Which monitors for my tube system in a large room?


Hi guys,

I was completely happy with my system---Devore Nines, Leben CS300XS---when I got blindsided by a new apartment and a new baby. Between those two life-changing factors, my space and time to listen to the system have shrunk. In this apartment the rig has to live in the living/dining room, which means the Nines are suddenly Too Big---not purely WAF, I also concede that they are looming weirdly over my shoulder when I'm eating dinner a few feet away.

Luckily, I can keep them---I will move them across town to the studio where I work, which from now on will be my serious private listening space, and where I'll build a new system around them (the fun silver lining.)

At home I don't want to give up having a serious setup, even if it will have to be used more for background-listening. My plan is to keep the Leben, which I love, and get some bookshelf speakers with stands, which won't be as imposing as the Nines. Obviously there will be a sacrifice in bass and so on, but maybe I'll have fun and discover the joys of smaller monitors!

They will need to work well with the 15w Leben, and the ability to play well from corners is a plus. They will be positioned on the short wall of an 18x21' room with 8' ceilings. I won't be listening very loud in the home setup, and at least for a few years probably won't be up late doing serious solo listening. I just want musicality and listenability.

To that end, been thinking about small models from Omega, Spendor, Coincident, Proac, Usher. I live in NYC and can demo some of these, others not.

Any advice?

Thanks so much in advance for your ruminations!
price
You should listen to the MG-20's. Esoteric. small foot print and with the two 6" woofers the bass doesn't get the room excited. Great bass just with no exaggeration.

Check out the reviews to get a better idea of their sound.

dealer disclaimer.
How do you get blindsided by a new baby? With a little one in the house I would be more comfortable with a small footprint but heavy floor stander than a top heavy monitor. Perhaps you can fasten the stands to the ground?
Thanks guys. I should definitely give the 3 XLs a listen, I don't know why it never occurred to me.

I should say that there are a lot of great small speakers out there; my main concern is their capability as compared to the room and the low-power amp. I should say that the room is actually more like 18x25', as it opens into a kitchen, and it has three more large openings into other areas (5 foot wide each). So I'm looking for a speaker that punches above its weight and is still a very small item.
Bjesien: It's more that the baby completely scrambled my habits. Somehow I had envisioned me rocking the little one to sleep while listening to music, but that was naive. Suddenly my schedule is totally upside down. Also, the 'family room' got a lot more chaotic; with two people I could still get away with just sitting in the room listening to something with total attention, but now... It's just not what our home is about any more. Luckily I have somewhere else to take that hobby.
You should check out the Monitor Audio series as well...either the GS10 or PL100.