Small speakers for home office...

[admin_exported]

I've been a very lucky guy this week as I managed to win a mint condition Cyrus 8VS2 amplifier off eBay for less than £200!!!

Bargain if you ask me. Have it currently in the spare room running some old Acoustic Energy AE509's and it sounds superb (with a Rega Planet CD player) but the amp will be for my home office running music from my computer/iTunes in the very near future when I can make the decision so go for either a MacBook ro or Mac Mini etc...)

Anyways...

I've a budget of £500 for some small speakers and the ones that take my interest straight awat are the KEF R100's. Heard them ages ago at a local dealer with the Cyrus 8XP amp (I think) and an Arcam FMJ amp (unsure which model) and they sounded amazing. Small, great looks but with a superb sound when quiet and loud)

I think the speakers will be desk mounted all be it on 2 peices of very heavy solid Teak which will be blu-tac'd to the desk top and maybe with either blu-tac between the speakers and Teak blocks OR I've heard that squash balls cut in half are a good vibration rectifier also (not confident about the speakers being knocked though)!

Does anyone have any other suggestions for small, close field speakers? Would the B&W MM1's be any good at all (no need for the amp of course)?

Thanks

 

[bluedroog]

Neat Iotas.

 

[Anonymous]

I have B&W M1's wall mounted with an ASW608 sub woofer, wasnt happy with this, auditioned MM1's not in the same league, cute and good but not really Hi Fi. Just auditioned B&W CM1 blew me away yes they are ported but given they will be desk based unlikely to be turning it up that loud that it will be an issue. The main benefit was the ability for the speaker to sound good even at low levels. I doubt if i will need ASW608 in office but hanging on to it as I am saving up for a second pair of CM1's to be used in the living room

 

[stevebrock]

I really don't think anything would be as good as the Iotas on a desk! Don't forget some blu tack!

 

[hoopsontoast]

Nearfield, something with a coaxial driver arrangement like the KEF Uni-Q or Tannoy Dual Concentric would be ideal.

I guess KEF R100, RDM1, Tannoy DC4 and Autograph Mini (S/H) would be the ones to look for.

Other suitable speakers would be ATC SCM7, Rega R1/RS1 or LS3/5A style monitors like the KEF Reference 101, Spendor S3/5R etc.

 

[NJB]

i have just bought some Totem Dreamcatchers to run from my Naim pre and pwr combo. I would certsinly propose them as an option that might be worthy of an audition.

 

[WinterRacer]

I use a pair of Genelec 6010a speakers on my desk and really rate them.