3"-5" bookshelf speakers for near-field listening?

J

JamesL

Gawd
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
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I'm looking for passive or active speakers with 3"-5" drivers, around $50-$200 that would be good for music & movies from about 1 meter away.

Small speakers have their limitations, but I have limited space on my desk.
4" would be the ideal compromise between the two but I'm willing to shift either way.

I'll probably end up selling my hd650 to afford a speaker but I also need a new camera, so I'm trying to stay away from the $200 limit, unless there is something at that price that really entices me.

I was going to just get the av30's, but I have t-amp I can put to use... I'm wondering if I'd be better off with passives for the same money.
 
Well I would suggest the Insignia speakers but they may be a bit big. You can go see at Best Buy.

Well if you have a T amp, how about something like this?
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/details/542331797/energy-rc-mini

The drivers fit within your range. The price seems to as well since shipping is free. And its a reasonably easy speaker to drive (91db) and Energy is a decent brand.

A bit more expensive is this one (outside your limit)
http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-4B-Satellite-Speaker,113,20,261.aspx

I would have also suggested the NHT Absolute Zeros (the speaker I want to get) but I am not sure if a T amp can drive a six ohm speaker.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions zenshi.
I've looked at the rc-mini's, and although I can't say I care much for how it looks, it certainly looks like a strong candidate in every other regard.

The aperions look really nice as well! I'll definitely look into that one

I just realized the aperions were 260 for the pair =[ instead of 130.. not as attractive
 
At $230 is the Tweak City Audio WAF-1

http://tweakcityaudio.com/index.php...&category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

These speakers were designed by Danny Ritchie, an audio engineer who has produced some of the best speakers on the planet.

In a recent speaker shootout at AVSforum, these speakers compared very favorably to the Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1, another fantastic speaker that has been routinely described as the best bookshelves under $1k by many reviewers. The WAF-1 beat out several high end speakers at or above $1,000 at the shootout.

Acoustically Danny Ritchie is brilliant and he is a firm believer in a very low crossover frequency (1.8KHz) which requires an extremely high quality soft dome tweeter, as most soft domes resonate at 1.5-2KHz, and it takes some very expensive soft domes to push that free air resonance below 1KHz. Danny Ritchie's previous design was a $199.99 speaker called the AV123 X-LS, and the components he picked out came to $110+ from parts distributors. His designs are all about bang for your buck. His speakers also measure impeccably linear.
 
Wow those went head to head against Sierra 1s? That's pretty good. If only they were not so fugly. I wish they came in piano black. :(
 
Hmmm, well I have painted cases during my mods before. I guess I can always paint speakers. But I would really not have to do this. I guess my future purchase choice will remain the Absolute Zeros, or s520 for the moment.
 
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