Best small speaker advice - John Duncan PoV would be useful

[admin_exported]

I need some small speakers and like the PMC TB1i and TB2i, the Neat Ioata or the ProAc Tablette.

Its to fit above a wardrobe on its side (or normally for the Neat's), so I need a less fussy speaker, to go with a Leema Pulse 3 amp which I got from Unilet at a steal.

John Duncan has the TB1i's and likes the Neat's but I cant get to hear the Neat's and wanted to get some thoughts. The TB2i's and Proac tablette are on sale so roughly in same ball park price wise.

 

[plastic penguin]

Sure John will respond soon. Have to say that JD has the DB1is, not TB2s. I would suggest that both PMCs you mention would not be suitable. Both have rear ports. In addition when I've home dem'd the DB1is they need a good 12" from the back wall, otherwise the bass definition is thrown and imaging is effected.

Given you have a Pulse perhaps the Leemas own speaker Xeros may fit the bill. Whatever speaker you choose placing them on a wardrobe will influence the sound.

How high and deep is the wardrobe?

 

[Anonymous]

23 cms above the wardrobe to the ceiling and about 65cm from the front of the speaker to the back wall. The effective enclosure that the speakers will sit in are 2.5 mt wide. It is really not ideal, but love music and want some punch opposed to a sound dock arrangement for example.

I do like deep bass and a warmer sound in the bedroom as I find it more exciting. The leema is great on my PL300's if not struggling big time to drive the lower frequencies, making the music sound perhaps too lean than I would like.

 

[Overdose]

Whatever speaker you choose placing them on a wardrobe will influence the sound.

How high and deep is the wardrobe?

+1. The wardrobe could quite easily resonate and ruin the sound completely, certainly some of the sound will be transmitted through the wardrobe in the form of vibrations.

The abilities of a high quality speaker in this position would be wasted.

 

[Exshopguy]

I heard the Neat Iota's at the Bristol show and found them very impressive, easily a match for many of the other more conventional speakers on show. Deep bass on a wardrobe will get a little boomy so it's probably better to aim for just a good solid balance and the Iota's would seem to fit the bill there.

 

[SpursGator]

What about EB Accoustics EB2? Would they fit on your wardrobe? It theory they're perfect. Huge, clean, natural sound, the Leema will be dreamlike with them, and it's a sealed box so you get less of a penalty for contricted placement.

A pain to buy them with a 10 week wait..which not to go off on a tangent is 100% of the reason I don't have a pair in my collection already. 10 days wait is already at the limit of my (im)patience. With the slightest upgrade in their manufacturing process they could make loads more money and really murder the big boys.

Within the company I'm sure they would say that any "upgrade" of their process equates to a downgrade in quality, but this attitude towards quality control is basically resignation, taking as a given that quality is impossible to maintain above a certain threshold of production. It's unfortunate since it isn't true. The Far East has no trouble doing this already with some kinds of products and will do it on everything else in the near future with stunning rapidity. It's a technological problem for which solutions exist. British manufacturers love to whine about costs but their outdated and closed-minded attitudes about how to design and make products will sink them before their labour costs will.

Don't assume that smaller is always better any more than you would assume that bigger is better. Sometimes companies are smaller because they are dumb - or to be more fair, genius at building speakers and less smart about managing their design process, their marketing, and their distribution.

And sorry to single out EB - just making an example of them; it's many others as well. Since I am recommending EB's speakers (which sound amazing, at least in the short demo I heard at a friend's place in France) I hope it's clear that where it really counts - the sound - I think they are an amazing and interesting success story. It just sucks to wait 10 weeks.

 

[Anonymous]

Wardrobe ressonance won't be a problem. They are over built, very heavy and coonecting parts have rubber insulation (don't ask).

Problems will be reflections from ceiling and wardrobe doors

 

[plastic penguin]

Wardrobe ressonance won't be a problem. They are over built, very heavy and coonecting parts have rubber insulation (don't ask).

Problems will be reflections from ceiling and wardrobe doors

Sorry... please explain. You have MA PL300s, right? Are these new speakers in place of or in addition to...? If they are in addition, and breathing space required for the PLs, couldn't you make room somwhere for the smaller ones?

 

[Anonymous]

the pl300's are in living room - I just hooked up the Leema to hear it.

 

[John Duncan]

I will try to give a longer reply later but my first thought would be that DB1s or TB1s (I'm not sure which you really mean) on top of a wardrobe would be...suboptimal. Iotas might work but I haven't heard them...

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

IOTAs seem impossible to get hold of. Two dealers have said there have been delays to me.

 

[John Duncan]

Right, longer answer.

1) I don't really consider the TB1/TB2 to be a small speaker.

2) The DB1 is but in my placement experiments I've found that if you put a DB1 in too enclosed a space (like on a bookshelf) it's possible for them to sound truly awful. I wouldn't buy them without being able to try them exactly where you put them.

3) I haven't heard the Iotas but would very much like to as I like the sound of what they do both in freer space and on those bookshelves I mentioned; I hear that they are very good at room boundaries. Which suggests they might be perfect for you. Again though, because of the unusual placement you propose I would be trying to get a hold of a pair on demo.

4) To be more sure of compatibility, you might want to consider some front-ported or sealed-box speakers instead. Spendor SA1?

 

[Anonymous]

Dynaudio DM 2/6s might work. They sound great too.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys and John (not that your not a guy). Sounds like The PMC's will not be worth the investment as I would be ruining the sound.

I don't have a choice with location - its above a wardrobe or a soundock next to the bed. I'll try to get hold of the Ioata's or stick with front ported / sealed.

 

[Anonymous]

Have demo'd the neat iota and spendor sa1. Will try to demo atc scm7. Anyone heard the ATC's. Surprised WHF haven't reviewed it.

 

[ID.]

My thoughts on DB1i is that they are very flexible about placement, but YMMV. Looking at comments online it seems that some people find the placement has little effect on the sound, while some people find it effects the sound a lot.

When I've tried mine close to the wall sitting on top of a cabinet they have been fine (if anything they maybe lost a bit of deep bass), but I already have bass issues with my room inflluencing the sound of speakers. Never tried them on a bookshelf, although from the description of where you want to place them I'd proceed with caution and test them out before buying them. I suspect that rather than deep bass it would result in a bit of bass boom/bloom rather than giving you notable extra bass extension.

 

[Anonymous]

just a thought but if space is an issue why not look at putting some ceiling speakers in?

 

[Anonymous]

Good idea, but I live in a warehouse, so solid concrete ceiling. The Neats are so small, I'm looking at securing them to the ceiling though.

The neat's are great for mp3 music as they lack detail in mid to low range and ribbon tweeters beautiful, making it a smoother sound for compressed music like Spotify. The sa1 is obviously better, but offered a more honest reproduction that highlighted bad music. I also felt that voices were more honestly reproduced through the sa1.

£650 for the Neats is just overpriced though. That's why I a, considering the ATC.

 

[John Duncan]

I agree that the Iotas are a bit pricey, but if they do what you want them to do, does that not make them the best bet? Can't speak for the ATCs I'm afraid, but I agree that they may very well be an option.