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Small Office - Wilson vs B&W vs Kef

All hail the collective knowledge of Audiogon  - last time you talked me out of wasting money on upgrading my ceiling speakers (I ended up just buying a Sonos:Amp to power what I already had up there and called it a day).
So now with all of that money saved, I'm toying with the idea of replacing the stereo in my office. I won't even say what I have now (If it ain't got no highs... and it ain't got no lows...). Yeah, you get the gist.
The office is about 11' x 12' - I think this limits the size of the speakers that I'd like to put in there since I won't be sitting very far from the speakers.
Some contenders that I've been toying with:
  • B&W 805 D3
  • Kef Reference 1
  • Wilson Watt/Puppy
Amp is TBD, but I find those blue meters to be strangely attractive...
Thoughts on the selection? Any of these "too big" for my confined space?
Thanks!
eisenb11
audiorusty
287 posts
 
My room is slightly larger than yours at 10' x 14'.

When I was demoing speakers I listened to

Vandersteens 2ce Signatures
Focal Sopra's
Spendor A1's
B&W 805 D3's
Wilson Tune Tot's

I ended up with the Tune Tots. I felt that the Tune Tots had the superior highs. Low end was not a consideration since the plan was to pair anything I bought with subs. 
eisenb11 OP
33 posts
 
OMG.
So my new speakers just came in. Until now, I was running a Bose Lifestyle Acoustimass 5 system that I bought in the mid 90s for $2k. I know we like to knock Bose, but it was a decent for a little system with huge WAF.

I was originally leaning towards the Kef Reference 1 for the 3-way action, but in the end I decided it was a little too physically big for the space. Ended up going with the B&W 805D3 in piano black with the matching stands - love the way it looks too.
Holy moly, what an upgrade. Bigger sound stage. Highs. And Lows. And  Mids! Dang. I feel like I'm sitting in the middle of a private concert.

... and what's funny is that I'm powering it with a 100 wpc Harmon Kardon amp that I had sitting in a closet. Also I didn't realize I had only ordered one cable (thought I got 2 for that price) so one speaker is bi-wired with some good cable and the other speaker is bridged and using some el-cheapo thin Monster speaker wire that I found in a box in the garage (at least I didn't use the Bose cables, ha ha). The other cable should come this week sometime.

Curious, how big the difference will be when I eventually replace the Harmon with some blue watt meters. What are your thoughts on that... 200W... or 300W? Would 300W be a total waste because the speakers are rated for 50W-120W @ 8 Ohm per the specs.
soix
9,811 posts
 
Congrats on the new speaks, and glad you’re enjoying them!  Don’t know your personal tastes and what specifically you’d like to improve upon, but if it’s me I’d take a hard look at a used Hegel H300 that has plenty of juice and will likely blow away your HK in every way.  And it has a decent onboard DAC you may be able to make use of as well.  Also, if you can pull the 805s a foot or so further out from the wall, even if it’s just temporary for more critical listening, I think they’ll reward you with even better imaging/soundstage.  Hope this helps, and best of luck. 
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