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Low volume bookshelf spkrs that go from 20 to 20k?

Hi folks, My daughter (9 years) is a discerning listener and a trained singer. I want to reward her with a nice stereo system. We listen to music at low volumes. I plan on buying speakers on my next trip to the US (daughter can not audition speakers). I do not want to compromise on quality but have a budget of about $ 1,500 for the speakers. The size of the room is about 14 feet square.

Speaker requirements:
Freq response: Should cover the audible range (20 to 20khz). I think this will keep my daughter happy.
Model: Bookshelf preferred (small room)

My questions:
Will I need a sub to complement the bookshelf speakers?
Are there bookshelf speakers that cover 20 to 20khz?
What models would you suggest for bookshelf and if required a sub. A 220 volt power supply for the sub will be ideal but not a must.

Appreciate your suggestions.

Vish
yogananda
drew_eckhardt
394 posts
 
>A 20hz soundwave is 27.5 feet long. It simple can't be achieved in a small room though the apparent bass can be very good in a properly treated room.

At 1130 feet/second a 20Hz wave is 56.5 feet long although this is not relevant. If we were unable to hear sound waves longer than the space that contained them, we couldn't go below 12KHz when using earphones in our inch-long canals.

A pressure source (conventional box speaker) in an infinitely rigid sealed space experiences a gain of 12dB/octave below the fundamental resonance with a frequency of 1130 feet/second / 2 / the longest dimension (in feet).

This can be good : 12dB/octave nicely complements a sealed speaker's roll-off. The original poster should be able to achieve flat bass with a sealed speaker that has a 40Hz resonance frequency.

Or it can be bad. A flat sub-woofer in a car is going to be very bloated.

Velocity sources (Dipoles, cardioids) work in small spaces too.
aktchi
274 posts
 
Narrod: A 20hz soundwave is 27.5 feet long. It simple can't be achieved in a small room though the apparent bass can be very good in a properly treated room.

How are headphones able to achieve low frequencies?
gregadd
574 posts
 
Check out the Yamaha piano craft sereies. I wanted to see if I could put together a reasonable system at Best Buy.My friend asked me to reccomend systems for them but they always balked at highend prices.
After spending a couple of weekends at Best Buy I purchased a Yamaha cd reciever and two Yamaha powered subs(you could get by with one). The sound is amazing for that price range. ($400 for the system and $250 each for the sub.)Throw in a nice set of earphones and call it a day.
Now when my friends ask for a recomendation, I can take them to the bedroom and let them audition it right on the spot.
For an uprade you could substitute the the $399/Epos mini monitors.
yogananda OP
3 posts
 
Thanks folks for all your advice. I auditioned monitor speakers from the following manufacturers:
Spendor (similar to the Harbeth, but lacked clarity)
Dali (great sound but price was about $ 4000)
B & W (inexpensive but did not sound right)
Paradigm studio 20 (good but perhaps too big for my room)
Harbeth - liked them, price was within my budget too.

I ended up purchasing a Harbeth PS3ES-2 similar to the LS3/5a.

Thanks again (got to get the karma right)

Vish (now registered as yogananda)
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