Help Deciding On New Speakers For Small Room, $10k budget

++++1 for Joseph Audio Pulsar Graphene if you choose stand mounts, they have been stellar every time I have heard them (dealer demo, audio show, or friends home)....and they seem to be a little more forgiving of electronics

If you like horns or horn  hybrids, the Volit Lucera speakers are brilliant.....and amazing at placing you in the music. Downside: you will not be able to demo them, they are floor stand speakers, and at $11,5000.....$1,500 over your budget.

My next speakers to add to my collection (as of this writing) will be one of those 2 speakers.

You probably have enough suggestions but I'll throw in the speakers I have in my secondary system in a smallish room with no room for speaker stands: Nola Boxer S3s. I tried several other speakers in the room and had issues. I find this speaker to be a great all arounder that does everything well and would probably be even better if I could put them on stands. As it is, they are sitting on an entertainment console about one foot from the wall which is as far as I can push them away from the wall. Even in this less than ideal situation, they sound terrific. Here's a review linked:

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/nola-boxer-s3-bookshelf-loudspeakers/

Here…

Alta Audio Alyssa

https://youtu.be/8JR9GrhwMw4?si=m0ZId__0pUSXJC_w

The DeVore Orangutan O/93 are really good. Should work great with jazz and in a smaller room.

I personally have the Canton Reference 9K but the DeVores are better (and more expensive).

Someone mentioned Borresen X3 which I have not heard. The Borresen I did hear was great though. The Focal Kanta 2 did sound a bit harsh in the high frequence when I was right in front of it.

For a small room you could also try the Boenicke W5. They are really small but great speakers with some bass.

Klipsch Forte IV; I am successfully using these In a similar size room, along with a REL S/510 sub. (Note: these are arranged asymmetrically to accommodate for furniture, etc.)

-Reference 3A De Capo Be II

-ProAc Response 2D

With your gear, either will be fabulous. I’ve owned both, they are killer monitors in the up to $5K arena.

Totem, PS Audio, and especially if you want outstanding base in a small room with  and elegant small form factor speaker, PMC with their transmission line design. Just make sure you have top notch  smooth electronics ahead of them. You won't need a subwoofer!. Oh, and Fyne as well.

The Boenicke speakers were mentioned.  I heard the W8 at the last Rocky Mountain show and for a small form floor standing speaker I was shocked at their musicality in a hotel room with super bass.  It's probably at the top of your price range but I fell in love with them.  Another stand mount may be the Alta Audio Alyssa.  I heard their bigger brothers and were very good.

The Borresen X1s are head and shoulders above many of the aforementioned recommendations, especially from the typical catalogue brands. And don’t be deterred by the 5.5” woofer. The woofer has a strong motor and good excursion, and can easily put out as much bass as many standmount models equipped with 7” woofers. 

Joseph Audio also makes high end, low-distortion standmounts capable of exceptional clarity and low fatigue. 

If you want to save some coin, Tyler Acoustics can build you some end-game speakers that incorporate the same drivers used by Joseph Audio, along with top shelf crossover parts, and cabinets that are so stout and inert that they outweigh many small floorstanders. 

A friend of mine is in the same position as you.  Small room and sensitivity to brightness.  On my recommendation he bought a used pair of ProAc Response 1SC's and they work very well for him.  He also uses a REL sub.  But I would also agree with any of the BBC-style monitors--Spendor, Rogers, etc.  None of them need much power so that also keeps the system heat and footprint to reasonable levels.  I like Focals but they *are* bright, IMO.

Joseph Audio and Sonus Faber are great options too.  And the recommendation for the Reference 3A De Capo's is a good one.  Another friend also has a smallish room and also had the ProAc Response 1SC's.  He tried the Reference 3As and loves them.  And they're even more efficient, so a small tube or SE amp would be a possibility.

How about Revel M126 be bookshelf speakers would sound great with your equipment. I run them with Anthem gear and they are well balanced, not harsh and the beryllium tweeter is awesome sounding and not bright.

My dedicated room is approximately the same size as the OP’s. If in budget, a used pair of Sonus Faber GH’s would put a smile on your face, they do mine.

I love my little Harbeth P3-ESRs. I forgot to add the REL 5" sub. The combo works amazingly well in my 14' x 13' room.

If I were in your situation, I’d consider speakers by Larsen. They are meant to be placed right next to the wall, and yet supposedly gift a decent soundstage regardless. They are said to be a little on the warmer side. It may make sense for your smaller room to not have to bring the speakers too far forward.

i have your size room and Dynaudio contour makes me happy everyday 

I used to have a small room like yours. The problem you will have is controlling the bass if you go with any floorstanding speakers except if they have small woofers like the revel m35 or revel f226be. Any floorstanding speakers except with a large woofers, you won’t be able to get the volume right. You need to turn up a he volume to get any bass and then he volume is too loud for the room.

so what I did is get a good bookshelf speaker like the: totem model one, totem model 1’s, revel m106be, the tad bookshelf, usher mini x with DMD tweeters, usher mini dancer 1, then use 2 rel t7/x subs, because you can adjust the volume for the subwoofer to get the bass you want without overloading the room.

I agree with you: the non-utopia focals, and the B&W’s are too cold sounding

Another vote for Joseph Audio.  I have the relatively small floor standing Perspective2s.  I love them in my smallish room.  You can definitely find the pulsars at your price point, but might find a pair of good used perspectives or Perspective2s, even.  There are a lot of wonderful speakers out there.   Happy hunting!

Consider the Golden Ear BRX, Genelec G3, or the MoFi Source Point 10. You don't have to spend $10K!

Just heard both the Kantas and Sopras this week and compared to B&W's (which I also heard), they are not at all bright. They have a very lovely sound - full-bodied, tight bass, good transient response, silken highs, excellent mids. If I had the money, I'd be buying a pair of the Kanta No. 3.

I suggest with your limited mobility a pair of Kii three’s.

These can be placed easily inches from the rear wall and sound great.

Adjust all sounds via the control unit to how you like or dislike ‘highs’.

Get rid of your amp and preamp and control everything through the ‘control’ that Kii have. The speakers are connected with a thin cable though speakers are plugged in the wall

Look at the reviews.  
 

I have a pair with stands that I paid 20 grand that I don’t use at all because wife hates the look.

If you can find a pair the Dynaudio Heritage Special has arguably the best soft dome tweeter available!! The Esotar 3. You’ll want the Dynaudio stand 20 with special top plates.The other speaker would be the ProAc K1 with the dedicated stands. It has an amazing ribbon tweeter. Either speaker will fill the room, wall to wall and will give you amazingly great bass. 

@cookiecurls I recommend Marten Oscar Trio speakers. They are a little bit more than $10k, but you may find them used for a bit less than your budget.  They are hard to beat for speakers in their price range.  

Sonus Faber would be my next recommendation.

A pair of Fyne F-701 bookshelf speakers with a pair of Rythmik F12 subs might do quite well and come in about a thousand under your budget.  I have the F-702s (floorstanding) and the Rythmiks and am exceptionally pleased with the sound reproduction quality.  Alive but not overly bright, excellent imaging, and superb tonal qualities.

If those high frequencies bother you, I recommend getting a Schiit Loki Max. I have one in my system and it’s crucial for taming those highs on tracks where they are too pronounced. It will also make speakers that sound great to you at all other frequencies except the highs a possibility where otherwise that one aspect might have been a deal killer. 

I’ll second the Dynaudio suggestions.  I am sensitive to high frequencies as well and their dome tweeters are very smooth and detailed without being overly bright. I have no listener fatigue with mine. They are also not overly picky on placement. The Contour series would fit right in your budget.

I also highly recommend the Joseph Audio Pulsars.  They are a fantastic speaker and you won’t go wrong with them.  The Perspectives are also great.  Somewhat out of your price range are the Wilson Sabrina X’s, used.  I have a room of virtually the same dimensions as you do (11x11x9.5) and I mainly listen to jazz as well.  The  Wilsons are simply fantastic in my sized room, and wonderful for jazz, but classic rock as well.  Stretch your budget if you can for those!  They are way superior to the Pulsars, IMHO, but are much more expensive.  Note:  I owned the Pulsars, and not the Pulsar Graphenes and Focal Diablo Utopia III’s prior to the Sabrina X’s in the same room with the same components, so I think that I can make a pretty good comparison.

How about a pair of Legacy Audio Signatures - very neutral with good extended bass, extended highs and no emphasis anywhere in the audio band. Expensive small tower sealed cabinet speaker that can be placed against the wall for right at 11k for the pair.  The high end is all air motion transformer of Legacy audio design. Very highly rated. I have a pair that are well over 20 years old that are still pretty good, but their newer designs are better.

Another one you might consider is a pair of Ohm 2000 floor standers. In that small a room you might find there would be no need for your sub at all, but they have a response curve that might suit you very well and a pair would only run you about half of your budget. Further they offer a 90 day trial period (I believe that is correct on the trial period) to live with them and decide if they are for you or not. There are others on this board that have these speakers and like them very much. Myself included. If you appreciate the 'live' presentation with a broad soundstage and the ability to be almost anywhere in the room and listen and hear a well defined sound stage from virtually any position to be of value to you, you should at least audition a pair.

I would recommend you Riga from Cabasse. It's playing everything, any gene of music in great way and it matched perfect with your REL. 

Good luck!

KEF Reference 1 Metas are terrific. 

Wow,

Lots of great suggestions here! I’m just now chiming in, but have to say I’m in a similar boat. Also a jazz musician who loves an engaging listening experience. Totally respect where you’re coming from and am very happy for you!

My room is a bit bigger with 10x14, but 8 ft ceilings. Your having that extra height in the ceilings is definitely a plus. Just for reference, I’ve got a couple of small Spendor Classic 4/5’s and also a Rel t/7x and I get so much immersion that I don’t feel I really need to go any bigger on my speakers. But if I did, it would be the Spendor 3/1’s already recommended a few times here. And I think they would still play great in your small room matched with your sub.

Im also pretty sensitive in that frequency range, already am combatting some tinnitus from many many years of tenor saxophone playing. But the Spendors are amazing. Never course or fatiguing, and I’ve got very revealing digital front end. Even with that, they play/sound so natural - uncanny realism and stage. But still super detailed, great transients. Chose the 4/5’s as they are sealed, which also lends to great imaging and micro”feels” in any acoustic recording. Plus, room boundaries not as much an issue with sealed designs. Spendors also respond very, very well to power/high current amps. But aren’t particularly hard to drive. They are dynamic enough to punch when needed. These 4/5’s can sound way bigger than their diminutive stature, and never distort (measured up to 95db peaks in my room without wincing).

Regardless, kudos to you. Your later years will be better years with a good system in your life!

I am sensitive to bright speakers as well.   When I discovered Sonus faber earlier this year I was very impressed.  I bought the Sonetto II which were $2500 a pair but the newly released G2 version is $2700, I think.   These are wonderful speakers.   If you want to spend $10K, you can look into the Electa Amators.   Finest speaker I have heard for this price point.

DeVore Orangutan O/Baby would be great in that room. My O96’s are not going anywhere.

ProAc D2 are very good. I had an older pair w/ dome tweeters. But with your budget you can do better.

Sonus Faber sound fantastic with tubes, probably SS too but I don’t have direct experience.

My Dad has a pair of Electa Amator III and they are awesome speakers.  Amazing sound out of a small cabinet. 

I have a room that’s 12x13 and I am using the QLN Prestige 3. It’s a small, slim floor standing two way. It gives me the warm yet detailed sound that I prefer. There are plenty of reviews online that can give you more details.

Several of these suggestions are great! And provide superior sound quality in the right room with the right set up. But several may not be easy to place in your room. In order of priority:

1. Quad ESL 57s - nothing better with right room and set up. This is the reference to judge all others by. But may be difficult to place in your room.

2. Magnepsn LRS+ - very, very close to ESL 57s with right room and set up.

3. ATCs - but very expensive and might be a hair brighter than you like.

4. Harbeth M30.2s XD or SHL5s XD - sound very close to the ESL 57s with the right set up.

5. Qualio IQ Ultra - superb, but may be a bit large for your room.

For my money - I’d focus on the LRS+ and Harbeths - wih the right set up - nothing is any better in that size room. And, of course, these are for all things acoustic as far as music.

PS Audio has a free in home trial option. This may be worth the time. The FR5’s have gotten some great reviews. 

Lots of great suggestions here, nothing I can add. I used to be in a room of similar size and only recently moved to a slightly larger one. During that transition I upgraded my KEF LS50’s to KEF Reference 1’s. They were too much speaker for the small room, but thrive in the larger one. My point is to be aware of overloading the room, and lean towards speakers that do well closer to the back wall. 

A good used pair of Wilson Audio TuneTots may be ideal.

Years ago, Magnolia Audio carried Primare and paired frequently with Sonus Faber for a good reason.....Primare tends to be on the "analytical" side of the spectrum and worked well with Sonus Fabers which are on the "warmer" side.  In a small 11' x 16' room, I had great success, first with SF Cremona Auditor M's and later the highly respected SF Guarneri Evelutions, which are in your budget on the used market.  I also tried Harbeth Compact 7's, Super HL 5+ and by quite a margin prefered the SF Guarneri's.  

Have fun!

I have heard some other great brands referenced, but the ones I have lived with the most, check all the boxes for me, and seem to check the boxes of OP would be Daedalus.  Not fatiguing.  I don't listen to much jazz of late, but they've steered me towards more acoustical music because they sound so good and natural.  Also plenty of punch and bass for me on my other music preferences.  I've used a couple models in medium and small rooms.  For me dual 8's didn't overload a small room, but single 8" woofer would be in the budget range.  I have some Athena's, but Muse would fit budget new.  Placement wasn't an issue for me with rear ports, but the Muse has front ports also allowing close placement to wall in small room.  Subwoofer needs would be to your tastes, but the Daedalus are pretty impressive to me.  I'm a bit of a bass head, but I often run without my subwoofers, but they are needed if you want response down to 20 Hz or lower.

I'd offer a couple of suggestions. Maybe buy new so you can get plenty of audition time and return speakers that don't do it for you. Because in the end of course, it's going to be your preference for the sound signature. I'd throw Elac Vela speakers into the mix of what to try. I have Elac Vela 403s (bookshelf two-way) and the sound is great for my taste. Vocals, especially female vocals are special, and drums fantastic. The Jet tweeter is, I think, largely responsible. They have just revamped their Vela line to 2.0, with some expanded options. All of them have downward-firing ports which helps with placement, and they have moved to the JET 6 version of the tweeter. It's a Heil AMT design and offers amazing clarity with no fatigue. You want to hear shimmer in cymbals, and the rattle of the drum kit?  I have Revel Performa 226 BE speakers and while they are really good, the HFs are relatively dry and lack some of the detail of the Elacs. The Elacs are also very musical. and well within your budget. You could try the 404 or 407, add a couple of small REL subs (if desired although maybe not necessary with the 407s) and be well under $10k. My two bits. 

Wow. I currently have HarbethM30.2s with a REL  S/510 in a treated 11x11x9.5 room and I like the sound but I know it can get better with another speaker - that is what my audiophile friends tell me. The problem is which speaker to get. Thanks for all these recommendations, which I have noted, and I will mostly just think about them and read reviews while I enjoy my music. Eventually, I need to find a dealer that carries a variety of them and will let me test them in my room. If someone knows such a dealer in So Cal, let me know.

In a small room like you have the Harbeth P3ESR would be a perfect fit. I have owned them and they are still my favorite small stand mount. Add a pair of Ton Trager stands!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqFIaiPT_kY

Electa Amator. Add a second sub.

+6 Joseph Audio Pulsar2 Graphene speakers

PS Audio Aspen FR10

Recently attended the Capital Audiofest where I listened to scads of uber expensive and moderatly expensive speakers and systems.

In a small hotel room, the Harbeth XD P3ESR bookshelves on the Harbeth Nelson Subwoofer / Speaker Stands had me thinking this would be perfect for a 2nd system in a smaller room.- were driven by a PrimaLuna EVO hybrid int amp.

Google tells me the stands are $3490 and the bookshelves $3190.

As previous posters mentioned, Harbeths are the opposite of clinical/fatiguing.

Have a look Acora’s new MRC line of stand mounts which are right at your budget. 

We haven't heard from the OP since 11/5, probably buried in holiday stuff. When people say forward bass with reserved highs my limited experience always makes me think of Dynaudio, I've never even owned a pair, but had a pair of audience 80's for a couple weeks and was more than a little impressed with their tonal balance.