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Small Room, Move Often, Speaker Suggestions.

Hello out there:

My job requires that I move often, and therefor, my listening room is usually small with little or no opportunity for treatment. I am considering the purchase of small monitors that will hopefully be more "room friendly" than my current floor standers.

The speakers will be powered with a LFD Mistral SE Amp (warm and tube like, 80 WPC), and AP Oval Nine cables.

My first thoughts are Tyler-Linbrook Monitors, Talon Audio Khites, Spendor S3/5 Monitors, small Sonus Fabers, etc.

Any thoughts, suggestions, and especially experience with the listed speakers will be greatly appreciated.

Best regards, Dave.
consttraveler
jg47
24 posts
 
Totem model 1.The're tiny,they play every kind of music well,and can really pound out the bass if you like.
finao1
15 posts
 
I'm having very good luck in a small 12x12x9 room using the Spendor S3/5. I was previously using the excellent Martin Logan Aerius i but wanted to find a small speaker that didn't make me feel like I was taking a step backwards in sound quality. The Spendors are doing great on 26" Sanus ultima stands. I'm driving them with a 300b (Cary 300sei) 11 watt integrated amp. Since the Spendors are sealed boxes, the low frequencies fall off at a gentle rate and extend flat to 40 hz with room reinforcement. I have never been able to achive this when auditioning bass reflex ported high quality monitors. The S3/5 are easy to drive and have steadily improved over the first month of ownership. You can get away with small watts if 1. you have a small room, and 2. you do not listen at high sbl levels (80db is loud in my room). Your 80 watt per channel amp should prove terrific.
danheather
108 posts
 
More info would be helpful.

What's your source?

What are your musical tastes?

Will this be a music-only setup?

What is your budget? There's a pretty big price difference between the Khites and the S3/5s
creeper
251 posts
 
Mirage MRM-1 Reference Monitors. Great in small listening rooms. For moving convenience, they come in their own little wooden crates.
stevegolf1
38 posts
 
I second jg41's recommendation for the Totem Arro's, and compared to the other speakers in your list, you could save significant dough. They're somewhat on the lean side of reality, but I would think that they'd be a perfect match for your Mistral. I'm using a Linn Classik and the Linn is a tad thin and dry in the midrange, so I'm looking for some speaker cables to fatten things up a bit (I'm using Linn cables right now).

What the Arro's do spectacularly well is in the area of detail, imaging and soundstaging. It's the first time I've experienced the soundstage extending dramatically to the left and right of the speakers, and the depth is great.

No, they don't come up to the absolute standard of my Pro Ac Response 3.5's, but they come closer in sound quality than any speaker one seventh the price has a right to.

For what it's worth, they're also highly recommended by Harry Pearson.

Good luck!
Steve
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