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Good smaller speakers?

These suggestions are so helpful, thank you. For some reason I've done much more research on sources and amps than on speakers, which I've shamefully neglected.

My predicament is that the room my system is in is very large (living/kitchen apt. combo), but I need something I can put on my bookshelves so that my one-year old can't pull them down. I guess I need "babyproof" speakers! If anyone has other ideas....

I agree about the A25's. And I've often wondered about the Ohm's because of the "full room stereo" possibility--might be good for my space.
 
nacnud said:
My predicament is that the room my system is in is very large (living/kitchen apt. combo), but I need something I can put on my bookshelves so that my one-year old can't pull them down. I guess I need "babyproof" speakers! If anyone has other ideas....
Click to expand...
In-walls? I'm eventually going to build a specialized HT room in the place I'm living in now, and I'll be using Dynaudio's IP-24.
 
You might want to consider the Smaller Advents. At 20"H x 11.5"W x 9.5"D they are pretty compact; they sound very good (I have a pair) and even on eBay only go for around $100. IIRC, I got mine for $4 at a thrift.
 
I would definately second some of the other posts. A25's or EPI 100's are great small speakers and can be had for well under $500. I own both and love them.
 
I have 3 pair of Bookshelf type speakers you might consider. I obviously love the Dynaco A-25's, with those you can't go wrong. I'm not sure if anyone mentioned the AR-4x, a wonderful bookshelf speaker you might check out. It is a bit smaller than the Dynaco with that wonderful AR sound. I also agree with a prior post about the ADS line of speakers. I have a pair ADS L420's that are really sweet too....These are all easy to find on eBay. My advice would be to try to locate a pair in your area and save on the shipping which quite often is more than the speakers themselves go for.
 
EPI 100's. One of my favorite speakers, and really compact (I had mine mounted on wall shelves when my daughter was a toddler)
 
I have a pair of Advent "Baby Advent III"'s that do quite well and have a great finish. They might even be still available new.
 
Very tough thread, as there's no doubt 100's of very nice "small" speakers,and probably offerings from someone like Paradigm, B+W, KEF would do nicely.

Of course in the upper range, and sort of doubtful of finding a pair used for under $500, the Pro-Ac 1SC.
This speaker I myself liked very much, and seemed to be very coherent.

Another sweet little "inexpensive" speaker that I see no one else has mentioned, and I always see tons of these on the net, and the "Bay", is the JBL S-38.

My cousin bought a pair in Oak a few years back, I have heard them, not a bad speaker for the price, and are attractive, and resonably solid little units.

A mint pair right now can probably be gotten for in the $200-$250 range (Maybe even less?), and I remember 3-4 years back Stereophile giving them a favorable review-write up.

Best of luck in your search, and perhaps the best recommendation I can give, is sample all you can. Let your ears be the judge. Mark
 
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I have a pair of Dynaco A-25's that I've had since the 70's, they're still going strong and sound great. I liked them better than the Deluxe Advents I also owned at the time. For a really small speaker, if you can find it, try the AR 215sp loudspeaker. It doesn't have the base performance of the A-25's but the midrange sounds real nice to me.

Oh, I forgot, I also have a pair of AR 4x speakers, which are slightly smaller than the Dynaco A-25s, but larger than the AR 215sp's. They still sound quite good, although I did have to replace the tweeter level controls that I got from Radio Shack. It seems that all the early AR loudspeakers had level controls that had corrosion build up problems with age.
 
For what size it seems you're aiming for, I've got a bunch of them. My favorites of the bunch?

EPI 100vs.

ADS L570 IIs.

Polk Monitor 7s (might be a touch too big for your application, so consider the Polk Monitor 5s).

Design Acoustics PS-10s- check these out- they are a 3-way, with downfiring woofer, and are cube shaped. They are excellent.

Boston Acoustics A70s.

JBL L46s.

I've got Genesis 2s waiting a refoam- they'll be excellent, I know for a fact.

Also got some Dynaco A-25s awaiting delivery. I know they will be top-notch as well.

All these are small enough to fit on a shelf as you desire, and all are plenty loud enough for your room.
 
If you just HAVE to spend $500 this may not be of any help...!
BUT, if a good small speaker pair is what you are wanting
venture over to the www.av123.com site and have a peek
at the X-LS (you can get a complete surround setup for what
you are lookng for OR go with the X-Sub and STILL be under
your mentioned budget)
Top quality both from a construction stand point and sound
reproduction with excellent out of this world customer service.
pc
 
review of Smaller Advent Loudspeaker

I just came across this May 2006 review of, surprisingly, the Smaller Advent from Stereophile magazine. The writer compares them with new bookshelf speakers. Not so surprising, they fare quite well. Its nice to see a professional hi fi writer compare older equipement like this and publicly note what many of us already know.

http://www.stereophile.com/historical/506advent/
 
I have a pair of A25s and I love them. I've owned a few pairs of smaller Advents. While very nice, they're not as good a speaker as the A25. I'm one of those fans that continues to be amazed by how nice the A25 is. There are some, but only a few who disagree.

If you want something smaller, I'm listening to a pair of Boston A40s right now. I love these speakers. They're quite a bit smaller than the Dynacos, but their size to sound ratio is even higher in my opinion.

Take care,

Ed
 
If you like the A35s, you should definitely like the Boston Acoustic CR77. Amazing speaker. Just about as much bottom end as an A35, in a cabinet that's about half as big! Very good voicing! Sell for about $350 a pair, new...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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