What is the best audiophile speaker for a tiny square room?


I currently have Soundlabs M545 electrostatic speakers in my 9 x 11ft room. They are great speakers particularly for this small room because they are more directional than box speakers and therefore decrease sidewall reflections. However, like other electrostatics, they are hard to drive and require big amps (>200W), which tend to generate a lot of heat. Class Ds don't go well with ES speakers. Are there great easy to drive speakers that would work well in this room without compromising SQ?
128x128chungjh
You're going to be hard pressed to beat the Soundlabs. Are you sure you shouldn't be looking for cool-running non-class D amps instead?
I’ll have to object to your blanket assertion. Class D goes swell with MY ESL’s. Better than the last three AB’s.
The problem is that a class D amp behaves as a voltage source and this does not work well on most ESLs. The reason is that a full range ESL like the Sound Lab has a variable impedance curve that varies by nearly 10:1 from the bass peak to 20KHz. But this is not due to a driver in a box as everyone here knows- its due to being a capacitive load. What this means is unlike a driver in a box where the impedance curve is a map of how efficient the speaker is at various frequencies, the impedance curve of an ESL really has nothing to do with its efficiency. Put another way, to make 90dB of sound pressure at 60Hz you need the same amount of power as you do at 5KHz, despite the impedances being quite different at those frequencies.

This is fundamentally unlike box speakers. So if an amplifier can double power from 16 ohms to 8, from 8 ohms to 4 and from 4 ohms to 2 (and most solid state amps including class D can do this if they are not at full power) you can see that its going to be making too much power at high frequencies, so it will sound bright. Now the Sound Lab has controls (unlike most ESLs) that allow for a bit of compensation- you can turn down the Brilliance control, and set the bass jumpers for +3 or +6dB and that helps compensate for this problem. What is needed is an amplifier that can make constant power regardless of load impedance rather than constant voltage. Martin Logan and a few others get around this problem by setting the bass impedance quite low- 4 ohms is typical and thus the 20KHz impedance might by only 1/2 ohm. This causes the speaker cables to be a significant series resistance and the amp itself to have troubles making power at these frequencies (but IMO/IME they still tend to sound a bit bright).


But Sound Labs have a 30 ohm impedance in the bass, and simply put, most solid state amps don't make much power into such an impedance. For example a solid state amp that can make 600 watts into 8 ohms makes slightly more than 150 watts into 30 ohms, and this is where the majority of the energy of the musical signal is concentrated. For this reason, a tube amp of only 150 watts can easily keep up with a solid state amp of 600 watts on this speaker!

Atmasphere, I know your amps are very popular with Soundlabs and your explanation makes a lot of sense. How does class A fit into the sound quality equation for AS amps? Some people say for tubes, class A doesn't make that much difference- the way it does in SS amps. What do you think?

How does class A fit into the sound quality equation for AS amps? Some people say for tubes, class A doesn't make that much difference- the way it does in SS amps. What do you think?
Class A in a push-pull amp is nice because it helps reduce distortion at all power levels. This is about the operating point of the output device- the class A point being where distortion of the that device is at a minimum from zero to full power. It is audible in a tube amp- make no mistake!
I would love to have a pair of the Tannoy Autograph mini speakers just because they are affordable Tannoys and love the retro look.
@chungjh Great that you got panels coming your way. It will open up a world of possibilities for your speaker selection.

I chose the Thiel CS3.7 because I always wanted it. It was my second favorite all-time speaker and a local sale came up, so I went and picked it up. I would be reluctant to buy a used unit that needed shipping. The original packaging is now old.

The Thiel CS3.7 has a bit less bass than the speaker i was expecting to the get for this small room, the Yamaha NS5000. Both speakers sound best in a larger space but the sound I have now is very good. I think once I get the DRC implemented I will have excellent sound. I may have to spend another $1000 to fix my driver issues (with OEM drivers) but this speaker will be my, "to the grave office speaker", so I want it perfect.

Some other floor standing speakers that I demoed and now know they would fit my room were:

Vivid Kaya 45
Paradigm Persona 3F
Magico A3
TAD ME-1 (not floor stander)
Yamaha NS5000

BTW - I started measuring my room with a Minidsp mic and the REW software running on my Windows laptop. A lot of great info can be gained especially for folks like us in small rooms. This was how I discovered a problem with my driver though I cannot hear it.