmount speakers and are indeed far too small for your room, even with a sub and a high pass filter. You can't defy physics and a 4.5" bass.mid driver can only move so much air.

An example of a large bookshelf/standmount speaker would be:

and

Also, whilst I've never heard the Klipsch speakers, £800+ sounds like a lot of money for small powered speakers when you can get these for under £300:


I repeat what I said in an earlier post: if you choose a bookshelf/standmount speaker + sub, then add a high pass filter to the main speaker pair for improved audio and higher max. volumes.
Ok, thanks for that. The dimensions of the bookshelves themselves are not too far between the Klipsch fives and the M-Audio BX8 D3, but I understand from your post that it's the dimension of the woofer that matters.

The problem I see with the Adam T7V you suggested is that these are near field monitors. I need speakers that can also sound good at a distance.
 
The m-audio bx8 d3 are great, I got some a few weeks ago. They are the best bargain I've ever come across in hifi. Only issue is they don't have auto standby so you'll have to turn them on and off manually by the switches on the back, or by the plug. They have very clean bass which you don't really find in smaller bookshelves, that I attribute to the 8" woofer. They made me discover I love large woofers :D
Thanks for that. I think "near field" does not work in my case though, as it's to fill in a room. I am actually surprised that near field monitor (meant to be listened to closely) exist with a high potential loudness. Am I missing something?
 
From my experinece "near field" is just a label use by marketing people for studio use, how does the sound know when to start and stop at a distance from the speakers? A near field monitor will work just as well at 20ft as 3ft (just a bit quieter due to the distance), you may loose some stereo image but as most monitors have a waveguide tweeter these should give a more even sound over a large area than a traditional hifi speaker. In fact given that studio monitors are designed to play loud without distortion you could argue they are better size for size than passive speakers in larger rooms. Just my thoughts.
 
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Wifimedia based in holland are selling a pair of Dynaudio xeo 20s for 1698. I think there is free shipping. This is 200 above your budget but even though they are not massive the dynaudios generally have a bigger than they look sound. I recommend you at least take a look.

If these are beyond budget there are passive options too. I'm not sure what the options in spain are but that room could accommodate a large set of floorstanders. Q acoustics 3050i are not overly expensive, less than 700 euros, add in something like a denon dra800h for an all in amp and I'd doubt you'd be disappointed
Thank you for that recommendation.

However, the woofer of the Dynaudio xeo 20s seem to be only 5.5'' . From what I understood of this thread, this might be a little bit too low to fill in a 50 sq metres room? Or you think it's enough?
 
5.5" sounds a bit small to me.

Another thing about near field monitors, some may have waveguides that limit vertical dispersion, usually to reduce desk reflections. No idea if this is beneficial or not for a living room space. Not all are like this though, and some have wide dispersion waveguides. Probably depends on your room as some commercial speaker makers like klipsch also have these directional type tweeter wave guides (I think).

Tannoy gold 8s are big, good price, and have a traditional waveguide from their commercial speakers. Unfortunately I haven't heard them though and the store I was emailing about the gold 7s (actually 6.5") ignored me. These studio type stores usually have really good return policies so low risk to home demo if you are interested.

Kali lp8 also look interesting

Edit:

Just wanted to add that when you have speakers too small for a space, you can easily hear the distortion and compression in the bass. They lose all their dynamic range, which is why I'm an advocate for bigger speakers. Most people are happy with something small because they are upgrading from TV speakers or a soundbar.

One extra benefit with monitors is that they have bass and treble controls to help adjust for your room
 
Ok, thanks for that. The dimensions of the bookshelves themselves are not too far between the Klipsch fives and the M-Audio BX8 D3, but I understand from your post that it's the dimension of the woofer that matters.

The problem I see with the Adam T7V you suggested is that these are near field monitors. I need speakers that can also sound good at a distance.

No such thing as ‘near-field’.

Mostly those terms are used for sound pressure levels available to a studio from a given set of speakers. If they mean anything.

And physical size.

I’ve had I can’t remember how many ‘small’ (up to 7 inch drivers) actives in my house and none ‘beam’ or are anything other than very much exactly what you’d expect in sound reproduction from a speaker.

Except that they are whoppingly better than any passive at the same price, and usually a good bit more.

If you need to fill a large space with high quality sound and no compression/distortion, then actives are the only way to do so on anything like a modest budget.
 
Ok, thanks for that. The esthetics don't quite match unfortunately.

And what do you guys think about this setup :


That would fit my budget, and the esthetics.
These and the Yamaha WXC-50 will be a step up.

 
These and the Yamaha WXC-50 will be a step up.

Do you mean that I should not buy the DAC Magic 200M, but buy the Yamha WXC-50 instead?
Or do you mean I should buy both these, in addition to the Klipsch speakers?
 
Ah never mind, got it. You recommend : Yamaha WXC-50 + Adam A7X instead.
 
Ok, thanks for that. The esthetics don't quite match unfortunately.

And what do you guys think about this setup :


That would fit my budget, and the esthetics.

Also, they are passive speakers and the CA is only a dac/preamp so you’d still need a good power amplifier to drive them.
 
If you really don't like the aesthetics of monitors, which I appreciate, I'd suggest some floorstanders at least. Would you be okay with those or do you need bookshelf speakers for sure? If so I'd recommend a 3 way bookshelf such as the wharfedale Evo 4.2, again I've unfortunately not heard these and they are up there on my to try list
 
Ah never mind, got it. You recommend : Yamaha WXC-50 + Adam A7X instead.

Yes.

As bargains go, the A-7X is a first class one, the Yamaha is a very good dac/pre/streamer, and, as I mentioned earlier, you’d need to budget around a minimum of 400 Euros for a power amp with the Klipsch speakers.

Ps, the A-7X above is currently around four hundred Euros off for the pair. So a better bargain, but even more so.
 
If you really don't like the aesthetics of monitors, which I appreciate, I'd suggest some floorstanders at least. Would you be okay with those or do you need bookshelf speakers for sure? If so I'd recommend a 3 way bookshelf such as the wharfedale Evo 4.2, again I've unfortunately not heard these and they are up there on my to try list

Unfortunately, floorstanders are not an option (need to protect the equipment from the gremlins kids). The Evo 4.2 seem perfect aesthetically. They are passive speakers, right?


Also, they are passive speakers and the CA is only a dac/preamp so you’d still need a good power amplifier to drive them.

Ah, thanks, I didn't realize that !
 
Another option that I am thinking of : I could install an amp/dac, and multiple (something like 4) speakers. Would that make any sense?
 
They are passive, yes. I've never heard them myself, I imagine they will be good as I have some old wharfedale diamonds which sound very pleasant to me.

A 3 way should be beneficial as you have that dedicated woofer which should help with playing louder and low distortion. Of course I can't say this as a fact as I haven't heard them. That's the idea though. They are pretty tall, about 44cm. Definitely worth a demo, they are beauties and wharfedale do usually offer good value.

I wouldn't put 4 speakers for music, more so if you want a cinema system
 
No experience with active speakers. But they have got a good reputation. But whether it is better for you is something you just need to try. Passive speakers like the Oberon 7 with BK subwoofer sound fill that large room. And then use something like receivers from Marantz, Yamaha. There’s a new model from Marantz now. A tad cheaper in price then Yamaha 803D receiver/amp. Sadly I don’t remember the model name.
 
Oh, it’s called NR1200. Should have no problems driving the Oberon 7, though you’ll get different options on that... But I see you can’t use floor standing speakers. Is that correct? Even so floor standing speakers on spikes should not fall easily on the floor etc. No four speakers used in stereo music presentation is perhaps a bit odd. Never tried that. It reminds me about the 4 channel music stereo system from the 70’s which Pink Floyd recorded some albums on.
 
Oh, it’s called NR1200. Should have no problems driving the Oberon 7, though you’ll get different options on that... But I see you can’t use floor standing speakers. Is that correct? Even so floor standing speakers on spikes should not fall easily on the floor etc. No four speakers used in stereo music presentation is perhaps a bit odd. Never tried that. It reminds me about the 4 channel music stereo system from the 70’s which Pink Floyd recorded some albums on.
Correct, I need to go for book shelves, or really anything that can be put high on a shelves. It's not so much the fear of the speakers being pushed over, but rather the fear of little fingers poking holes in the drivers.
 
I wouldn't put 4 speakers for music, more so if you want a cinema system
So when I listen to music (not movies) in my home cinema, I have the option of
1) only put left and right speakers
2) put left and right speakers, and also the surround speakers (that play the same thing as left and right - not a different track).

I strongly prefer 2, because I find the sound much more enveloping.

So that makes me feel I like when there are more speakers.

What do you think of that? Do I just have different tastes, or is there an explanation for that?
 

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