Speakers for a 12 x 13 room

I'll toss the Spendor SP 1/2E's into the mix. I used them in a room about the same size as yours and I can tell you that the bass was never boomy. They go down to about 40 Hz. Midrange and treble are very natural on this speaker. The reason I gave up on these excellent speaker is that I wanted full bass extension (I listen to full orchestra a lot and want a full bottom end for more realism) and was never able to get a sub to mate well with the Spendors. I curently have Vandersteen 3A Sigs which are fantastic even in such a small room.

Dodgealum made some good points. The Harbeth P3ESR is one little gem that sounds very good and will work well in that space. The C7ES3 will also work but will sound better if given more room to breath. Both will pose little(or none) bass problems in the room.

Bass traps are your friend. Check out the GIK site. My room is 12x15 and my speakers (SP Tech Timepiece 3.0) go down to 30hz. They provide all the bass I need and it's not boomy at all. I see lots of wonderful expensive systems here but seldom see the right (if any) room treatment. It makes a difference folks!

Thanks all. I have an array of bass traps that would make Ethan Winer of Real Traps proud. The room was designed using an array of software solutions. I have bass traps all over the place per my original post.

Duke, you hot the nail right on the head. I do plan on using two subs that are eq'd after using ETF software to tune the optimal Q and attenuation settings to give me a nice smooth response. The fact that we share a similar line of thinking makes me very interested in your products.

The pre/pro idea, respectfully, will not work.

I'm off to hear the Compact 7 and P3ES tomorrow. Hopefully the dealer will have Monitor 30's for comparison sake as well.

I'm also going to listen to the Reynaud Bliss from my old friend Bob Neill who has always given me sage advice in the past.

I tell ya, buying new really gets a bad rap. Buying used is great, but I never felt comfortable using dealers time and not buying something from them. Buying new allows me to compare and know that I have heard it all. Never having to second guess your choices is priceless.

In that small of a room, you have far more things to consider than just bass nodes:

1. You'll need more acoustic treatments than just bass traps. Consider some serious absorption behind your listening position, and at the first reflection points on the side walls. In a small room, diffusion doesn't cut it.

2. Your speakers need to sound best near-field and on-axis. Off-axis response can be considered either irrelevant or detrimental. It really depends on how well your room is treated.

3. Your speakers (and your associated equipment) need to be able to resolve at very low volumes. Some speakers (and amps) sound best when "the juice gets flowing". In a small room, you'll want your system to sound great with just a drip.

4. Duke nailed it on the head regarding multiple subs in a small room. Two small subs may seem like overkill - it's not.

As you can probably guess, I've gone through this process before. Check out my system to see my equipment choices.