2. speakers
  3. 958066115

The Best Speakers for a Small Room

I am looking for a pair of speakers for my relatively small (approximately 12x14 ft) listening/living room. I have a McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe power amplifer and a Meridian 506.24 CD player. I listen to a lot of different types of music, but mostly to progressive rock (Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Genesis, Gentle Giant), jam bands (Moe., Dave Matthews Band, Phish, String Cheese Incident) bluegrass, and jazz (both fusion and a lot of traditional acoustic). . . in general, very busy music. Does anyone have suggestions for speakers that would match well with my listening room size, electronics, and musical tastes? And yes, before you say it Carl, I realize that room treatment is absolutely critical and will act accordingly. I would prefer to keep the price around $1500 (new or used), but could go up to $2000 if there was something really special out there. Thanks to any and all that respond!
gmorse
david99
1,467 posts
 
Check out Merlin.They make one of the best small speakers avaliable.
carl_eber
1,425 posts
 
I'm using the Maggie MMG's in my smaller room, which is also about the same dimensions as yours. They take about 8 billion hours to fully break in...well, about 200 to 600 anyway, so it really takes longer than the 60 day trial period. They are only 500 dollars a pair (factory direct), and I feel anyone who doesn't buy them is totally missing out, if they have a smaller room. They're great with every type of music. I like rock, classical, and jazz in that order. I just drove them with about 400 watts per channel (into 4 ohms) last night, and felt like I was at Lilith Fair with Sarah McLachlin's "Mirrorball". Yes, if you need the bottom octave, you must augment with a subwoofer...and if I wasn't auditioning power cords for my amp, I'd be using my Sunfire now. In a small room with treatments, they're as satisfying as any system I've heard, be it dynamic or electrostatic. Maggies are just waking up when you're really pumping them with power, whereas esl's start to get congested at very loud playback (in my experience). Really good cone speakers are perhaps better overall, BUT ONLY IN MID TO LARGE SIZE ROOMS. These little Maggies are perfect for a smaller room.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,150 posts
 
Consider the Totem 1. Alternatively consider the Sony SM7a. The Sony gets no respect, but it's a borderline great speaker and a tremendous value.
ntscdan
52 posts
 
I have a 10x12 room and use a pair of JBL 4311 Studio Monitors from the 70s. They are very efficient and would compliment the type of music that you like. These speakers were found in many studios and radio stations in the 70s/80s and a 3 way that is designed to work best tucked into a corner, unlike many speakers that need lots of space around them to perform properly. Since speaker placement is critical for good performance I recommend that you audition before you buy. Used JBL4311's or there "consumer" model which is identical the L100 are available on the net for around $500 a pair. Look on audiogon or ebay. Good luck and happy listening. Dan
More to discover