Small Speakers Challenge

What size is your room? Most of the speakers you mentioned are pretty small, so they might struggle in a larger area (or if you like to watch movies with the volume loud).

+1

The Cambridge Audio s30 has a small footprint and it sounds way bigger then it looks.

Also check out the Golden Ear Supersat series. Their folded motion tweeter provides a very sweet but detailed highs not normally heard with normal dome tweeters. It's the only speaker that would give my MilleniaOnes a run for my money

If your looking for the biggest possible sound out of those dimensions I would suggest the following:

X4 Klipsch rb-41II - $600 for 4
X1 Klipsch rc-42II center - $250 at most

The rb-41's JUST fit in the space you mentioned.
Plus they will likely have the highest WAF as the copper woofers seem to impress

"We moved to a differnt house and all my problems started. The layout of the family room forced the 65" TV to a corner of the room because of the fireplace and cabinets. The place to put speakers on either side of the TV is pretty small (7" wide x 9" high x 9" deep). Adding to that pain, wife wants to do interior design."

Man need mancave! Big, brute, manly speakers GOOD, wimpy minisats BAD LOL! Sorry for your unfortunate situation, best of luck with solution.

Jay

Is it possible to mount the tv above the fireplace? Then you could go for some floor standers and larger surrounds to fill your room?

How tall is the ceiling? The total cubic volume of the room is critical when making a determination, not just the square footage. What you can get away with in a room that has 8' ceilings you won't be able to do in a room with 12' ceilings.


Ironically, that may also be their biggest strength...

While there is definitely value in being able to walk into a store and audition something before you buy it -- a process I sorely miss -- that doesn't always equate to the same experience you would get when listening to that speaker in your own environment. The electronics you have, and the room acoustics, can drastically alter the sound. And it's a virtual certainty that your speaker placement and seating position will differ to how the store was laid out, which is another critical factor about a speakers sound.

It's always nice to at least have a general understanding of what a speaker will sound like before committing to a home audition, but with the ID companies that's not possible. Their business model seems counter-intuitive, and in some respects it really is, but that's actually the ideal place to audition them; your own home. If you find that they don't work then you're out some time and money, which is always unfortunate, but in a lot of instances if you opt to keep the speakers the value they provide was worth it.

If I were in that situation I would get four of the NHT Super-Zero 2.0 speakers, which are very good and only $99 each at Audio Advisor (9 x 5.5 x 5 inches) and the Velodyne Wi connect 10 subwoofer, which can be wirelessly located anywhere in the room, for $399. Those are good little speakers; don't know of anything as good in that size.

I don't know if you really want or need a center speaker, but NHT makes the NHT Absolute Center for $299, which is compact. Personally, I would just go with the front, rear, and sub and forget using a center speaker, but if a center is your preference you could either get the NHT Center or just try the CC-170 with the NHT speakers for a while and see how that works, and then decide. The CC-170 may work fine.

You really DO want to get a better subwoofer immediately; the one you have is VERY limited in both LF range and sound output and quality. Even the Sony SA-W3000, which you can get on Amazon for $130, is a MUCH better one than what you have (over twice the cone area and twice the amplifier power; 10 times as much bass)! The Sony would be a good choice if you don't want to spend the money for the Velodyne right now.

Since ANY speaker small enough to fit your space is going to give very little output below 90 HZ, the subwoofer is really going to be critical to getting decent overall sound, so the one you have is NOT going to be adequate!

Audio Advisor gives you 30 days to return anything for a full refund, no tax and no shipping charge; you do pay return shipping on returns.

P.S.- That's a nice receiver; hang on to that one!

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I had the same 5.1 audio system since 13 years and I like it even today (Paradigm Mini Monitors, Atoms, CC-170, PDR-8, Marantz-5001). We moved to a differnt house and all my problems started. The layout of the family room forced the 65" TV to a corner of the room because of the fireplace and cabinets. The place to put speakers on either side of the TV is pretty small (7" wide x 9" high x 9" deep). Adding to that pain, wife wants to do interior design.

I am looking to replace all my HT audio components starting with speakers. The speakers need to be small so that they fit on either side of the TV. I strongly prefer neutral and clean sound with a nice soundstage.

The Cambridge Audio Minx system should be in the mix if small satelitte speakers are the only option. There is an active thread about those...

If you liked the Paradigms you had I would look at the MilleniaOnes. They are not going to hit reference levels in a room that size but they should sound good for normal listening.

A few other small satellites that you might want to add to your list are the Kef HTS2001.3 and the HTS3001SE/HTC3001.SE combination; the Klipsch Quintet; Polk Blackstone TL3; Focal Dome. The CA Minx 20 is a good suggestion too - those seem to be well liked.

You budget is decent for 5 speakers, my top choice would be the Genelec 6010 or slightly larger 8020. A little more pain to wire but worth it. If there is no Genelec home theater dealer that has these to demo near you, many music stores will have them.

I'm glad you're enjoying them. Look forward to seeing your write up.