15k USD Speakers for Classical and Pop Extended Listening, Near setup, Low volume


Dear Audiophiles,

I am looking for some speakers for my home office. Speakers would be place 6ft from me on either side of my desk. Speakers will be 8 ft apart.

I love classical music and pop. I am looking for speakers for extended listening at not very high volume. They should be warm and non fatiguing.

I am currently considering following speakers:

1. Monitor Audio Gold 300

2. ATC SCM40

3. Kef R7 Meta

Do you have any other suggestions. Thanks and appreciate your help!

ilikeclassical

@yyzsantabarbara - putting speakers behind is an excellent suggestion. Does it feel normal for the sound to come from the back.

Which dac/amp do you suggest with the Magnepans. I use Roon for streaming.

My friend Danny who knows more about audio that I ever will recently came over to listen to my other system. He listened to my office system too. He was blown away by the LRS+ and said why would you need anything else in a small room such as mine.

Listening skills (my friend who critiqued the LRS+)

Given the space the LRS+ is a great choice. Listening to the speaker behind me has never been an issue. The room is so small and filled with music. Imaging, soundstage, details, are all as expected if facing the speaker.

The LRS+ is the best sounding speaker I have had in this room. Not saying it is the best speaker I have had in the room, but the best sounding when the room interactions are taken into account. I think the LRS+ is easier to place and that soundstage is huge and deep.

Here are the amps that I used with the LRS+ and were good to phenominal.

  • PeachTree GAN400 (400 watts Class D GAN, $1000 used) GOOD
  • Sanders MagTech (Magnepan + Tech, Class AB 500 | 9000 watts @ 8 |4) GREAT
  • CODA #16 (mostly Class A (100 watts). 150 | 300 | 600) Phenominal

I also use ROON. Mitch Barnett at Accurate Sound will make almost ANY speaker sound good in your space. So that can be a safety net for you. His solution is configured remotely (with measurements by you) and works great on ROON. I do not use this anymore, but it can make a bad audio situation great.

I use a Schitt Yggi+ Less Is More DAC at around $2400). I love this DAC and it replaced my Lumin X1. Though I neeed a streamer for the Yggi+. The Lumin X1 streamer is amazing. I also use fibre optic with the Ygg+ and previously with the Lumin X1 (easier with this one).

If you are interested in a MagTech amp. I would be interested in selling it since I plan on using my CODA #16 permanently with the LRS+ and I am almost sure to be getting the latest CODA SYSTEM 150 for my Livingroon system, where the Sanders now resides. I want Class A over AB for the NS5000 speaker.

BTW - prior speaker that are also very good in my office was the KEF LS50 Meta with the KC62 sub. Do not put a floorstander in a small room. It can work well but you can get great with a speaker with less volume. The LRS+ sounds much bigger.

@yyzsantabarbara My room is around 13.5'x21'. Layout is as shown on this image 

 

Coda looks interesting. Are you based out of Canada and which dealer carries it?

Thanks

I am from Toronto (yyz) but now live in Santa Barbara, CA. There is a great CODA dealer out of Winnipeg I forgot the guy’s name. Doug at Coda can give you the dealer info for Canada.

Your room is much better than mine for audio. Whatever, you put in there can be made to sound great. Even a floor stander would work in that space. If you are in Toronto, go to Kennedy HiFi and listen to the Yamaha NS3000 monitor. I have the NS5000 speaker in the Livingroom and it is much better than the LRS+. I love the LRS+ in the office but the NS5000 in the bigger space is something else. My friend Danny was raving about the NS5000. My intention was to get the Yamaha NS3000 monitor from Canada (not sold in USA) and use with the KEF KC62 sub. However, the LRS+ made that moot. Do not let the Yamaha name fool you, this is Magico, Vivid, et al level audio genius.

The Sanders amp was built by CODA long ago on Sanders specs. I like it more that the CODA #8 amp (splitting hairs). The #8 would work great with any speaker. The new CODA S5.5 I do not think would be ideal for the LRS+. Would be amazing with the NS3000.