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Small Floor Standers

I'm looking to create a short list of speakers for music only. The room is 15x28 with 9' ceilings and hard surfaces, except a few padded chairs and light fabric window covers. The main listening area is 15x18 and the rest of the room is my kitchen which opens up to it.

Musically, I listen to rock, jazz, and a variety classical but no hip hop or electronic to speak of. The ideal speaker will provide smooth tonal response, good dynamics and importantly freedom from stridency which the live room will only accentuate. High SPL's and subterranean bass are not required but I don't want something that gets lost in the space. The speakers must be compact - 35" or so tall and not more than 8-12" wide and deep. I prefer floor standing designs because of the room volume and as protection against a 6 year old. My budget is around $1k used, maybe a bit higher for the right choice.

A few of my early thoughts are the smaller Spendors and Quad L series as well as Totems and Dynaudio.

The source will be a Squeezebox playing lossless digital and the amp is TBA, but will be matched to the speakers which I think should be picked first.

Any and all comments are welcome. Thanks in advance.
wdrazek
wdrazek OP
100 posts
 
Yesterday was a success. The in-walls are off the plate and the on-walls she didn't go for. Trouble is, what she liked best were a $5k pair of Martin Logan's which are not an option. The good news is a floor stander and mini are about equally desirable to her.

I wish the Kestrel's were still being sold. I only heard them once locally and really liked them but that was 5 years ago. The same shop carries Proac so I'll check those out, the Spendor's once more and choose between them, the Kestrel HR's and the long shot B&W CM4's.

And yes, Old Style is in style here - especially at the ball games and nobody beats a Chicago dog. They're the best.
veroman's avatar
veroman
291 posts
 
congrats! btw, if you can't find the hr's any longer... the K2's are still around. never heard HR personally but i believe the tweeter was upgraded on K2's. you may be able to locate a slightly used pair in your stain with a little web shopping. from 'invisible speakers' to big 'stats! just like a woman eh?;).
wdrazek OP
100 posts
 
Yeah, go figure. The ML's are semi-transparent and the most expensive pair had the shortest bass cabinet so there you have it!

Do K2's come with a grille cloth? Every pic I've seen shows raw drivers which I don't think will pass the test.
veroman's avatar
veroman
291 posts
 
yes they do. they only cover drivers on top 1/3 of speaker. they are nothing more than black grillcloth with monofilament line hemmed in around edge. they are a pain to remove and re-insert as the line strech itself is what causes them to fall into the cabinet groove that surrounds the two drivers, but they look just fine as far as that goes. in other words there is no structural rigidity and of course zero protection to drivers, not unusual in hi end gear tho. playboy mag picked them as part of a $20K dream stereo 2 yrs back so they may have a photo on line.
wdrazek OP
100 posts
 
I'll try looking but will have to wait til I get home. The firewall here will definitely ban that url.
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