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Small Floor Standers

I'm looking to create a short list of speakers for music only. The room is 15x28 with 9' ceilings and hard surfaces, except a few padded chairs and light fabric window covers. The main listening area is 15x18 and the rest of the room is my kitchen which opens up to it.

Musically, I listen to rock, jazz, and a variety classical but no hip hop or electronic to speak of. The ideal speaker will provide smooth tonal response, good dynamics and importantly freedom from stridency which the live room will only accentuate. High SPL's and subterranean bass are not required but I don't want something that gets lost in the space. The speakers must be compact - 35" or so tall and not more than 8-12" wide and deep. I prefer floor standing designs because of the room volume and as protection against a 6 year old. My budget is around $1k used, maybe a bit higher for the right choice.

A few of my early thoughts are the smaller Spendors and Quad L series as well as Totems and Dynaudio.

The source will be a Squeezebox playing lossless digital and the amp is TBA, but will be matched to the speakers which I think should be picked first.

Any and all comments are welcome. Thanks in advance.
wdrazek
wdrazek OP
100 posts
 
I've only been to a few on this round of shopping - Glenn Poor's, Saturday Audio Exchange and two local Tweeter's. Of all the local shops Audio Consultants in Evanston is my favorite. Pro Musica generally has very well matched systems and depending on who you get can be great or not so great.

So far, my preference from these visits is: Martin Logan Clarity (but they're $2800 new), the Polk LSi15, then Spendor S3e. The Spendor S5e was out of stock and the setup on the Spendor S3e was substandard so another trip to Saturday Audio is required. I will check out Totems at Van L Speakerworks (John is a great guy) and head to Pro Musica for the Proacs. Then I think I'll be ready to decide.

What have you found that you like?
wdrazek OP
100 posts
 
Oh, and I'm a little sentimental about the Spendor SP1/2a's that I own. Also, they're in offsite storage so pulling them out, photographing and listing them doesn't appeal to me right now.
aktchi
274 posts
 
Wdrazek: Thanks. I am not actively looking for anything right now. I have Spendor BC1 that I enjoy hugely, and while I have found better speakers, it was always a lot of money for a little improvement. So I'll wait until I can affod a "quantum jump". (I suggested selling SP1/2's because then you could afford to buy exactly what you want; what good even a good speaker is doing you warehoused? BTW was there really a model called SP1/2a or did you mean SP1/2e? I haven't followed them all.)
wdrazek OP
100 posts
 
It is not an SP1/2e, I'll check what it is when I pull it from storage. I like the speaker but its large rectangular box form factor just doesn't work in the living room.
aktchi
274 posts
 
Wdrazek: No need to go to any special trouble; I was just curious about the exact model number. At some convenient moment though, you might want to know just what you have. :)

I don't want to overdo my suggestion to sell these, but to be honest I was struck by the fact that your budget of 1k is a limiting factor and selling SP1/2's will increase your budget's "breathing room" immensely, probably get you pretty close to your top choices. Sitting in storage, they will at best lose value gradually. If you don't like their looks, think if you'd actually use them ever again.
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