I agree with Carl on the Meadowlark speakers, I `ve had both the Kestrels and the Shearwaters, these are great speakers fo the money, the little Kestrel can sound real good about 30 to 36 inchs from the back wall, you`ll need to be at least 7 or so feet away from them to get the drivers to intergrate well, the imageing on these little speakers are wonderful, you can find these on audiogon sometimes for 650 or lower. Carl is right about the Maggies as well, they do need to be turn up a little to sound there best,I have a pair of these in my H.T. room, they sound really good here, turned up that is, I just sold my maggies center and rear surrounds, and will move the Meadowlark Shearwaters in the H.T. room along with the new Vireos and the Petrel center. The maggie 1.6 will go in the 2 channel room , they seem to sound much better in there. also the commets you have been getting on room treatment is great advice, I`ve seen many a system sound like SHIT because they didn`t use any room treatment, spending good money on great gear and NEVER touching the room , real bad move , real bad.!!!!!! Greg
Best of the small speakers
I'm looking for a small, preferably floorstanding speaker that will integrate well with my current system and room. My main source is a California Audio Labs CL-20 DVD/CD player, through a Rotel RC-995 preamp, into a McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe (which will be upgraded to Revision B by Steve McCormack himself in the very near future). My current speakers are Magnepan 1.6QRs. While I absolutely love many of the Maggies traits, they don't seem to integrate well into my fairly small listening space. As far out from the wall as I can move them, about 30 inches, I still get what sounds to me to be a fairly ragged frequency response. For reference, I have pretty electic listening tastes, from baroque to bebop to bluegrass, but the majority of my music is fairly complex, with many simultaneous melodic or rhythmic lines, on both acoustic and electric instuments. Accurate, timbrally-true bass is more far more important to me than rattling the windows. Any suggestions for speakers roughly in the Maggie's price range ($1500-$2500) which you feel would fit well into my system would be appreciated. Just trying to narrow down my shopping list. One speaker which has drawn my attention is the Thiel CS 1.5s, but I know there must be others I am missing! Thanks in advance for the help!!!