Your favorite Small Apartment Speakers

Verdant Audio Blackthorn 1s as they deliver a great soundstage in a small space.  They work really well close to a wall and deliver a very true and accurate sound.  

Yes, they are mine (I am manufacturer) so I am biased but have had some unbelievably good feedback from independent listeners at AXPONA including The Absolute Sound.

@gochurchgo  Thanks for the direct comment back.  What music are you listening too? 

I completely get the issue with bass response.  I assume apartment means you don't want to fill in lower frequencies with a subwoofer.  What kind of bass response do you want?

Interesting.  You and I listen to a lot of similar music.  I don't go quite as heavy as Napalm Death.  I need a speaker that does well with metal but for me it is Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, etc...  For punk, Sex Pistols, Early Police, Ramones, Iggy Pop, etc...   Though I also like a lot of 60s psychedelic, 80s and my wife listens to 90s hip hop, oh and Classical gets mixed in regularly.  Finding a speaker that does all that well is hard and when you roll in the added requirement of <40hz performance, it gets harder still.  

I know what you mean about the speaker market not being geared toward you. Part of why I started my company. 

We had a great moment at AXPONA where we had a group of guys who were in the room and did 5 or 6 songs at their request.  Music started with Michael Jackson and we capped it with The Trooper.  One of the guys commented "I can't believe I am about to sit down and critically listen to Iron Maiden."  Every time we played Metal the room filled.  Way more guys feel the speaker industry isn't geared towards them than you would think.  That being said, I was running a subwoofer.  

What market are you in?

I would check out the Monitor Audio Platinum 100s.  Tons of detail and good for rock and metal music.  Good bass response as well with a rating of +/- 6 dB at 40hz.  They need to be driven by a neutral to slightly forward amplifier.  

There are four dealers in AZ.  Give them a call and see if they have them on display.