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Very small room! Help me with monitor speakers

I am sure some of you are tired of reading all the similar posts asking for help picking the right monitor speakers, but with the risk of boring you, please read this one too! 

When I was really young, I was fascinated by very small salt-water aquariums full of vibrant, beautiful live plants and fish since I knew the smaller the tank, the harder it is to have the occupants stay alive, let alone do well and thrive. I experimented with building my own and was semi successful...  ;-)

I now find myself in a similar situation. I am trying to build a good sounding system in my very small (10 x 9 ft small!) office. Unlike many here, I don't have a big budget. I have painstakingly upgraded many parts in an old EL34 based tube amp (around 35 watts per channel) that I would like to use, or I could go with a Rotel 100W per channel solid state stereo amp depending on the speakers. For source, I'm using an Oppo DAC connected to my Mac for digital music (Flac and DSD files). I will be adding a turntable and phono preamp later. My current speakers are Martin Logan Motion 15 bookshelf speakers and while they sound okay, I feel there is a lot of room for improvement. I listen to many types of music, but  primarily Jazz, some mellow rock and old electronic music (the likes of Jean-Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, The Art of Noise, etc.). I have done some acoustic treatments to my room which has helped. Speakers will be fairly close to the back-wall (around 1ft) and about 6-7 feet from each other.

I am looking for speakers under $2k, and here's what I am hoping for:
- Good sound at lower volumes since I listen a lot at nights, but with the ability to handle higher volumes when needed
- Large sound stage, revealing, a little warm, clean, and with high dynamics and definitely good with vocals

I am not looking for really analytical and super accurate speakers - I want to listen, relax and enjoy the music late at nights.
Since I can't go to stores and listen to different speakers, I've been reading a lot and feel these speakers could be good. If you have any real life experience with these, could you please tell me about what you liked and disliked and if they meet the criteria above? BTW, I am definitely open to buying used as well...

- LSA-10 Signature
- Silverline Minuet Grand
- Revel Performa3 M105
- Canton Reference 9k
- Xavian Perla Esclusiva

I appreciate all your comments and help!
rfarassat
big_greg
6,554 posts
 
Harbeth P3ESR.  I have them in my small computer room (about 12' X 12').  They are driven by a Vincent SV 237 integrated and I have a Power Sound Audio 15" subwoofer.  

I've had a lot of speakers in this room including Focal 1008BE, Canton Vento Reference 9 DC, Klipsch Heresy, and a few others.  Pretty much everything seemed like "too much" for the room.  The Focals were really nice, the Harbeths are nicer.  The Cantons are good, very neutral and lots of bass for a small monitor, but not very dynamic and not as detailed as the Harbeths and Focals. 

I've had the Harbeths for a few months now and can't imagine swapping them out for anything.  They are the Goldilocks speakers for this room. 

They will not play super loud, so if you want to crank things up once in a while, something like the Cantons might be better, but for low volume listening they are wonderful, very detailed and dynamic and the midrange is to die for.
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csmgolf
868 posts
 
If you are willing to buy used, there are a couple of good choices for sale on US Audiomart that would fit the bill.
LSA-1 Statement. Very nice and at an attractive price
Vapor Audio Breeze. Top notch drivers and really good sound for the price.
Tyler Acoustics Linbrook monitors. Seas Millennium tweeters and magnesium midwoofers in a solid cabinet. They would work well in a larger room as well.
All of these would be in your price range and should do what you are looking for. For the money, my choice would be the Vapors. 

br3098
969 posts
 
I always recommend omnidirectional speakers for small and problematic rooms. Speakers featuring off-axis drivers work with the room better and off-axis reflections make the room sound larger. An additional benefit is that many of these speakers provide a large, room-wide sweet spot and great imaging on the wall behind them. If you like it it's a very captivating sound.

When I was a dealer I sold a lot of Larsen speakers. The Larsen 4 is a small, unobtrusive floorstander that has worked in every "bad" room I have tried them in. And they are in your budget.

Last year I bought my younger daughter a pair of Neat Iota Alpha speakers for her tiny NYC apartment den. Even smaller than the Larsens, they work great and provide lots of bass.

I would can also suggest you look at Ohm Walsh (1000 & 2000 series) and Shahinian (Compass and Arc). Everything but the last should be in your price range new, and would of course be much less if previously enjoyed.

Have fun!

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