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Recommendations to a small room setup

Hello everyone,

Im setting up a system in my apartment this coming fall and just wanted some extra input from those much more knowledgable in this field than I am.

My living room is fairly small (~200sqft) so I am looking for speakers for this size.

I have looked at Dynaudio Excite X12s, Magnepan MMGs, Dali Zensor 3s, etc. But honestly, they all seem pretty good to me.

I was suggested against the NAD C165BEE and NAD C275BEE setup for any small speaker setup (maybe except for the MMGs), so I would love some input on electronics setup as well. What do you guys think about the Marantz SR7009??

Finally, I will be mainly listening to alot of pop, indie, ballad, jazz, blues, acoustics, and EDM. Also, I hope to have the speakers and electronics I purchase to be pretty decent when watching movies/TV shows.

Thank you!
davidthepark

Showing 3 responses by johnnyb53

johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Who/why were you "suggested against" the NAD BEE series? These are a great starting point, especially for Magnepans. I auditioned Maggie 1.7s with an NAD C 375 BEE and it took some vigorous component swapping and experimenting (resulting in handwired tube phono and line preamps plus Perreaux power amp) to just slightly exceed the NAD.

A C356BEE and Magneplanar MMGs should be a great small system match.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 

05-27-15: Lowrider57
...The NAD C 356BEE integrated is a better choice for your situation. (80 wpc and stable into 4 ohms).
That's really what I was getting at as well. My next door neighbor's 10-yr-old Cambridge Audio 640 integrated amp gave up the ghost in a power failure surge. He asked me for a recommendation and we went for the C 356 BEE.

I installed it in his audio rack and then spun some CDs to check it out (we also got a matching NAD CD player for it). He was upstairs in his office when I put in the first CD. Immediately he came running downstairs to hear it because the sound was so much more open and dimensional than what he'd had before. The NAD BEE series truly gives you more than a taste of high end. The C 356 and C 375 sound particularly good, controlled, and 3-dimensional.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Yep. 200 sq. ft. could be any number of shapes. 10x20 is one, but so is 13x15 or 12.5x16. Hopefully it's not a 14.142' square for standing wave concerns. Actually, 10x20 would be problematic that way too.

Anyway, 13x15 (for example) has quite a bit more breathing room than a 10x11 or 11x12.

The GoldenEar Aon 2 or 3 on stands would occupy this room size with ease and wouldn't need a sub. Some of the small footprint floorstanders could work well too, such as the Silverline Prelude or Prelude Plus, or the Focal 816V Chorus or 826V Chorus.

Of course, I also like the Magnepan offerings, and you may even have room for the new .7 over the MMG.

In fact, here's a very favorable review from Steve Guttenberg at C-Net where he auditioned the Maggie .7s in an 11’x12’ (121 sq. ft.) apartment room to great success. 200 sq ft should be a breeze by comparison.

As for amps, I already mentioned that the NAD integrateds (e.g., C356BEE) are good for this application. If you go Marantz, get the PM8005 integrated. That's a nice-sounding amp and would be a good match for the room and speakers under discussion.
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