Speakers for small listening room

Have a listen to Proac 1sc's and Red Rose Music Rosebuds. Both are high quality monitors.

If this is a dedicated listening room place the speakers along the long wall, approximately 7 feet apart and bring them out into the room halfway (yes, your speakers will seem like they are on top of you). However, your soundstage should re-appear. From this point, move the speakers (small movements eg. a couple inches at a time; play with toe in) around to get a solid center image and proper bass response etc.

If you can't move the speakers this far out, you will compress the soundstage somewhat as you move them closer to the front wall (the wall behind the speakers). Dave

One of the best sounding small speakers I've ever heard are the Dynaudio Contour 1.3 SE. Someone has a pair for sale on audiogon for $2345. They sell for $3500. If there's anyway for you to hear these speakers, I know you'll be impressed.

The Gradient Revolutions have several unique characteristics that make them especially suited for difficult rooms.

First, the bass is a true dipole, rather than a monopole. This puts much less bass energy into the room's bass resonant modes. The result is, the bass isn't colored by placing the speakers close to a wall (though corners do not work well - they roll off the bass too much).

Second, the mid/tweet module uses a pressure-relief cabinet that gives a cardioid radiation pattern. This once again minimizes the speaker's interaction with room boundaries.

Now, the really cool thing is, the cardiod and dipole patterns mathematically put the same amount of energy out into the reverberant field. So, the reverberant field sounds just like the first-arrival sound! This is almost unique among speakers - most speakers have a much more bottom-heavy response in the reverberant field because the bass and lower midrange is omnidirectional, with the pattern narrowing as beaming sets in. The Revolution's unique radiation characteristics (along with its inherent freedom from boxy colorations) make it extremely relaxing to listen to long-term.

The reason the radiation pattern matters is that the ears derive timbre not only from the first arrival sound, but also from the reverberant sound. When there is a significant discrepancy between the two, the eventual result is listening fatigue. Haven't you heard speakers that were initially quite impressive, but after twenty minutes you had a headache and were ready to leave the room? Often the radiation pattern is to blame. The pattern on the Revolutions is so uniform that you can walk into the next room and the tonal balance doesn't change (except of a softening of the extreme top end). Now, an omni can also do this, but an omni won't image like the Revolutions, especially not in a small or difficult room.

The mid/tweet module of the Revolutions uses a very high quality custom SEAS concentric mid/tweet. This gives the speaker point-source radiation characteristics from 200 Hz up, and so the imaging is superb. There are no lobing or driver integration issues. The focused radiation pattern will give you very good imaging whether you place them along the long or short wall.

Check them out at http://www.gradient.fi/En/Products/Revo/Revo1.htm

My main speaker line is Sound Lab full range electrostats. They have spoiled me for just about all conventional speakers. The Gradient Revolutions are a distinct exception, and I've sold them to customers who've owned electrostatics. They really have a relaxing boxless sound that you can listen to for hours and hours. Many other speakers have more impressive specs, but your ears forget all about specs when you put the music on. However, a few years ago when Stereophile reviewed an earlier incarnation of the Revolution, they reported that it gave the flattest in-room response they'd ever measured - this is an effect of the well though-out radiation patterns.

The Revolutions are priced a bit higher than the ballpark you mention, but if you might be interested let me know and I'll work with you, and possibly arrange an in-home audition.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Best wishes,

Duke

My own speakers are placed on a line drawn at an angle across one corner of the room. That is, the right one is about five feet out from the corner, along the long wall and about two feet away from it ; the left speaker is about eight feet out from the same corner along the short wall and about three feet away from that wall.

Yes, this means my listening couch is at an angle and the speakers are toed towards it.

Long wall placement is out of the question for me. This corner setup is a placement recommended by UHF magazine ( uhfmag.com ) in one of their books ; they say it is often found to excite annoying room resonances less than others. I found it necessary to keep the speakers well out of the corners, and many minor adjustments finally got things exactly right.

My speakers are Meadowlark Shearwater Hot Rods. The amp is a SimAudio Celeste W-4070Se, the source is a Linn LP12 Lingo. My room is 12 feet by 22 feet by 10 feet high.