[Tom M]

The room is about 13x10 and I have to place the equipment on the long wall because the short walls are unavailable to me. One has a door way and the other a window. There is not much floor space in here do to the bed and other furnature. I would listen mostly with headphones but would like the system to sound as decent as possible with speakers too.

 

[pigmode]

A small room? I would start here:

http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/low-watt.html

 

[DarkAngel]

If you want something better than a "mini" system get a good used British integrated amp (Creek, Musical Fidelity, Cyrus, Arcam etc) and CDP of you choice. Then get some decent 2 way stand mounted speakers like PSB, Energy, Paradigm etc and you have a great system for @$1-2,000......looks like this:

Bedroom System

BTW for cheap cables get Outlaw ICs and used Analysis Plus Oval 12 speaker cables.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Meh. My bedroom - which is also my main room right now, since the "living room" is being used for something else - is only 8.5x11 ft. Even smaller than yours, Tom M. And none of the high-quality loudspeaker-based home audio systems work properly in such a small room, in my experience. Every one of the high-quality loudspeakers that I've tried sound unnaturally boomy and tinny in such as small room, unless that small room is severely overfurnished and overcarpeted. Thus, the only speaker-based audio equipment suitable for use in such a small room is a very small, very cheap clock radio or pocket radio - however horrid those radios sound otherwise.

 

[MacDEF]

For a room like that, I highly recommend an NAD L40 (integrated amp, CD player, and FM tuner, with a very good headphone jack). You can pair it with any speakers you want, or buy it with NAD PSB Alphas as the "NAD Music System." It's an excellent system for the money, and perfect for smaller rooms because of its compact size.

http://www.nadelectronics.com/Special/L40.html
http://www.nadelectronics.com/NADMusicSystem.html

Unfortunately, it's getting hard to find, because NAD has discontinued it (they're supposedly going to come out with a replacement model around the end of the year). But new or used it's a great buy.

If you want to stay small, my next favorite would be the Denon DM-30 with Mission speakers:

http://www.usa.denon.com/catalog/photos/DM30.jpg

 

[zowie]

Small high end loudspeakers can sound just fine in a room that size.
You just need to find a pair that is made to be placed close to walls, like true bookshelf speakers, as opposed to bookshelf-sized speakers.
Placing them up on spikes will further help.

 

[andrzejpw]

I have to agree with MacDef. For that room, a Nad L40 + PSB speakers would be great. Big speakers just aren't meant to be used in small rooms, in my experience.

 

[Wodgy]

The nOrh 3.0 speakers are designed for small rooms. You should check them out. They range from $150/pair for various types of wood to $350/pair for solid marble. (These prices include shipping.)
http://www.norh.com/products/norh3/index.html
The 3.0's are single-driver crossoverless speakers, which really makes a difference in small rooms, and will get around the problems Eagle_Driver was mentioning.

As for an amp, really pretty much anything will do. The nice thing about a small room and simple speakers (especially single driver ones) is that you can play around with inexpensive single-ended tube designs if you want. The nOrh SE-9 is small, inexpensive, and reputed to be good, for instance, though I haven't heard it.
http://www.norh.com/products/se9/index.html

 

[Tom M]

This is a bedroom system, so I was wondering if I could place small book shelf speakers on a dresser? The speakers would be 40 inches off the ground(the height of the dresser). The dresser is about 42 inches wide so the distance between the speakers would depend on the width of each speaker. If I sit on the bed in front of the dresser I will be about 4.5ft-5ft from the speakers.This may not give much of a stereo separation but at least I would not feel like I'm on top of the speakers. If I place the speakers on stands they will be between furnature and if I pull them out from the furnature they will be too close to me. I have to use the long wall for equipment because there is a window on one short wall and a doorway on the other. There is no usable wall space for a stereo on the short wall. Therefore I have to place everything on the long wall.

 

[Wodgy]

You can place them on the dresser. 40 inches is only a little higher than most bookshelf speaker manufacturers recommend, but higher is better than lower.

If you're planning on putting them on the dresser, they'll probably be close to the wall. To take advantage of this situation, try to get speakers that are either front-ported or bottom-ported. Back-ported speakers will sound boomy too close to the wall. e.g. The PSB Alpha Bs and drum nOrh 3.0s are both back ported, so they wouldn't be the best choices. PSB Image 2Bs are front ported and the Prism nOrh 3.0s are bottom ported, so they'd be better choices.

 

[kelly]

Do you have a TV in your bedroom currently? I've been thinking that a DVD player in my bedroom might be nice. I've always been thinking that the RKV is attractive enough to be seen in the bedroom and I've been wondering more about efficient bookshelf speakers. HMMM.

Otherwise, I'd get a Linn Classik.

 

[grinch]

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly I've always been thinking that the RKV is attractive enough to be seen in the bedroom..

top five pickup lines kelly will use when he puts the rkv in his bedroom:

1. "hey baby, come in here and help me warm up my amp.."

2. "whattya say i show you how solid-state my tube can be?"

okay, so i could only think of two.

 

[Ari]

Here is a DON'T DO !!!

Looks like a very nice and good bedroom system, right? Wrong !

Good sound: yes
Silent: no
Reliable: no

So, don't even think about. You cant sleep listening to low music. The CD transport sounds as loud as a newspaper press. It's fragile and instable.

It looks like made for your bedroom. In fact, it was. But does not work.

Best

Ari

 

[daycart1]

Let's see: a TV, CD-SACD-DVD player, Berning Micro-Zotl and some nice horn speakers!!

If you can't do TV, the Linn Classik is a good idea: CDP, and a good radio, and an integrated with enough power for any speakers that fit the room.

 

[MacDEF]

Just to provide a counterpoint to the Linn recs, I think the Classik is awesome, but it's three times as expensive as the L40, and the L40 actually has a very good headphone jack; then again, maybe the Classik and a headphone amp are well within your budget, Tom?