Which speakers would be a good upgrade in a small

Hi Daveyf,

What's the purpose of the upgrade ? Is it to add the base that you mentioned is lacking, or to improve the imaging ?

My listening room is about 10x12, maybe a little smaller, and I recently added a Rel strata 3 to my spica angelus (the spicas also image nicely at their price point, and have very tight, but rather thin bass, especially when well away from the rear wall). With a small room I was concerned about booming bass, but I have been very pleased with the results. It has also given me complete flexibility in placement of the spica's since I'm not relying on them to produce the bass .... I think that this is very important in small rooms, where putting the speakers near to walls is particularly damaging to the imaging. Just FYI I have the upper roll off on the REL set to 28Hz.

So if you just want to add bass weight then I can recommend the REL ... works great in my small room, no boom, just great depth. I used to think a small room meant the death of good sound (esp bass), but I'm really happy with my current setup. I don't like the music to sound thin, but I could never trade imaging and mid-range for good bass.

Perhaps you could clarify what improvements you seek in the upgrade.

One of my rooms is small with high ceilings and the ceiling height is the real culprit and I tried many but settled on the Martin Logan Aerius because it is tall and presents a good soundatage in regards to the ceiling height. My friend has a pair of Piega 5's which are very very good in a room like that but they are expensive.

Daveyf, you have made some really good choices with your existing components... if you want to treat yourself to something really special in terms of new speakers, I would highly recommend that you contact Mike McCall at Shamrock Audio.. His Eire loudspeaker is outstanding and the whole buying process from picking out veneers to Mike explaining the speaker design is a first rate experience and education.

More specifically,

The Shamrock Audio Eires are extremely balanced throughout their operating range (38-Hz-20kHz).. they use two excellent ScanSpeak drivers..beautiful construction, including solid wood front baffles and high quality veneers...they have been favorably compared to speakers such as the Sonus Faber Electa Amators... you get a 30-day money back guarantee if not fully satisfied.. I have successfully used them with various amplifiers both tube and solid-state on different types of music (jazz, chamber, rock, folk, opera). In my system the Eires are the least expensive component but the most cherished. I use them in a small-medium sized room without needing a subwoofer..I have had them for two years and have been completely satisfied. The Eires are not inexpensive ($3000-$4000 depending on the veneers you request) but I really feel that I got what I paid for and that I wasn't paying extra for advertising and hype.

There are audition sites around the US..you can contact Shamrock Audio to see if there is one near you... in fact, if you have any interest at all just call Mike and talk to him...good luck