Speaker advice?

Hello all,

Thanks so much for the good advice.  I am getting a real education!  I should have explained originally that I have a shelf issue that gives me about 12 inches of depth (not including cords and cables) for amp and cd.  So this knocks out a lot besides Creek evolution 50a and Rega.

I have now eliminated the Kefs for reasons given by Al above and the Dynaudios (sigh) because of the room size.  The room is actually 9 by 11.  I will be able to place each speaker about 2 feet from the back wall and 2 feet from the side wall.  Would the Epos Élan 10 work okay in such a small room?  If so, I love the idea of an Epos - Creek pairing.  If not, I am also pretty intrigued by the Q Acoustics Concept 20, the Peachtree, and the Silverlines. The Grant Fidelity looks amazing but I am pretty confused about the clone/knock off issue?

And then there is the possibility of going all Rega: brio, apollo, rs1.

Any further insights, please advise!  I really appreciate the help.

Margot

Get yourself a pair of Spendor 3/5's,you can place them anywhere without problems.If you want to spend a little more go with the Harbeth p3's,both are outstanding with the Harbeths a little brighter and the Spendors a little laid back. You will not go wrong with these!

My room is a cramped 9x11 and I just picked up a pair of KEF LS50's running on an old Yamaha R9 receiver. They sound fantastic on cheap 24 inch stands(about 2 feet out from side wall, 3 feet out about 5-6 feet apart), can't wait till I get good stands. Having heard the Rega Brio at The Show Newport, and the amp will embarrass many efforts offered at the 2k range. I think that would be a VERY seductive and alluring match. I can't stop going through our music collection. Very cool speaker I could live with for a VERY long time.

I'd be cautious with regard to the Elan 10, Margot, for the same reason I cited with respect to the LS50. I couldn't find an impedance curve for the Elan 10, but its nominal impedance rating is 4 ohms, and impedance curves I found for some other Epos speakers show them to be a bit more difficult to drive than would be preferable with the amplifiers you are considering.

Spendor and Harbeth are certainly good names, and the Silverline Minuet has received a lot of good press. All of them should be good matches for the amplifier in terms of impedance. If your listening includes material having particularly wide dynamic range, though (i.e., large DIFFERENCES in volume between the loudest notes and the softest notes, such as classical symphonic music), I would be concerned about the ability of the Spendor S3/5se and the Harbeth P3ESR to be able to cleanly handle high volume dynamic peaks, due to their low sensitivity. I'm not saying that they won't be adequate in that respect, especially given the small room size, but that would be the main question mark associated with those speakers, IMO.

Surprisingly, given its small size, the Minuet appears to be somewhat better in that respect, and the currently produced Supreme Plus version, apparently being a bit larger than the earlier version addressed in the review, might be better still.

None of these speakers will provide much in the way of deep bass extension, of course, but you could add a subwoofer at a later time if you find it to be necessary.

I'm not familiar with the other models that have been mentioned. Re the Yamaha R9 receiver (and most other receivers), it won't fit in the space you described. Also, it is specified for a minimum recommended load of 6 ohms.

Good luck in your search. Regards,
-- Al

Both the Siverline and the RS1 are good enough to make music for many years if one stays rational and avoids upgradeitis.
RS1 is a bit more dynamic and dead nuetral on acoustic music,Minuet a tad more of a "rocker" pehaps.
I've owned both, still have RS1's in my bedroom, at least for the jazz and classical I listen to your idea of an all Rega System seems dead brillant to me.