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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
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knownothing
1,620 posts
 
I have heard the Ohms and they sound very different to me than the Arros. The Arros throw a coherent (perhaps even etched) sound field across a broad area, but instrument and voice placement are fairly precise within the sound stage. The Ohms on the other hand throw a more "natural" sound field that relies a lot on reflection and so is less "coherent" than the Arros. In fact, critically listening to the Ohms, I had a hard time pinpointing instrument placement in their sound field compared with most any dynamic loudspeaker I can think of.

I prefer the Arros' presentation, but because of their relative precision, I think they are less forgiving of electronics upstream than the Ohms. Comes down to a matter of choice. I have a close friend who loves his Ohms and has two different pairs (including the talls) as a part of his home entertainment system.

I would listen before you buy.
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mapman
22,464 posts
 
Yes. I've owned Ohms since ~ 1978 and currently have 3 pair, Walsh 5 Series 3, Walsh 100 Series 3 and Ohm Ls. Also own Dynaudio and Triangle. Also owned Maggie and B&W in the past.

Never heard Micro Walshes specifically but have researched them along with the rest of the current Ohm line pretty extensively.

The Ohm micro Walsh's would seem to be in line performance-wise with the other speaker models you've considered for your room.

I think Ohm says the micro's can work most rooms, whereas the larger Walsh line drivers are spec'ed to room size. Low end should be optimal with micro's in smaller rooms though, I believe.

John Strohbeen has a good reputation for making valid recommendations with his line based on how the buyer describes their room to him, I would say.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,464 posts
 
Knownothing,

Ohms, omnis and other more exotic speaker designs are not for everyone, for sure. Its largely a matter of taste. For ~$1000, though, they do offer something completely different than the various box designs available in that range.
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knownothing
1,620 posts
 
Mapman,

Agreed.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,464 posts
 
knownothing,

I've toyed on occasion with the idea of replacing my Dynaudios, which are a pretty decent set of highly accurate monitors, with Ohm micros. Reason being that they are a very good monitor speakers that do most everything very well, but in the end, the Ohm Walsh design convincingly deliver sound like a live performance in my listening room to me whereas the Dynaudios and my other box speakers (Triangles and Ohm Ls) all in the end always end up sounding like just "very good stereo speakers", if that makes any sense.

I keep the Dynaudios mainly because I still like having a pair of nice monitors around for the many things they do well, even though in the end I always levitate back to the Ohm Walshs for the best performance whenever I can. Also I like variety and I figure 3 pair of speaks with the same design, no matter how good, might be a bit too much.

The only full range speakers I hear anymore that will catch my ear tend to be extremely big, massive, and way too expensive for a guy like me with two kids still to send to college. And I'm still not certain even with these that, everything properly set up, they can do what the Ohms do.
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