High end bookshelf speakers for Small room

Do yourself a favor, and give these speakers a chance -- Watkins Generation 4, the recipient of The Absolute Sound’s 2017 Golden Ear Award and their 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019,& 2018 Editors’ Choice Awards. The late William "Bill" Watkins (and now his son, Bill, Jr.), have been manufacturing amazing speakers in my hometown of Kingsport, TN, since the early 1970’s. There have been several Audiogon posts over the years where individuals have found a pair of Watkins Stereo legendary WS-1’s, WS-1E’s and WE-1’s and are inquiring about what they’ve found. I spent MANY a weekend in the 1970’s sitting in a hazy party basement listening to Rainbow, Genesis, Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Robin Trower, Rush, and other excellent "stoner" bands through Watkins Stereo speakers. Finding a pair of those speakers is a Holy Grail search for me now. Mr. Watkins became well known when his woofer design was purchased by Infinity. From their website:

"Owners of several U.S. patents on loudspeakers, we designed the Infinity-Watkins Dual Drive Woofers, renowned for their ability to reproduce low bass. You can read about the inclusion of our Watkins Dual Drive Woofer in the Infinity Reference Speakers series on David’s Audio website. We also built the first room absorbers (Echo-Muffs) to be rated a breakthrough by Stereophile Magazine."

The Gen 4 speakers have gotten rave reviews and in my opinion, they outperform any bookshelf speaker I’ve heard in the sub-$10,000 price range. At $3,000 a pair, you will be amazed. I’ve heard them go toe to toe against Sonus Faber Amator II’s, Concertino’s, Nova 1’s, and Amator III’s, and the Gen 4 is right there with them -- I like the Gen 4’s bass better, actually. Available factory direct at $2,995.00 a pair with a risk free 30 day return privilege (terms apply).

I’m not affiliated with Watkins Stereo in any form or fashion -- I just enjoy seeing a business that I’ve known for almost 50 years continue to thrive in little old Upper East Tennessee. As an added bonus, the cabinet woodworking is beautiful. The Cherry and Walnut are my favorite, but I’ve seen an Alder and Maple pair that were freaking striking.

Here are upgrades that have been made to the original design:

https://www.watkinsaudio.com/latest-product-updates

Though I doubt anyone will take this seriously, I recommend the Vandersteen VLR's. Simple design, but outstanding performance.

Bob

@gdnrbob most people don't take anybody seriously here but themselves. It's a miracle when they read the post and react to that and not to their own feelings about the day or their spending that they want to brag about.

Falcon Acoustic Gold Badge

Due to hurricane Ian in 2022, I had to move into a condo while rebuilding our home.  I started with LS50 metas and they were so thin and lacking in bass.  I moved on to Fyne F501-SPs which were much better than the Kefs.  I then moved up to Fischer & Fischer SN70s which cost double the Fyne' and sound 4x as good.  Lastly upgraded to TAD ME1's and they blew me away with their imaging and musicality.  They just sound right.  I'd love to audition the Marten's and Kaya 12s to compare.  I don't think you can go wrong with the ME1s.  Good luck !