New Home Setup

U_Fig

So recently I've been thinking about getting a good set of speakers for my home. I kind of see myself as an Audiophile in training. Space is not in too much of abundance so i was thinking of getting bookshelf speakers but floor ones would be ok if the sound was much improved.

I'm looking to spend about €500-€600 in total and that includes an amp and a DAC which I will prob go with the ODAC/O2 combo as I can't see me getting a better one for the price.

I listen to all kinds of music but a lot of Rock and some Metal, some House/electronic mainly. I like a quite aggressive sound, I currently own a pair of Sennheiser HD 25 1 II and love how they sound. I also like quite a netural sound that is not too colored I'll EQ it if I need to improve areas

I was looking at getting a set of 6inch monitors but I wont really be producing music.. at least not for the next couple of years anyway and just want a 2.0 or 2.1 setup for my home listening pleasure

As i said my room is quite small so i won't need a massive sound if i can get a set of speakers that have pretty good base response i'll do without a sub.

Any recommendations on a good set of speakers for the price?

also my budget is not set in stone i would increase it slightly for a sizable jump in quality

Luck100

For a smallish room I think you'll get maximum audio quality from a pair of powered studio monitors. These are the type of speakers used for audio production and mixing so they're designed to be very accurate and dynamic. They're powered speakers so they don't need an external amp - you just feed line level signal from your DAC directly to the speaker. Just make sure you have somewhere reasonable to put them. You can't stick any speaker into a corner or on a bookshelf and expect to get quality sound. I'd recommend speakers with 5-6" bass drivers, 8" is fine too but will tend to be more expensive for equivalent quality of sound. Smaller bass drivers are just too light at the bottom end.

I got these recently, they run off my PC with an external DAC:
http://www.studiospares.com/studio-monitors/studiospares-seiwin-powered-monitors-pair/invt/248030

They sound fantastic and certainly have more than enough power for a small room. I bought them before doing a lot of research, so if I was going to do it again I'd shop around at Thomann's and/or Xmusic first. I think Xmusic has a physical store in the Dublin area so you could go listen to stuff there to see what you like. The KRK Rokit line seems quite popular locally, there's lots of gear for sale on Adverts.

Luck100

Here's the KRK Rokit with 6" bass drivers at XMusic:
http://www.xmusic.ie/KRK-ROKIT-6-G3-GENERATION-3-STUDIO-MONITOR-p-44272.html

Price is for one speaker only. Like I said they seem quite popular so you can probably pick up used ones at a good price on Adverts. Haven't heard them myself but I get the impression they kick a bit harder in the bass at the expense of some accuracy - possibly more enjoyable for listening pleasure than more strictly accurate monitors.

Other well-known brands are Genelec, Adam, M-Audio, Yamaha. Plenty more too, it seems a very competitive product niche.

U_Fig

Thanks I was originally looking at the krk rokit 6 alright..they seem very popular. I might head up to one of the shops in dublin over the next few days and try them out.. The only concern I have is being nearfield monitors would there not be a narrow sweet spot I plan to listen to these from the other end of the room sitting on a chair as opposed to directly in front of them so I was thinking that nearfield monitors might not be so good In that respct

I was looking In the past few days and see the q acoustics concept 20. They seem to have a good rating or the ausioengine a5. In my budget
I think I'm leaning towards active speakers thus eliminating the need for an amp in my setup. Any other recommendations on speakers or places that I could go which would have a good slection of speakers to listen to.

Luck100

Yes, you're right about nearfield monitors and the narrow sweet spot. I have mine on acoustic pads on the desk (they replaced some old logitech PC speakers) so the nearfield setup is perfect for me. The best thing is go listen in person, but I don't have any experience with high-end audio shops in Dublin.

My general impression is that it's very hard to beat the stereo imaging and fidelity of near-field monitors. Speakers which work in mid or far-field will have a wider sweet spot and wider dispersion (sounding good from a wider range of positions) but the price you pay is that the imaging and fidelity isn't quite as good as what you get from the sweet spot of a good pair of nearfields. The room acoustics also play a bigger role once you move away from the nearfield position, since you'll be hearing more scattered/reflected sound.

I have a big pair of floorstanding full-range speakers in the living room which are pretty much the opposite of my nearfield speakers. They have integrated (powered) 12" woofers, excellent dispersion, much better impression of space/weight but invariably the stereo placement is a big vague and the top end seems a bit softer.

U_Fig

Ya maybe some else might have a good idea of high end music stores in Dublin/Wicklow/Wexford area..

I understand how nearfield could give those improvements but I'm going to have to see how my room could accomidate a setup like that . I'm not looking for studio accuracy sound its only for pleasure listening so I'd take a hit on accucary to provide a more comfortabe listening experience.