Bookshelf speakers for a small living room

[hakunamakaka]

I'm already limiting myself with active speakers and front ported options will narrow my choices even further. Was not expecting that you need much distance from the wall with bookshelfes, but I could definitely stretch around the meter further from windows.

The one thing I'm worried with kef's that after the honeymoon is over it may be not my cup of tea for a daily usage. I'll see if there won't be much luck with actives I'll go with passive ones and maybe snatch some budget vintage amp which won't be painful to sell at low value if needed

 

[AndreRitter]

Yeah if they are rear ported some space is required despite the claims of some marketing departments.

I had a pair of these a couple of years ago.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/22487405...6tj-xBLQUC&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
For the money I couldn't fault them.

 

[hakunamakaka]

I'm a bit worried to end up with boomy, muffled sound so don't mind to stretch my budget. Had a chance to hear on few Dali speakers, seems in the middle between technical and pleasing sound. Though the ones that I heard would be too big for my room.

If I decide to go via passive route how much of the cost should I focus on amplifier ? Any models which are good bang for a buck and wouldn't be a problem to re-sell without a huge loss ?

 

[hakunamakaka]

Today I had an opportunity to listen to a various sets of bookshelf speakers and I mostly focused on KEF's as these were my primary target:

KEF LS 50 Wireless ii - Very detailed, focused sound which may demand your attention and turn on your analytical brain. The biggest downside for me is that these speakers don't have naturalness of human voice. You will not get a romantic mood listening to Norah Jones or Katie Melua, just a clean/precise and digital sound no matter what you play. The best part for me was bass. Very well controlled and elegant just to my tastes, but these can slam if the track demands it. In the end I felt that they are overprice for what they do as you can grab a cheaper studio monitors which will bring you similar qualities.

Dali RUBICON 2 C - In short quite decent at everything, but doesn't excel in any area. It is a bigger more natural sounding speaker than LS50, but bested by imaging and detail retrieval of KEF.

Harbeth M30.2 XD - One of the best sounding vocals, thick bass but not overpowering like Dali's may feel sometimes. Not so much treble emphasis as KEF, but It doesn't fall short in technical side of things compared to KEF as well. Very musically involving and analog sounding speakers, but asking price is just too much for the passive design

Dynaudio XEO 20 - Natural and detailed sound. better in all areas against LS50, except bass which KEF fits more up to my tastes. Falls a bit short in mid against Harbeth though in my books one of the best bang for buck in higher end of bookshelf speakers.

Chario Constellation II Lynx - Never knew about Chario and was not expecting much, but these speakers delivers. Not the last word in details, though where they excel is warm, cozy and yet still very technically efficient presentation. These don't try to show off like KEF's, but still perform better during complex passages as nothing is forced forward. If a singer is in the back you will hear it there. Not as lively as Dynaudio or Harbeth's, but I dare to say has the best midrange and is the most engaging presentation to me. You can turn these on, let them disappear for sure. The problem is that they are passive...

At the start my brain wanted to choose KEF, my heart said go with Dynaudio and my soul was taken by Chario....Damn I think I miss my turntable more than I thought so

 

[MeiLing]

Against which Kef did you choose a300 ? Heard LS50 W2 truly amazing monitors, maybe a tad aggressive, but that sparkle in treble is addictive. Imaging is very impressive for such a small speaker, the main worry is that what's impressive at the start might be tiring for longer sessions. As well there is no way to bypass internal DAC, but it is very strong recommendation. Regards Airpulse I have a very nice deal locally for 400eur used A200, but I don't find any place to audition them. Is it possible to bypass internal dac on them ? few places that I went here have either floor standers or headphones to audition...My hopes are on the weekend once I'll have more free time

Sorry for the late reply yes it was the Ls50 W2 , it is not possible to bypass the Dac in the Airpulse . As to why I chose the Airpulse over the Kef is that I think the kef would be great some of the time but not all the time and over all genre's of music . Plus I do like volume on occasion. My preference in music covers all but more Blues , Rock and Classical with singer/songwriters the second tier and then electronic. Not to complicate things but a friend recently bought a set of Airmotic B1 from Emotiva . They are so small could be desktop speakers but sound great , super detailed and you hear details in familiar music that you have never heard before. I need to find a place for them . It is a rocky road as that would mean an amp etc.

 

[hakunamakaka]

Sorry for the late reply yes it was the Ls50 W2 , it is not possible to bypass the Dac in the Airpulse . As to why I chose the Airpulse over the Kef is that I think the kef would be great some of the time but not all the time and over all genre's of music . Plus I do like volume on occasion. My preference in music covers all but more Blues , Rock and Classical with singer/songwriters the second tier and then electronic. Not to complicate things but a friend recently bought a set of Airmotic B1 from Emotiva . They are so small could be desktop speakers but sound great , super detailed and you hear details in familiar music that you have never heard before. I need to find a place for them . It is a rocky road as that would mean an amp etc.

KEF could be amazing if I listened only to electronic music, but I felt that I would be paying too much once I heard other speakers. None of the audio shops had or even knew about Airpulses. The search for active ones with only analog part in them really trims down my choices as majority of new releases comes out with internal DSP. I want to hear acoustic audio ae1 active and if not I'll either bite the bullet on XEO 20 or go via passive route.