Recommendations to a small room setup


Hello everyone,

Im setting up a system in my apartment this coming fall and just wanted some extra input from those much more knowledgable in this field than I am.

My living room is fairly small (~200sqft) so I am looking for speakers for this size.

I have looked at Dynaudio Excite X12s, Magnepan MMGs, Dali Zensor 3s, etc. But honestly, they all seem pretty good to me.

I was suggested against the NAD C165BEE and NAD C275BEE setup for any small speaker setup (maybe except for the MMGs), so I would love some input on electronics setup as well. What do you guys think about the Marantz SR7009??

Finally, I will be mainly listening to alot of pop, indie, ballad, jazz, blues, acoustics, and EDM. Also, I hope to have the speakers and electronics I purchase to be pretty decent when watching movies/TV shows.

Thank you!
davidthepark
REGA BRIO integrated amp driving REGA RS1 \ R1s ...... highly recommended

REGA RS1s or their immediate predecessor R1s, are designed to work up against the wall or actually mounted on the wall with their own brackets

http://www.stereotimes.com/speak121305.shtml

:.....Immediate impressions are a clear and transparent portrayal with very high detail retrieval, fast and controlled transient response, and superb musical timing, both in articulating rhythms and tempi, and in placing instruments within the temporal flow and context of the performance. The RR125 is an outstanding mid/bass driver, sonically and musically right in line with the midrange performance of Rega’s amplifiers and phono cartridges. Get the midrange right and everything else will fall into place. Get it wrong, and all the king’s horses…

The Rega R1 becomes my new budget reference speaker. In addition of its ability to get the fundamentals of music right, it adds clarity and resolution, and an ability to lay out a vivid and coherent 3-dimensional stereo image. In small room applications, what more could you want?...."
All the speakers you mentioned are very good. I was very happy with the MMG in a small room with 100W/CH. I have avoided NAD due to quality problems a few years ago, but it sounds great for the money and maybe the new generation is problem free. I was surprised how good the MMG sounded in a room smaller than yours.
I haven't heard the Maggie MMGs. Would they really be a good choice for EDM music and watching TV? I would have thought dynamic speakers would make more sense for that application.

05-27-15: Lowrider57
...The NAD C 356BEE integrated is a better choice for your situation. (80 wpc and stable into 4 ohms).
That's really what I was getting at as well. My next door neighbor's 10-yr-old Cambridge Audio 640 integrated amp gave up the ghost in a power failure surge. He asked me for a recommendation and we went for the C 356 BEE.

I installed it in his audio rack and then spun some CDs to check it out (we also got a matching NAD CD player for it). He was upstairs in his office when I put in the first CD. Immediately he came running downstairs to hear it because the sound was so much more open and dimensional than what he'd had before. The NAD BEE series truly gives you more than a taste of high end. The C 356 and C 375 sound particularly good, controlled, and 3-dimensional.
Your taste for EDM might limit your choices, if it's really a significant part of your musical diet. The MMGs are an excellent speaker for that space, but probably less than optimal for music that relies upon bass impact in the sub 60 hz region. Bass heavy music in a smallish space is always a challenge, IME, and you might think about a small sub with Audyssey (or similar) EQ capabilities to fill out the rest of your system choices.

Just MHO.