Speakers for a small room

Looking for standmount speakers to use with a Roksan Kandy in a 4m x 3m room. All types of music.
Going to listen to the Reaga RS1 at £390.
There then seems to be a big gap to £ 800 speakers from the likes of Proac or Dynaudio.

Will this extra expenditure be worthwhile or am I missing contenders for £600?
I am getting frustrated looking and wondering whether my search will prove fruitless and I will have to consider compact floorstanders instead.
Any advice greatfully received.
Best wishes
Paul

 

take a look at the little quads and spendors ....

though theres no substitute for big speakers to make the best sound ..even in small rooms

 

Thanks for the reply. The quads have got mixed reviews and I have herad that they can be difficult to position. The room is already difficult enough to place speakers in so I had discounted the Quads for this reason. The ATC11 is another I considered, apparently needs to be played quite loud and it is not very efficient.
Thanks for the advice about the Spendors I will consider those. What about the small PMC's?

 

the atc's do need a lot of driving power, if proper amplified they can perform at low volume, but yes to get the best out of them is to play them loud, the pmc's are a very good speaker at all levels,
nando.

 

Thanks for the reply confirmed what I thought about the ATC , shame really thay are highly thought of otherwise.

Anybody actually heard the Rega RS1 they seem good value at £400 but would I notice a big difference if I moved up the PMC?
Cheers
Paul

 

Heco 300/301

 

Quadral Argentum 03.1 / Crafty Beluga are my advices.

 

Nice to see another Evertonian on these pages!

A friend has some small Elac standmounts which have nice ribbon tweeters, they sounded a bit harsh with his Naim kit but might sound more neutral with the Roksan amp.

Good luck!

 

Hi Evertonian, not to toot my own horn or anything these will give you the kind of surprising performance your after from the smaller Proacs or Dynaudio.
If they are suitable for your domestic situation im not so sure, and of course i maybe be way off track because your amp will need to be swapped for a preamp.
They work well in a small room, sounding like a much bigger speaker.

Cheers J.

 

Hi Paul

There does seem to be a bit of a gap in the market. Most standmounts stop around £400 and then continue from around £800, which is a shame, as I think it would be a popular price point.

Afetr many demos, we do feel that as good as the SCM11's are (probably the best below £1k), they do need to be driven properly, as Nando states. We find that most amps under £1k just don't do the job properly. How about trying the SCM7? Although they're just as hard to drive, they produce less bass, which is where they're least efficient. Definitely worth a try, especially as they're in the sort of price point that's in question here.

Nando also mentions the PMC's are good at low volume. This is true, and I find them one of the most liveliest small speakers around this price point, probably second to the ProAc Tablettes.

Also worth a mention is the Neat Motive 3's and KEF XQ10's. You could try the Excite X12's, but I think they'd be a little too warm for the Roksan, and like ATC, require higher than average control by the amplifier.

Personally, I'd stick with standmounts, as these are going to be better suited to smaller rooms. Most floorstanders are trying to swamp you with bass. The only floorstanders I'd try would be the Rega RS3's - at least you have the option of firing the bass drivers in or out to suit your room.

Regards
David

 

Even if it stretches your budget a little you may want to consider the "Made in China" Swans M1. I have no idea about distributors in the UK though. Of note, you pay considerably less for sonically identical but less sophisticated finishes of the M1.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_3/swans-m1-speakers-8-2003.html

I will have next week a listening session with Swans M1 and the (probably) even better M3 speakers.

 

Rega are fine and would fit close to wall
Another alternative with quite a different sound is the (now on sale) Leema Xero - ubelieveable small very exiting performance, surely vs Tablettes.
Also look for Epos, great budget speakers, so are Naim nSats but quite special (love or hate) as are Royds 7L