Good pair of compact hifi speakers for home studio use?

[admin_exported]

Hi first post here. :wave:

My mate got me an Arcam Alpha One so i've been looking at hifi speakers as an option. I auditioned the CA S30 a couple of days ago and loved them! Very neutral and well balanced with good seperation and amazing low end for their price. Unfortunately they'll need to be placed on a monitor shelf quite close to a wall but i could plug the ports and place them on isolation pads.

I was looking for something with a front firing bass port to avoid boominess but all the other good options i looked atare rear firing. The S30 seems to fit the bill well but i was wondering if there was anything else vintage or otherwise worth checking out?

Fwiw i also listened to the Mercury V1s but found them too muddy/veiled. The Monitor audio BX2s were fantastic but a bit too big for my desk and i found the BX1s to a bit too bright and could potentially fatiguing as nearfields. I use the Arc room correction system to tune my workspace and monitors and it works pretty well so i could use it to give the speakers a more linear response and use them as monitors as well but i'm looking for something that can reproduce music in a lively and dynamic way like the S30s in the first place, they had very good detail for their size.

Largest i want to go is 5", preferably with front firing bass ports.

Maximum budget is £150. Thanks!

 

[Rethep]

Some secondhand LS3/5a (BBC-speaker) ?

 

[Al ears]

Some secondhand LS3/5a (BBC-speaker) ?

I don't think so! On two counts:-

1/ No front port and 2/ I don't think you are going to come close to finding a good pair for £150!

Oh, and welcome to the forum to the OP, I will post later with suggestion for you.

 

[Al ears]

Hi,

Unfortunately your choice of speaker is going to be somewhat limited purely doen to design.

The smaller the speaker the less space you have available to put a front port in it.

I would not bother yourself too much as to where the port is and just try to find one that is designed to work close to a rear wall. (Dali Zensor springs to mind, or PMC DB1 - not too sure what these are going for second hand but a quick Ebay search should tell).

Failing that you should maybe look at a sealed-box design, although these are also in limited supply.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I think you should demo the Linn Majik 109!

Absolutly a fantastic speaker, small in size and can easily be positioned close/against the wall.

I do have this speaker myself as well in combiantion with a Arcam A75+

cheers!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. The LS3/5s are out of my budget, one zero too many. 😉 I was thinking more like B&W, Leak, Celestion Dittons or some older tannoys.

It's difficult without hearing them, i'm inclined to get the S30s but i'll probably go back and audition a few others. Studio use isn't essential, i mainly want a pair of hifi speakers to see how mixes will translate to consumer setups but i'll also use them for listening to music. The Whardale Diamonds get good reviews but opinion seems to be polarised...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Unfortunately your choice of speaker is going to be somewhat limited purely doen to design.

The smaller the speaker the less space you have available to put a front port in it.

I would not bother yourself too much as to where the port is and just try to find one that is designed to work close to a rear wall. (Dali Zensor springs to mind, or PMC DB1 - not too sure what these are going for second hand but a quick Ebay search should tell).

Failing that you should maybe look at a sealed-box design, although these are also in limited supply.

Thanks for the welcome. 🙂

I wanted to see what alternatives were around as i'm probably gonna widen the net. Part of the reason for the budget limit is i can get a pair of passive tannoy reveals for £200. I'll have to go back and audition the Dali Zensors. I checked out sealed box but was told that they need at least 100w a channel to sound their best, won't sound good with anything less. My Alpha is 35w p.c so i'm looking for a speaker that would match well.

All else aside i really liked the S30 and they would give me more flexibility with placement than a larger enclosure. Thanks!

 

[Al ears]

Hi,

Unfortunately your choice of speaker is going to be somewhat limited purely doen to design.

The smaller the speaker the less space you have available to put a front port in it.

I would not bother yourself too much as to where the port is and just try to find one that is designed to work close to a rear wall. (Dali Zensor springs to mind, or PMC DB1 - not too sure what these are going for second hand but a quick Ebay search should tell).

Failing that you should maybe look at a sealed-box design, although these are also in limited supply.

Thanks for the welcome. 🙂

I wanted to see what alternatives were around as i'm probably gonna widen the net. Part of the reason for the budget limit is i can get a pair of passive tannoy reveals for £200. I'll have to go back and audition the Dali Zensors. I checked out sealed box but was told that they need at least 100w a channel to sound their best, won't sound good with anything less. My Alpha is 35w p.c so i'm looking for a speaker that would match well.

All else aside i really liked the S30 and they would give me more flexibility with placement than a larger enclosure. Thanks!

I'm sure you will be very happy with the S30's. I would dearly like to know which sealed-box design you looked at and who advised you that you need at least 100 watts! Pure poppycock!

My EB2's are a large sealed-box design and are quite happy being driven with my amp which outputs in the region of 45 watts

 

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I think you should demo the Linn Majik 109!

Absolutly a fantastic speaker, small in size and can easily be positioned close/against the wall.

I do have this speaker myself as well in combiantion with a Arcam A75+

cheers!

Thanks, they look it but way more than i want to spend. The speakers will be used primarily as a reference to see how mixes translate to consumer setups.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Unfortunately your choice of speaker is going to be somewhat limited purely doen to design.

The smaller the speaker the less space you have available to put a front port in it.

I would not bother yourself too much as to where the port is and just try to find one that is designed to work close to a rear wall. (Dali Zensor springs to mind, or PMC DB1 - not too sure what these are going for second hand but a quick Ebay search should tell).

Failing that you should maybe look at a sealed-box design, although these are also in limited supply.

Thanks for the welcome. 🙂

I wanted to see what alternatives were around as i'm probably gonna widen the net. Part of the reason for the budget limit is i can get a pair of passive tannoy reveals for £200. I'll have to go back and audition the Dali Zensors. I checked out sealed box but was told that they need at least 100w a channel to sound their best, won't sound good with anything less. My Alpha is 35w p.c so i'm looking for a speaker that would match well.

All else aside i really liked the S30 and they would give me more flexibility with placement than a larger enclosure. Thanks!

I'm sure you will be very happy with the S30's. I would dearly like to know which sealed-box design you looked at and who advised you that you need at least 100 watts! Pure poppycock!

My EB2's are a large sealed-box design and are quite happy being driven with my amp which outputs in the region of 45 watts

It's the Studiospares SN-10 which is their version of the NS10. Supposed to be a very good sealed-box monitor for the money but is quite inefficient and needs a good amp to drive it otherwise it can sound flat. I think i'll order the S30s, have 14 days to try them with RS. I can't imagine anything else with a 4.5" driver having a bass response like they do, well apart from the SL30 but nowhere seems to have them. :?

 

[Anonymous]

I bought a pair of used Dali Zensor 1 off another member here via ebay. Looking forward to hearing them as i didn't get to audition them, i hope they live up to the hype! How they will work as a reference i've yet to find out but i initially wanted a pair of speakers for music anyway as i've been using monitors for a while. I'm sure they'll be useful as another source and for playing back mixes etc but most of all they'll be great for listening to music! :rockout:

Cheers!