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

We have to agree with YZ the speakers need to be in front of you. 

When we have had a similar room setup we find it disconcerting to have the sound source be coming from  behind the listener 

The brain wants to be organized with the body's orientation you are facing opposite the sounds direction that will be disorienting over the long term.

Your best bet placing speakers in front of you or getting a set of small speakers you can use on the desk.

 

Dave and Troy

Audio intellect NJ

@audiotroy I think you mean that you DISAGREE with me about the speakers being behind. Coming from you I take that comment with some interest since you are rather knowledgeable about audio.

From my perspective my brain is not messed up with the unobstructed sound from behind me. I am totally messed up with sound on my desk or obstructed by monitors. It sounds awful that way.

Maybe I am a freak. Rick James style.

 

 

Is a single Curved Monitor a possibility, i.e. sound not blocked by 2nd monitor on right side. Is it technically up to what you need? 34", but curved, so only 32" wide centered between the speakers?

Samsung CJ791 34" 21:9 Curved FreeSync VA Monitor

There must be others, just a quickie find. 4K resolution models exist also.

Pedestal Base allows passage of sound

 

 

34WQ60C-B

34" Curved UltraWide™ QHD IPS HDR 10 Monitor with Dual Controller & OnScreen Control

 

 

Hi Everyone,

There are some excellent suggestions. I appreciate your time, especially @elliottbnewcombjr @yyzsantabarbara @audiotroy @akg_ca @yogiboy @grislybutter @ghdprentice 

Because of the challenges with layout, I am going to create two separate setups in my office:

A. Near distance long term listening: Speakers will go on my desk. I will likely get a bigger display to replace the two displays on my desk.

B. For easy listening: This setup will go to the back of my room and I will use it when I am relaxing in the recliner in my office.

Both setups will run on Roon. So I can easily play and switch between them.

I want to start by finalizing setup A. Once I am happy with the near listening setup A, I will start working on the setup B.

Based on multiple reviews, I have finalized Harbeth P3ESR XD for the setup A. What is your recommendations for the integrated amps for these speakers. Current contenders are:

Naim Uniti Atom/Nova

Hegel H120

Thanks and once again I appreciate your help a lot!

A bit late to the party here, but I would like to share my workplace setup. I too had to deal with limited space but so far this setup gave me much enjoyment.

Cabasse Baltic Evolution driven by Audio Note Cobra with built in DAC. The coaxial nature of these speakers make their near field experience excellent. Beautiful speakers for female vocal and classical, more musical compared to Diablo Utopia imo. Other excellent options I have heard were Yamaha NS3000 and Raidho X1T. The Harbeth you have shortlisted is excellent as well.