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Small Floor Standers

I'm looking to create a short list of speakers for music only. The room is 15x28 with 9' ceilings and hard surfaces, except a few padded chairs and light fabric window covers. The main listening area is 15x18 and the rest of the room is my kitchen which opens up to it.

Musically, I listen to rock, jazz, and a variety classical but no hip hop or electronic to speak of. The ideal speaker will provide smooth tonal response, good dynamics and importantly freedom from stridency which the live room will only accentuate. High SPL's and subterranean bass are not required but I don't want something that gets lost in the space. The speakers must be compact - 35" or so tall and not more than 8-12" wide and deep. I prefer floor standing designs because of the room volume and as protection against a 6 year old. My budget is around $1k used, maybe a bit higher for the right choice.

A few of my early thoughts are the smaller Spendors and Quad L series as well as Totems and Dynaudio.

The source will be a Squeezebox playing lossless digital and the amp is TBA, but will be matched to the speakers which I think should be picked first.

Any and all comments are welcome. Thanks in advance.
wdrazek
wdrazek OP
100 posts
 
Thanks for your opinion. When I mean 'getting lost' it isn't all about soundstage size although that is part of it. Mostly, it is the speaker's ability to energize the room and not sound like it is is whispering.

It's been a long standing practice of mine to match speakers to the room they are in. For my den (12x12) I would probably go no larger than Kestrels size. A speaker like a Spendor S8 would likely overpower the room. And, the drivers might not integrate well at too close a distance. In a large room I want something that will be able to provide a solid foundation. It needn't go down to 20hz but it has to have enough drive that it doesn't sound lightweight, or lost in a room that is close to 4000 ft3.

I hope this makes sense.

Wayne
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,154 posts
 
Vienna Acoustics. http://www.sumikoaudio.net/va/idx_clsx.htm
estrong
57 posts
 
You might want to listen to the B&W CM4. It's a small floor standing speaker with a big sound for it's size. I had a pair and enjoyed them very much.

Eben.
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
The original post specifies 35 inches as max height. You are asking for quite a lot from a speaker of this size.
wdrazek OP
100 posts
 
I realize that with a 35" or so maximum height my requirements won't be easily met. That's why I asked for ideas from the crowd here whose combined experience is much greater than my own. In the past I've seen some transmission line speakers do well with smaller cabinets so I'm a little surprised PMC hasn't been mentioned. I've seen used ones go in the $1k range.

The saving grace is that these need not blow out windows or recreate concert level SPL's. It will be mostly used for background music.
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