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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
 
Mapman,

Ah, my tutor returns! ;-)

Yes, I'll get 'em out from the wall and report back!
asa
662 posts
 
Rebbi, yes, room, but also IC's & speaker cable. Monster can be a bit compressed, especially if its the cheap stuff. Audience has some good value cable. The IC should run you used @$220 and the speaker, well, I can't remember. If you can sometime, think about some of Audio Note Kondo's copper entry level speaker wire: @$500-600 for 8ft pr.

I like the Arro, nice little speaker, but, as I said, I would have tried to scam a Model 1 used for about the same price...that said, the Arro should image well; that's what all Totems do well.
rebbi OP
1,326 posts
 
Asa,

Yes, cabling is next. Powerline 2 was "pretty good stuff" back in the '80's. But the lengths I have now are way too long, so if I need to at least cut and reterminate them if I'm going to use them as a stopgap measure. Again, I don't want to blow my budget on wire until I see what the bill from SOTA for bringing my TT up to spec is going to be.
rebbi OP
1,326 posts
 
Mapman,

Turns out they were about 18" from the back wall. Moved 'em another 6" out and the transparency, imaging and soundstage all took a big leap forward. Everything started to bloom as it should. They sound much better (whew!) and the bass doesn't feel particularly compromised yet.

One of my "reference" CD's is James Taylor's "That's Why I'm Here." On one tune ("Only A Dream In Rio") there's a bit of percussion, some kind of wood block, that comes at you from WAY off to the left if things are set up right, and that bit "clicked" when I moved things further into the room. So I'm on the right track, it seems.

I'll keep playing with placement to fine tune the results, but thanks a lot for the tip! :-D
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,457 posts
 
Sure thing. After all we went through (mostly you), we got to get those babies "tuned in".

Keep fine tuning the placement until they sound just right at your prime listening position with big sound stage, accurate imaging, and tight clean bass.

My Dynaudio Contour 1.3mkIIs are rear ported monitors that aren't too far off in design from Totems. They can only bloom in their unique when positioned optimally away from the walls, rear wall in particular.

The dealer where I heard the Arros last weekend had various Totem, PSB and McIntosh speaks lined up fairly close to the wall.

Non were set up optimally ( I could tell by listening to my reference CDs in a/b tests on each compared to other systems I've heard recently, including mine), but all other things aside, the Arros held their own very well with all the other significantly more expensive speaks. Very impressive for such diminutive little fellows.

I felt a bit cheated that I didn't get to hear them optimally set up, but since I was mainly looking and listening to speaks and not buying, I didn't want to trouble the sales guy.

In your case, hopefully keeping them further out from walls does not decrease WAF too much. You can always add a sub later if desired for deeper bass. That goes with the territory usually with most any smaller speak in that general price range.
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