Cambridge S30 and Jolida 102b

I had Cambridge S30s in my office system for a couple of years. They're excellent speakers and a great deal. I replaced them with Silverline Minuets, and then replaced the Minuets with another pair of S30s. Don't get me wrong, the Minuets are better speakers, but not much better. I found the S30s to have similar strengths. Like the Minuets, they sound big, have better bass than you'd expect, and they're not at all bright. I ran them for awhile with a 20-watt T-amp, so I think they'd be fine with tubes. They could be just what you're looking for. I hope that this helps.

Ha, ha... you sound worse than me. Any particular reason that you came back to the S30 after the Minuets? I kick myself for selling the Minuets since they're hard to come by used now.

I wish I could say that this was the only time I sold something only to go back and buy it again (I think I'm on my third Creek headphone amp). I really sold the Minuets only because I couldn't justify them for background listening in my office when the Cambridge S30s were nearly as good--for 1/3 the price!

I'm also a big fan of the S30s. I have a pair in a basement system and have bought two other pair for other's systems.

I don't have room for them on my desktop but I have tested them with the Jolida FX10 which is a 10 watt tube integrated I use in my office.

They sound way better than you would have thought possible at their price. I didn't try playing them at high volume but in my living room the level was as high as I normally listen and they sounded wonderful.

How was the bass response with the FX10?

Mathewm - I'm not sure I can tell you anything meaningful about the bass response of the S30s with the FX10. I would have to ask, "compared to what," and I wouldn't be able to answer because I didn't do any A/B critical comparisons to any of my other speakers or amps.

I use the FX10 in my office in a near-field setup with a pair of single-driver JohnBlue JB3s and love that combination with the music I listen to. The JB3s have a beautiful mid-range but don't go as low as the S30s and cost twice as much.

The only way to decide is to buy a pair and try them. One of the reasons the S30s are such an easy recommendation is that trying them will be cheap and easy, one of the pair I bought was $120 used. But they really are quite remarkable in every setup I've put them in.

I used to own the FX10 and Silverline Minuets. It was a decent setup but in the end I felt that the Minuets were a little under powered. On paper the S30s look to be more efficient and along with the extra 10 watts from the 102b I was thinking that I would be satisfied. I also have my eye on the JB3s but they are hard to find used and new are out of my price range.

One thing to be aware of if space is a constraint is that the S30's are deeper than many other small monitors. The height and width are 8.5 x 6" but they're 9.5" deep. That may not be obvious looking at pictures of them.

Yeah that's pretty deep. The Minuets were just about perfect for desktop use. I think I'll just keep a look out for another used pair. Thanks for the help!