2. speakers
  3. 142271-14697

Higher Efficiency Speakers

I am going to start my quest for speakers. My room is 13.5x13.5 but open on two sides... so not an ideal space. But never the less this is what I have to deal with.  I have a set of Vandersteen 2ce Sig ii but would like to upgrade. Was thinking about something horn. But seems when you go that route it gets way out of my price range.  Thought maybe look around for some Used Vandersteen Quattro CT but budget starts to stretch at that point. Like to stay under $10,000. What would be good speakers to look for to demo? If my room was alittle bigger.  I’d almost go the other way, and look at Small Maggie’s and Monostrap my amps.
System
Atma-sphere M60
Atma-sphere UV-1 ( Probably the most Modded. Will be at the end of the month. Lol) 
Bel Canto Dac

128x128pstores
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,373 posts
 
How about one of the Klipsch speakers?
teajay
1,689 posts
 
Hey pstores,

Take a look at the thread entitled, "if you love SET ampilifiers, boy to I have a speaker for you".  The NSMT Model 50, which is way under your budget, is terrific for the reasons stated on that thread.  
rodman99999
6,121 posts
 
Being open on two sides, rather than a square(13.5 X 13.5), is an acoustic benefit. I used Maggies(SMGa/MG12/1.7i), for decades, in an actively bi-amped systems, with tubes on top. Recently, I purchased a pair of Emerald Physics’ systems, and won’t be looking back. Much more efficient, with wonderful imaging, immediacy and tonality. The other choice/option was finding SS main amps(more juice), that could match the transparency and sound stage depth(etc), that my modded Cary’s provide. That would have been too expensive. Make it easier, on your excellent electronics. Then again everyone doesn’t enjoy pretending they’re at the original recording venue and attendant SPLs(I like to feel the music).
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
With that small of a space you might want to make sure whatever you get will work well close to the wall behind. That eliminates anything that fires or ports to the rear. So no dipoles or rear ported.

Larsen supposedly makes a speaker or two intended to be close to the wall. A number of friends heard them last year at a show and they were the highlight (Capital Audio Fest). I normally wouldn't mention something like this, but when ten people rave about the same item at a show, that's pretty interesting and rare. I've never heard them, but could be worth looking into. 

There's a used pair of Vandy 5 from a legit seller listed here for $4k, pretty tunable for the room and very good speaker overall. Visuals on the pair aren't ideal, so buy 'em and dim the lights ;-)  Cheers,
Spencer
More to discover