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Small room, "budget priced" speaker advice, please

Hi,

I recently sold my dearly beloved, old Vandersteen 2C's here on Audiogon (and I hope SgtPeppers is loving them at this moment!) :-) I did this because in our remodeled house, my new listening room (which will double as a guest room) is just too small for the 2C's. The Spousal Acceptance Factor was just too low. ;-)

I have a PS Audio Elite-Plus integrated amp for power (around 70 W/Ch) and a soon-to-be-shipped-off-for-a-refurb Sota Sapphire for an analog front end (I have "miles" of vinyl)! I will also get a CD player at some point.

For now, I need to find a pair of best-of-breed, truly "budget" speakers. By "budget," I'm talking upper limit of $850/pair. (Gone are my free-spending, single days... I'm a dad now...) :-)

Listening habits: lots of 60's and 70's folk and rock, some jazz, Donald Fagen/Steely Dan, a little classical. Listening volume: not too loud. Sonic preferences: I value transparency and imaging/soundstage. Bass should be accurate above all, as opposed to chest-pounding powerful.

I've looked at Paradigms, which I know are highly regarded at lower price points. Trouble is, our one, local dealer is primarily a TV/home theater outfit, so you're trying to hear them in a showroom crammed with other stuff... you know the drill. I've also hit a high end shop. Listened to a pair of PSB small towers and disliked them; they sounded muddy and veiled to me. Listened to a pair of the smallest Rega's and liked them quite a bit, but would want to go back to listen again. I even wrote to PS Audio for advice; they recommended the "baby" Epos monitors, but they're out of my price range.

Thanks if you've read this far. Knowing how subjective all this is, I'd still welcome any advice you have to offer about what I should try to audition.
rebbi
rebbi OP
1,326 posts
 
Knownothing,

Hi! I did find a home theater shop that carries the B & W's, and I'll try to get over there today. TAS raved about them, and the reviewer praised the qualities that I value the most, so I'll have a listen.
Finally got to hear a pair of Rega R3's at another audio shop yesterday. They sounded way, way better than the R1's I'd heard at a different dealer, but the bass, on his setup, was kind of muddy and indistinct.
By the way, I wrote back to PS Audio to ask about my Elite Plus's ability to drive 4 ohm speakers. They said that if the amp was in good shape (it should be) and the room was of moderate size, I should have no trouble driving Totems, Dynaudios, etc.
rebbi OP
1,326 posts
 
By the way, here's the link to that TAS review of the CM-1's:

http://www.avguide.com/file-download?review=2476
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knownothing
1,617 posts
 
Rebbi,

Thanks for the reference. The TAS article notes the CM1 has a sensitivity of 84db. I have listened to them powered by a 50W/ch NAD amp (fairly lifeless and dull combination) and a 500W/ch Rotel switching amp, and the latter really got them up on a plane. For that reason, these may not be the best choice for your application. I suggest auditioning the CM1's through something similar to your PS Audio amplifier in terms of power and current and comparing that to a much higher power unit to see whether you would be under powering them at 70W. I think the Totem Rainmaker (87.5db) or Dynaudio Audience 42 (86db) might be a better match, even running at 4 ohms. Curious to hear your perspective after listening.
zkzpb8
212 posts
 
Rebbi, the Austin shop is Whetstone audio:
http://www.whetstoneaudio.com/

Brian is really great, he hooked me up with my Cyrus gear - maybe try some of his offerings. BTW, I've tried all of the speakers mentioned so far (and like many of them), but the Ohms still rate higher IMO :) Seriously though, you're auditioning some nice speakers... have fun!
rebbi OP
1,326 posts
 
Well, I got to listen to the little B & W CM-1 speakers today. Which leads me to ask the following, philosophical question: Why is it that home theater show rooms are such hopelessly lousy places to audition speakers? There is only one dealer here in Austin that seems to carry the B & W's, and they are a home theater chain called "Modia." They have the speakers literally on bookshelves, practically up against the wall. That was in one showroom. In another showroom, they had them on a very high shelf, separated a ridiculous distance from each other, with a bunch of other speakers in between, and a keypad that the salesman uses to select which speakers are playing.
Given all those impediments the serious listening, the only real impression I could get was that those tiny little boxes (which are amazingly heavy, by the way) pump out some serious bass energy. Other than that, I really can't tell you much about what I heard, unfortunately. By the way, the Absolute Sound reviewer made a big deal out of how these speakers do a "disappearing act." But with the ridiculously crappy listening conditions in the store, you'd never know it. Additionally, I asked the sales guy if there was any way he could take a pair of the speakers off the shelves and put them up on stands so I could hear them at listening height. He said, "No, sorry."
So I think it's between the Rainmaker and the Dynaudios.
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