Krasdale

New Member
I'm considering buying new speakers, either bookshelf or stand-mounted. They would be for a small room (8x9 ft) with not a lot of placement options and would be connected to a Primaluna Prologue Five. I want something versatile and reasonably bassy (not crazy bassy though). I'm considering Harbeth 30.1's or Acoustic Zen Adagio Jr's, but would like other options for under $5000. Experience with the 30.1's and Adagio Jr's is also appreciated. Would consider vintage speakers, too. They don't have to do any particular thing perfectly I'd like to be able to listen to the Ramones or James Brown or Johanna Martzy. Thanks!
 
I'm considering Harbeth 30.1's or Acoustic Zen Adagio Jr's, but would like other options for under $5000. Experience with the 30.1's and Adagio Jr's is also appreciated. Thanks!


Seeing that you're willing to spend some decent money I would strongly suggest that you demo them if you can. Suggestions are great however everyone's hearing is different and the only ears that matter will be yours.
 
Seeing that you're willing to spend some decent money I would strongly suggest that you demo them if you can. Suggestions are great however everyone's hearing is different and the only ears that matter will be yours.
Absolutely, but people here will have useful guidance. There's tons of options, new and vintage, so I could use help narrowing the field. Also, that figure is the maximum, and honestly I'd probably end up favoring less expensive speakers. I just don't want to rule out something really special that's close to 5k.
 
Well within budget, sound way bigger than they have any right to, image like sonsabitches lol. They also have a huge WAF if that's of any importance. MSRP is $1800 but should be able to do better than that. These show up on eBay from time to time from flippers that scored these on Amazon during a ridiculous sale.

Jamo C-103, they also come in high gloss white or black.
06-IMG_1393.jpg

Screenshot_20181227-232033.png
 
Last edited:
The small room and placement issues make this a tough call.

For some standmounts I'd probably look into the Bryston Mini A.
That's just so long as they dont need to be too close to a wall or such ('cuz they're rear ported).
They're 8 ohm and not too low in sensitivity (87dB) so that Primaluna should drive 'em fine.
On the + side these come in waaayyy under the stated budget here.
So these could be worth a shot,hence why I'm suggesting them.

Bookcase location typically means you'd probably be looking for either front ported or acoustic suspension speakers most likely.
That makes the Harbeth 30.1 a REALLY tough choice to beat.
I'd hafta think about that one for awhile...

Just some food for thought,and fodder for the converation.

HTH

Bret P.
 
The small room and placement issues make this a tough call.

For some standmounts I'd probably look into the Bryston Mini A.
That's just so long as they dont need to be too close to a wall or such ('cuz they're rear ported).
They're 8 ohm and not too low in sensitivity (87dB) so that Primaluna should drive 'em fine.
On the + side these come in waaayyy under the stated budget here.
So these could be worth a shot,hence why I'm suggesting them.

Bookcase location typically means you'd probably be looking for either front ported or acoustic suspension speakers most likely.
That makes the Harbeth 30.1 a REALLY tough choice to beat.
I'd hafta think about that one for awhile...

Just some food for thought,and fodder for the converation.

HTH

Bret P.
Thanks! I'll definitely look into the Bryston, but these things are gonna end up being pretty close to the wall. I wish I had more room to work with but this is a little NYC railroad so...
 
These look really cool but I'm seeing that the frequency response is 100Hz-40kHz. My current Spendor S3/5's are 70Hz-20kHz and I find myself wanting a little more bass.

Bass is going to be hard to get with small speakers. But a subwoofer would expand your options. In your small room you could likely get away with a small sub, maybe even an 8". I have my sub under my standup desk. Out of the way and I rarely kick it while working. (Kick as in with my foot. I have been known to blast things after hours when I am alone in my office.)
 
Thanks! I'll definitely look into the Bryston, but these things are gonna end up being pretty close to the wall. I wish I had more room to work with but this is a little NYC railroad so...
I just mentioned them as you should be able to find a dealer in NYC to listen to them & maybe ask the dealer what they thought about your placement concerns.
From the articles the I've read the design of the rear port is supposed to mitigate some of the issues with ports in general,so it could be a non-issue.
I really cant say that it would -or- would'nt be an issue as I've never had a pair in a room with that specific situation.

I mentioned them as they seem real close to the Harbeth 30.1 by the specs and all the reviews I've read have been favorable.
I even recall reading one review that really liked the Mini A paired with a tube amp,so who knows it could be a match made in heaven ?

Anyhow I digress,if some better recommendations come to mind I'll pop back in and let you know.

Bret P.
 
Bass is going to be hard to get with small speakers. But a subwoofer would expand your options. In your small room you could likely get away with a small sub, maybe even an 8". I have my sub under my standup desk. Out of the way and I rarely kick it while working. (Kick as in with my foot. I have been known to blast things after hours when I am alone in my office.)
Absolutely a small sub would work well in a room the size the OP is dealing with.

I have two systems in my BR (10' x 12' or so) and both systems have small subs,both are 8" woofer subs as well.
My main BR system uses a Celestion S20 sub (AKA: KEF PSW-1150) and the headphone/nearfiled system uses a Canton AS85-SC subwoofer.

And yeah adding a sub would open up the speaker selection quite a bit...

But I also get it when someone does'nt want the added complexity & learning curve that goes hand & hand with adding a sub.

And recommendations for vintage speakers just blows things wide open,then the options become almost mind boggling in their vastness.
There are so many great vintage speakers that $5K could buy that a thread seeking those recommendations could go on ad-infinitum.

Then these sorta threads just becomes folks listing off the various models of their favorite brand of speakers.

Not that there's anything wrong with that,,,LOL...

:cool:

Bret P.
 
Absolutely a small sub would work well in a room the size the OP is dealing with.

I have two systems in my BR (10' x 12' or so) and both systems have small subs,both are 8" woofer subs as well.
My main BR system uses a Celestion S20 sub (AKA: KEF PSW-1150) and the headphone/nearfiled system uses a Canton AS85-SC subwoofer.

And yeah adding a sub would open up the speaker selection quite a bit...

But I also get it when someone does'nt want the added complexity & learning curve that goes hand & hand with adding a sub.

And vintage speakers just blows things wide open,then the options become almost mind boggling in their vastness.
There are so many great vintage speakers that $5K would buy that a thread seeking those recommendations could go on ad-infinitum.

Then these sorta threads just becomes folks listing off the various models of their favorite brand of speakers.

Not that there's anything wrong with that,LOL.

:cool:

Bret P.

Based on the small room, I do not think vintage offers much. Sure, Minimus 7s would fit, but if the budget is $5k, it is easy to do much better with new. There are just not that many vintage small bookshelf speakers that perform like newer, more expensive bookshelf speakers when you are talking about OP's budget. I would think anything even the size of a smaller Advent would be too big. I have a pair of EPI 70 speakers that would work good in a small room, but if I had the budget, I would not use them.

As far as older speakers (newer than vintage), I like Klipsch. The pair of KG 1.5 I have sound good in a small space (bigger than the OP's, though.) KG 2.5 might work, but they are starting to get on the big size for a small room at around 20" tall by 9" wide. Even though they are rear ported, Klipsch says they can be placed close to a back wall.
 
These look really cool but I'm seeing that the frequency response is 100Hz-40kHz. My current Spendor S3/5's are 70Hz-20kHz and I find myself wanting a little more bass.

Not sure where you got your info, but there were other Infinity speakers with the same name that were NOT the same speaker. These have the Watkins woofer, search them here on the site.

Screenshot_20181227-230920.png

Specs for the Jamos above, plenty of bass from a smallish speaker.
Screenshot_20181227-232033.png
 
Last edited:
In that price range and that room, a great return policy is a must as I'd want to have at least a two week evaluation period.

Back in the day, one of the most impressive small speakers in that general price range I heard was the Usher BE-718 which has evolved into the Dancer Mini X. If I had your needs, that would be my top choice.

Another speaker at a lower price point that I'd suggest you investigate is the NOLA Boxer though I've never heard it in a small room.

And for vintage options, one of the best sounding systems I ever heard in a small room had the ProAc Response 1Sc. It was in a dedicated, very purpose built room and they sounded fantastic on most material and incredible on some material.
 
Based on the small room, I do not think vintage offers much. Sure, Minimus 7s would fit, but if the budget is $5k, it is easy to do much better with new. There are just not that many vintage small bookshelf speakers that perform like newer, more expensive bookshelf speakers when you are talking about OP's budget. I would think anything even the size of a smaller Advent would be too big. I have a pair of EPI 70 speakers that would work good in a small room, but if I had the budget, I would not use them.
I hear what you're saying.
It would definitely help our suggestions if we had a bit more defined set of parameters on these size & placement constraints.
Some quick pics of the room would help a whole lot that's for sure.

I should also mention that I'm shying away from suggesting any of the traditionally "power hungry" options seeing as he's driving these w/a 36wpc tube amp.

I do like the Infinitesimal suggestion,in that same lineage would be the original Infinity Modulus speakers.
And I really enjoy my Canton GL-260,but those are only like $150.00 - $200.00.
So to me those did'nt really "fit in" with the direction the OP seems to be going here,LOL.
Even though they DO quailfy due to their being "vintage" speakers.
They're just not expensive vintage speakers.

With $5k I was originally thinking ATC ~ PMC ~ Spendor those sorta brands.
Then I read this vvvv bit...
Krasdale said:
My current Spendor S3/5's are 70Hz-20kHz and I find myself wanting a little more bass.

Heck before reading that I thought,hey some LS3/5A would be just the ticket for this sorta rig.
Falcon Acoustics sells those,and the Harbeth P3esr are just a super refined version of those.
And many folks enjoy these speakers on their own merits,so hey why not suggest a pair of those.

But that one simple comment changes things just a bit.
Now I understand why he's looking at the 30.1...

Like I said,there are a lot of options for the OP to consider.

Bret P.
 
Last edited:
My mistake. I must have looked up the wrong model.

The Jamos worked well with 65watts, but currently connected to my 400watt beast they really crank out some impressive bass. Check out this guys review.


I had five pair, three pair are in Australia making up some guys surround system (lucky guy, girlfriend bought them as a bday gift). Another pair also went to Australia, the 5th are the mains in my surround system. All were high gloss black, though I would like a set in the real mahogany wood veneer also.
 
The Great Horned Heils @ $1875 are not large and perfect for a smaller room. Art Dudley uses a pair of the horns as his daily drivers.

028_zps00211d9b.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom