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Best budget speakers for near-field/small space

Hi Ladies & Gents,

First time on Audiogon.

Coming from headphones, due to dorm constraints, I'm finally going to be able to get a speaker setup once I move into an apartment at the end of the year.

Sharing an apartment with a few mates, so I'll be setting up the speakers in my bedroom. The room is probably going to be pretty small (about 12 by 8 feet), and with my bed, wardrobe and all, optimal speaker positioning might be a problem.

Hence I'm thinking of going with a near-field setup, on my desk with my computer since that's where I do most of my listening. I could swap my chair and desk with a nice recliner as well, but its going to be near-field either way.

My budget for speakers and amps is pretty tight. Under 1000USD (please don't tease =) and the lower the better. I'm looking for the greatest bang for my buck what with being a student and all.

I listen almost exclusively to Jazz. Mostly 50's 60's bop, hard bop etc. Some acoustic singer-songwriter stuff, and indie rock as well, but only occasionally.

At the lowest end of the spectrum the Audioengine A5 looks interesting. Possibly paired with S8 subwoofer. Being active, I'd save on electronics and could add a DAC down the road, to pair with my Macbook Pro.

At the upper end of my budget, the Magnepan MMG looks very attractive especially with the great reviews on the web. Potential worries: read that they need a really beefy amp that might cost a bit, and more importantly, positioning. I don't believe these speakers were made with near-field listening in mind so that's a bit of a worry.

I've also heard many great things about the Linkwitz Pluto. And since its available as a DIY I could save some bucks (though I have no experience whatsoever, so its a bit daunting).

Other active/passive studio monitors seem to be decent choices as well. The KRK Rokit series, Dynaudio BM5a etc seem like viable alternatives, but I'm worried that they won't be as 'musical' as hi-fi speakers and might end up being cold and too revealing (might be a problem with badly mastered records, especially all those bright RVG remasters).

I have incredibly limited experience with speakers. More well-versed with headphones only. So I really need your help!

Many thanks in advance!
milesandcoltrane
tiggerfc
153 posts
 
I'm not personally sold on the B&W 685s. I've listened to them several times at the local shop and they just don't compare to my MAs in any way. I'm not sure about what speakers are best for nearfield but due to my room constraints (12'10" X 12'8") and what speakers I have auditioned in that context and given their distance to my ears when sitting in my "spot" is 8'11", I can say the Monitor Audio RX1 ($650 new) or older RS1 (~$400 used) might be right up your alley. They are a tad bright with a solid state amp but if you run with the Jolida 1501RC, the tube pre-amp stage will help roll-off that brightness. You can even swap tubes in the future and add even a little more warmth to them. Given your music tastes I'm sure you'd be all about that.

The Jolida is a great amp too. I had the opportunity very recently to compare it to my Bada DC-222 and while they both had their flavor they were quite level with eachother in performance and sound. Though you can get the Jolida with a subwoofer output, where as the Bada is strictly a 2-channel setup and one record-out. The Jolida would add versatility as your funds increase.

There is an enormous wealth of knowledge on this site. Just pick a thread and run through every post until you get a warm and fuzzy and move to the next. You will learn so much and be able to make informed choices.

Good luck with your search. Remember, above all its your ears. Go with what sounds good to you. Not what they're trying to sell you.
roscoeiii's avatar
roscoeiii
1,155 posts
 
You might want to check out this review on some Swans that were described as particularly excelling in the nearfield:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/swans2/1.html

As for DACs, I highly recommend the HRT Streamer USB DACs, though I'd recommend stepping up to the II rather than the original Streamer or Streamer+ models. The II, II+ and pro are all async USB. When I asked HRT about the original + versus the II, they said go with the II. An incredible deal for $150. Macintosh internal DACs and analog outs are junk.

Good luck in your search.
mathewm
23 posts
 
I just set up a pair of Silverline Minuets on my desk and they do really well for near field listening. They have a very big sound for being so small. I'm currently driving them with a Griffin Powerwave. The Powerwave is a class-T amp and only puts out 10 watts. I can tell the Minuets are a little underpowered at louder volumes. However at medium to low volumes they sound really good. The Powerwave also doubles as a USB dac so I have very little clutter associated.
mathewm
23 posts
 
I owned a pair of Swan M200 a few years ago and I cannot really recommend them. They look nicer than they sound. I found them to be rather muffled like a blanket was hanging over them. I was giving them a pretty good source to playback at the time-- Jolida JD100.
mathewm
23 posts
 
I owned a pair of Swan M200 a few years ago and I cannot really recommend them. They look nicer than they sound. I found them to be rather muffled like a blanket was hanging over them. I was giving them a pretty good source to playback at the time-- Jolida JD100.
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