Opinions: What is the best small inexpensive bookshelf speaker that you have heard ?

[lico]

I also listened to Pioneers at Best Buy. The Pioneer speakers I heard at Best Buy did not impress - but I didn't realize they were not the same as the ones Stereophile recommended.

That said - I can't believe the Pioneers are that much better than the countless other black vinyl veneered speakers at the low end price point that have been put out for the last 20 years, regardless of the designer name put on them.

I like my Infinity Primus 150s - and recently came across a set of Infinity Reference 1s from the early 90s that were decent when I did a direct compare. They sound nearly as good, but neither sound great anymore in my small setup.

Wharfedale gets a lot of recommendations - I haven't heard the 10.1s but my experience with larger model floorstanders from the Diamond line says I ain't buying anything from Wharfedale again. I'd try Quad bookshelves too - but they are the same manufacturer group as Wharfedale, so am wary. Polk LSI has a lot of fanboys, but not my cup of tea either when I tried them, no air - too laid back.

The little MA Radius are cool speakers, I heard them a few years ago looking at surrounds for my HT setup, regret not getting them. Build quality, plus the same tweets they put in their upper end models. I need more bass in a 2 channel setup - rolloff at 80 Hz won't cut it. Monitor Audio (Bronze or Silver) is what I'll be trying on the my next purchase.

In the meantime I'm sticking with some old B&W DM110s - may not fit on a lot of bookshelves, but they are best sounding 8 inch 2 way I've ever heard. Found them cheap and was surprised. Excellent speakers.

 

[BMWCCA]

You did not listen to Pioneer SP-BS41 speakers at Best Buy. BB chose to carry the rest of the line, but skipped on this model. In something I read online, it was insinuated that they would have been directly competing with one of BB's store brand models. You were probably listening to the smaller SP-BS21s, which do retail for $100 and are not as well regarded as their bigger brothers. I think the SP-BS41s have only been available from online retailers; I bought mine from Woot! after spending several hours reading about them online.

You're right. Does that mean for only fifty-percent more I can get some that actually sound like something? Same price if I catch that Woot again!

The confusing part is the BS21s had that same TAD designer signature stuff written all over the back:

 

[bigaltx24]

The best inexpensive bookshelf I've heard is the Radiient Europa. They are a very similar in design to the BB Insignias but built with much higher quality components. They started off selling for $199/pair, when I bought mine they were down to $79/pair. After break in I listened to them side by side against the BB Insignias and Paradigm Titans, the Europas beat both very handily. If you ever see a pair for sale, snag them, I sure will, I was dumb enough that I sold my pair.
Right now I am running a pair of KLH Model 32s that I have less than $30 total in even after recapping. I really love these things, nice bass, gorgeous mids, the highs may be a tad rolled off but at my age I can't tell. I tune in the classic rock station on the Sansui 881 and let them rock all day long.

 

[jt45]

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They're also refrigerator sized.

My point was that The original AR1 and AR3 were considered bookshelf speakers.

The other part of my definition was that they have to work correctly when placed against the back wall. That rules out my DCM CX-17s and my Klipsch Kg2s, which are smaller than AR3s, but can't be placed against the back wall or on a shelf, because they have a rear port or radiator.

I go to lots of estate sales and find lots of speakers of all sizes placed in or on bookshelves. I've seen KEF 105.3s in a bookcase, and they're rather large. But they are ported to the front.

The original acoustic suspension speakers had a bass rolloff that made them work well when placed in the corner of a room, against the back and side walls.

I get your point but most if not all brands market their speakers according to size these days, just look at the dozens of variations on small wall mountable speakers that are listed as Bookshelf speakers but have rear ports, like those that come with a hanger bracket on them. I never understood why ports were placed on the rear when that bracket obviously puts the port against the wall.

 

[RPMz]

Dynaco A25's plays well above their price point

 

[musichal]

Small, inexpensive, best-sounding of those would be the Paradigm 3se Mini, which became the Mini Mark, then the Mini Monitor. The original were true budget designs and sounsed great. I have heard better-sounding small speakers, but they weren't the budget-lover's delight.

 

[charles 1973]

At about 13" H x 7" w x 9" d Energy C1 bookshelves are fairly small, and $400 new in 2005 fairly cheap. Mounted on their matching stands and driven with my 70 wpc AVR these speakers sound much bigger than their size would suggest and look good too, In the 23' living room of my old house making near full range very detailed sound. Energy likes to promote bass and as such go plenty deep for their size, but not that clean, so I stuffed some more insulation in them so now in a small to med size room (much smaller than my living room) they sound very good without the need for a SUB. At first I overstuffed them and pretty much sucked up all the bass...not good. Their front ports allow them to be placed very near to the wall on a bookshelf and still sound good. I'd recomend Energy's Larger C3 Bookshelf, which is closer to mid size, like some of the speakers mentioned previously here, as a fine stand alone mid-fi speaker in a midsize room and with the same front port that allows them to be placed near the wall too.

For really Small speakers (as in palm size), my 2 pair of Realistic Minimus 7's do a great job, when played with Realistic's matching "System Seven" Reciever. With an EQ specifically callibrated for these speakers, and a bone rattling 10 wpc these speakers closely aproach the Energy C1's I discribed above in a small room, but don't go nearly as loud, even with a bigger amp because it's woofers have run out of Excursion room to make bass at more than moderate volumes in a small room. Operated flat, the Energy C1's with their much bigger cabinets and woofer of course sound much better. Keep in mind the Minimus 7's are designed to be used with their matching reciever with the proper Equlization or at least with the Bass turned up, and the treble down on my AVR to sound decent.

 

[mayidunk]

Cerwin Vega VE-5M

I have them, and they sound excellent! Check 'em out, you won't be disappointed.

 

[Van_Isle]

I've had Paradigm Titans ($40) and have Paradigm 3SE Minis ($10) - both were good solid speakers.

I think I like the Energy ESM-4's I'm running now in my office system better - they replaced the Titans. The ESM-4's cost me $20 from the original owner, are front-ported with vifa tweeter and are mirror-imaged.

Also the B&W DM-600i's ($12) I set up for my daughter in her bedroom sound very nice, especially on her NAD.

One nice thing about used 'bookshelf' speakers is it seems they are cheap enough (still) that you can try out a few models till you find something you really like / gells with your system.

 

[bryblob]

I haven't heard many small bookshelf speakers, but the yamaha ns-a7.2 speakers were the best I heard. They use a 6 1/2 woofer and dome tweeter, I was surprised how nice they were for 10 dollars used thrift buy.

 

[Poultrygeist]

Tekton 4.5

These bookshelf Tektons with full range Fostex drivers are hard to beat for $300. Sometimes you can find them used on A'gon for half that.

 

[HLauer]

OHM L's

Great sound and very clean. maybe a tad bright. Harry

 

[pw5599]

Minimus 7. Small, cheap, can be hidden away, and are always of interest to us audio nuts

JBL62. I only say that because I now own a set, and paid $25. I really dont know how well they sound, I have them as my rear surrounds but when I do hear noises from them, it sounds pretty good! And they look nice.

 

[scuba]

Mordaunt Short Carnival 2's. Been listening to them for about three years and have yet to find anything to complain about. Retail 300 to 350 (canadian) depending on where you look. Front ported with floating kevlar cones

 

[Retro Stereo]

Get yourself a good used pair of full-range Design Acoustics PS-10's and enjoy! I paid $65 for mine and they are great sounding small bookshelf speakers.

Retro

 

[wingzam]

I had a small pair of Protons that were really amazing.Can't remember the model..about a foot tall,2 way..I think all the smaller Protons were highly rated.

 

[GeorgeT]

Taking heat for promoting the Pinnacle PN5+

Is that so? And according to whom?



It's not obvious at all. Bookshelves are often deeper than small speakers and allow a few inches between a rear port and the rear wall. That's all that's needed IMO&E.

I agree..2" space works with a ported design. I drop by every 24 months and get banished for just hyping the old Pinnacle...the facts are the facts..and I am still running the little Pinnacles. Once I had a pair in a den where the couch was under some shelves. So... you lay on the couch and the PN5+ were 24" apart and about 5 1/2? feet from my ears( I am 6-2), on the book shelf. Incredible close field listening!!! I am sorry... I cannot remember what amp drove them. The pre amp was likely an ADCOM SLC505 passive. I digress.... I'm not going to look up Hirsch labs report again. The PN5+ website says 50-21000HZ (+-3 I think )but they sound more like 40HZ. I have my pair running 8 ft from me as I write this. I am streaming KTCZ via iHeart-iPhone5 (at 1AM the good stuff gets played and my Toshiba DX900 is recording tonight) . with the help of a Luxman R361. No room for Magnepans anymore. I'll switch to Youtube Sarah Brightman before I go to bed maybe.. although I discovered Phil Collins Paris good bye tour the other day. Good listening to you. I arguably say... no small speaker will perform as well on a shelf nor will go as low as the PN5+ I had a producer tell me he used the PN5+ as a studio monitor instead of a $2000 pair of JBL's .

 

[Brian]

I disagree. It's self descriptive. A bookshelf speaker is one that can reside on a bookshelf so it must be smaller in size and not too heavy. There is no requirement to be placed against a wall.

I generally agree but suggestions that it's weight is such that it can be sustained by the shelf it is to sit on and a size the shelf will accommodate.

When acoustic suspension speakers arrived they were so much smaller than most speakers of the time they were rightfully advertised as suitable for bookshelves. While this may have been more marketing than reality as we apply standards now, back in the '50s bookshelves were not as most today have in their home. For instance the Barzilay company advertised many of its cabinets as suitable for curios, books, and other items needing a strong and good looking bookshelf system. AR had not problem designing what may be its best speaker of all time as specifically for bookshelf mounting, the LST and for those with smaller rooms or bookshelf systems not quite up to the task there was the LST-2.

Today, these are not even in the running in the bookshelf category and even baby speakers of the time such as The Smaller Advents Loudspeaker that were bookshelf speakers of these bookshelf speakers today is seldom thought about.

 

[Bkphoto]

Advent Baby II's...

cheap, refurb them and that is that...

 

[fendaaudio]

Harbeth P3ESR - Bookshelf loudspeaker - Cherry:thmbsp: