Looking for non-boomy full range speakers

Beheme

I had the same problem with my room, 12' X 13'.

As Flrnlamb and Bigtee state, the room is the problem.
I had a few pairs of good full range floor standers that just didn't sound good in this room. I tried lots of things to get them to sound good, Bass traps, room treatments etc. but, in the end went for monitors on stands. I'll take the better balanced sound over boomy bass any day.
This size room will not support a full range speaker, without correction.
I also set the room up in a diag. configuration and this seems to sound the best.
There are quite a few great monitors available for $2500.00 used that you would be very happy with in your room. You could always try a sub if needed. I did try a sub in my room and it didn't work out. YMMV.
Small rooms sound the best with small speakers, large rooms, large speakers.
Hope this helps.
Rick.

In your price range you may want to consider B&W M803 Series II, or M802 Series III, and put them on sound anchor stands. You did not mention what music you listen to or your associated equipment, but my experience is these two are generally good for the price, especially the 803's at around $1,000. The silverlines should also be a good choice as mentioned above, and of course the Merlin's if you can swing the price. I will generalize and suggest in your smallish room, speakers with multiple small/mid sized drivers should do what you want better than something with one larger driver, and I would also suspect front firing bass drivers would be better, as opposed to your side-firing drivers on the AP's. Maybe also look at Taylor Lynbrook monitors on stands, and also some room treatment. just my 2 cents.

The hotel rooms at the NY Home Entertainment shows are small & many of the speakers do not boom, especially the Kharma 3.2FEs (which I own after suffering with boom from other speakers). They have extremely controlled & equally satisfying bass.

I agree with those who said to avoid true full range speakers. A small room just won't work due to the physics involved.

I suggest you invest in a subwoofer. That way you can adjust it seperately from your main speakers. You can tune it specifically for your room, so that it get the absolute most bass, but that is not boomy. (Nothing worse than boomy bass is there?! Man, I agree with you there!)

My two cents worth anyway.

PS (FYI, get a good sub though, one that allows you to really fine tune it to a specific frequency, or else you will not be satisfied with the results.)

Good Luck!

what amp you're using?