new small room, big change

Goatwuss,

I agree with you assessment of Dynaudio speakers in general.

However, the Dynaudio Contour 1.3 specifically are small monitor style speakers that I have found to fit and work well in smaller rooms. I acquired them specifically for application in my smaller listening rooms. They do require a lot of power still though to sound best as you say.

In larger rooms, they still sound good, but do not have the lifelike dynamics and satisfying low end needed to compete with other speakers I have heard that are better suited to larger rooms.

If you decide that you do want a speaker smaller then the Spendors then look at B&W 805s. I have the original ones which are very good, The newer ones are exceptional and look great.

Definitely try a pair of Harbeth SHL5s. There's a pair for sale in the $3K range that you could easily turn around and re-sell quickly for about the same price (they don't last long on the used market). I own a pair.

Agreed that woofer size is irrelevant. I have a pair of Totem Arros... their footprint is 5 inches wide and 7 inches deep (!) with a 4.5" mid/woofer and they produce bass notes like nobody's business. It's all in the engineering. :-)

Hello Everyone...thanks for the great response. I wanted to post this question here on the forums because I am new to such a small listening space and it certainly has changed my perspective.

So many have responded that I am going to make a few general responses:

1. I like the Spendor sound and know it well. I am hoping to get a little more resolution...basically looking for a little change.

2. Speaker size was listed out of a simple belief that larger woofers (ala my S8e's that didn't work in the room) are too much because they produce too large of a wave for my smallish room. The S3e's that are working well have a 5.5" woofer and that seems to be max! Now I am not a speaker designer and I may be way off base, but I felt giving a 6" or smaller parameter allows suggestions of either a small bookshelf speaker or a small floor stander. Perhaps it has mor to do with cone material, cabinet design and magnet size...I just wanted to give a small parameter.

3. While I like Totem, I am looking for a little more resolution gain...I am very familiar with the Forest and Hawk models and I chose my S8e's over them. Good speaker, just not my cup of tea. Harbeth is a very good speaker but again not really my thing...darker sounding than I like. Dynaudio is a good call...I am concerned about their SPL being too high for my room...some above suggest this to also be the case. Otherwise I would love to try them out...I may anyways! Other suggestions are interesting as well.

Thanks Guys for your thoughts...Again I want to encourage any thoughts...especially from those of you with similar room experience...I also thought to go towards the high efficiency crowd ala Coincident...just a thought.

Chad