Recommend good satellite speakers?


Because of my living situation (efficiancy apartment, paper thin walls, lack of funds, etc.), I have been looking at some satellite speaker options. I really only need a pair for the time being. Something that will image well, and WON'T give me too much bass thump (the person living below me has already reported me for 8 noise violations in one month). Just something that will allow me to hear some nice detail on a wide variety of music, and will be able to handle other sources (PlayStation 2, digital cable, VCR, DVD, etc.) at least reasonably well. Now, I'm as anti-Bose as the next intelligent person, but I was wondering if there's something good along those same lines. Thanks in advance for your help.
thedautch

Showing 1 response by audiokinesis

If you are concerned with how much sound is going through the walls to your neighbor's apartment, then consider dipoles.

Mathematically, for a given bass SPL at the listening position, a dipole speaker puts out 5 dB less bass into the environment. This is because a dipole has a figure-8 radiation pattern in the bass, rather than the omnidirectional bass radiation pattern of a monopole. For an in-depth explanation see Sigfried Linkwitz's excellent treatment of the subject at http://www.linkwitzlab.com/rooms.htm .

Two other factors to look at in lowering the amount of noise (typically bass) that your neighbor hears:

1. Get speakers that are very articulate, so you won't have to turn them up loud to hear all the details.

2. Lower the noise floor in your room as much as possible, so you won't have to turn the speakers up to hear the details over the ambient noise.

You might consider the Gradient Revolutions, sort of a perennial underground favorite. These speakers are essentially a controlled dispersion, concentric-driver minimonitor down to 200 Hz, with a dipole bass system below that. I don't know if they're in your budget ballpark (retail is 4.5 grand), but you might find a pair used. Check them out at http://www.gradient.fi/En/Products/Revo/Revo1.htm . I'm a brand-new Gradient dealer, so pardon me if my enthusiasm is showing...

I still think a full range electrostat would be ideal for you, from your "help with speaker selection" thread, but I take it we may now be looking at a more restricted budget. You might want to consider used Acoustats - I can put you in touch with someone who can repair or even upgrade Acoustats should you ever need it, and Acoustats would meet your top seven or eight criteria (from the other thread) very well.