Small room, "budget priced" speaker advice, please

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.

Mapman,

I'm going to try to "finesse" the WAF by surreptitiously moving the media cabinet out from the wall, too, to disguise the fact that the speakers are now further out. LOL!

Really, the Arro's sound awfully nice so far... I'm delighted at the prospect that they'll continue to improve as they're broken in.

Rebbi,

Good to hear back from you. What a great move on the amplifier - I am pretty sure the Unico will be a great match for the Arros.

Mapman and others are right on with their advice about placement - when I first heard the Arros disappear into the room, they were three to four feet from the front wall and toed in a bit if I recall. before sweating further over exact placement, I would let them run for the prescribed 150 hours to allow the drivers to loosed up and provide most of what you are going to be hearing for the life of the speakers. I think added hours will provide more air around the hi end and more authority to the low end. Once they are broken in, I would add the suggested steel shot or sand to the cabinet and then move them around to get the optimal placement for imaging, bass reinforcement and WAF (sounds backwards, but you want the ballast in before determining final resting place).

As for wires - the Arro system I heard that sounded just terrific had Musical Fidelity electronics, Audioquest Diamondback interconnects and mid grade Audioquest speaker wires. This is funny because while I own Diamondbacks I do not think of them as the soundstage champs - resolution, precise instrument placement, tone and "air" yes. Soundstage breadth and depth, not terrible but not the best I have ever heard on mere mortal speakers. I think the Arros disappear so well, this was really not a problem, and they benefited from the positive virtues of the Diamondbacks. Unfortunately, these cables are no longer the bargain they were and have basically doubled in price over the last year. You might be able to find some used for under $100. I also use Audioquest Type 4 bulk speaker cables which sound really nice for $4/ft. Their sins are mostly of omission rather than coloring the sound one way or the other.

For a screaming deal on discontinued Audioquest products that should perform similar to the Diamondback and better than the Type 4 speaker wire, I would check out HCM Audio http://hcmaudio.com/hcm.asp where you can get both decent 1m interconnects and an 8ft. pair of speaker cables for under $150 total! It took a long time for my Type 4 cables to break in, but then I am running 30 ft. to each speaker(!)

There are many other wires out there that don't cost as much as your amp or speakers but will preform better than the old Monster cables - these are just a couple of modest suggestions.

Good luck and happy listening!

Knownothing,

Great to hear from you again, too! Wow, the stuff on the HCM site is really "cheap" (by the crazy standards of this hobby). ;-)

Anybody know anything about the Audioquest Coral CQ interconnects and GBC speaker cables? I really could take care of the whole system at this point for around $150!

Hey Rebbi - Nice score with the Unico - I had a feeling that would be a good match for you. Glad to hear that the Arros are working out, sound like they have a lot more breaking in to do. By the time they loosen up, you'll probably find the sweet spot (yes, away from that back wall!)- you'll be good to go.

I don't know if Kimber will work well in your system, but I just matched up some 4TC speakers cables with my old PBJs, and I really like what I hear (I went from AP Clear Ovals).