Have your say & ask the experts

I have converted my garage into an office/audio room, however its only 12ft x 8ft.

 

I have been asking some advice on here about type of speakers for Arcam Solo Mini and have come up with a short list, thanks to everyone’s help.

 

However would the size of the room and the fact that I will be 10ft away from speakers have an impact on speaker selection/design/size?

 

I have also looked at the B&W CM1 but at £500 it seems an old design, but it looks the right kind of size?

 

Just don’t want to get a speaker that is too “boomy” given small room.

 

Thanks

 

Ian

 

 

Well, half the battle of avoiding boom is keeping the speakers away from corners and walls, the former being the worst culpret. Ideally you would aim to position the speakers to fire across the width rather than down the length as this can improve acoustics too although I'm not entirely sure how. How will the room be decorated? If there's a lot of reflective surfaces then you could get into trouble with reflections, although this is less likely to be a problem for the bass.

Maybe a couple of speakers to audition would be Rega RS1 and RS3 (as suggested before by Chebby). If they're as good as their predecessors (R1 and R3), and they ought to be, then they will have a nicely balanced bass and detailed sound whilst being fairly sensitive and easy to drive.

You should seriously consider the AVI Neutrons as I've said. Superb speakers, great detail, not boomy in any sense. I've had loads of Arcam kit and they would work brilliantly. Trust me, I heard them against Epos m12.2, and I was actually considering MA BR5 at the time. I was biamping having just bought A85/P85 combo and the only reason I didn't buy the Neutron IVs was because I couldn't biamp. Seriously good speakers and way better than those on your list, in my opinion.

 

For smaller rooms, steer clear of rear ported speakers as this normally exaggerates the problem. Stick to front ported or even sealed cabinets. Also, leaner sounding speakers like KEF.

why does the cm1 seem an old design

its a really good speaker no matter how it looks 

JoelSim:

You should seriously consider the AVI Neutrons as I've said. Superb speakers, great detail, not boomy in any sense. I've had loads of Arcam kit and they would work brilliantly. Trust me, I heard them against Epos m12.2, and I was actually considering MA BR5 at the time. I was biamping having just bought A85/P85 combo and the only reason I didn't buy the Neutron IVs was because I couldn't biamp. Seriously good speakers and way better than those on your list, in my opinion.

 

Specially the new MkV, which is cheaper than the older ones, looks gorgeous, and is really rather good...

EDIT - oh, and is better than the CM1 (IMO)

id imagine theyd be at other ends of the audio spectrum

havent heard the avis but arent they meant detailed revealing uncompromising with poor recordings while the cm1s warmer, more tolerant of poor material etc etc 

Hi Joeslim

 

Thanks for all your feedback. I looked at the AVI Neutrons but was told by 2 retailers that they are now made in China and the quality is not as good as it used to be??

 

Looks like CM1's or Monitor Audio RX1?

 Ian