New bedroom 2.0 speaker setup ~£1000 ($1600) - advice needed

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DefineByte

Limp Gawd
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Apr 24, 2006
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I'm looking to get some speakers for music listening in my bedroom. I've got around £1000 set aside but I'd like to err on the side of less rather than more.

Space is limited so it's going to have to be bookshelf speakers and the only place I can put them is a 25x120cm monitor shelf on my desk. The room is approximately 25.392m3 in size (so Google SketchUp tells me). The speakers will likely be very close to the wall but I'm not sure what that would do to rear ported models.

I currently use a pair of AKG K701 headphones which I really like but I do find them slightly lacking in the bass department. I listen to all sorts of genres but when it comes to reggae, drum & bass and some other electronic music I would like something with a bit of kick. Nothing too boomy, just nice and controlled. I accept this might be difficult for bookshelf models though. Might have to look into a sub but I've no idea where I'd put it.

I don't have an amplifier so the price would need to include that (and likely cables etc.) if I went down that route. I like the idea of powered monitors though, which would save space and would be easy to hook up to my Benchmark DAC1 USB (connected to a PC).

I'm not looking for anything with a high output. Mainly low volume levels. Listening distance will vary but no more than around 2.2M I would guess.

Unfortunately I'm a bit out in the sticks somewhat so I can't demo anything myself. I was hoping the experienced members here could steer me in the right direction. :)

Is the budget realistic? Overkill? I've never bought speakers before so I really don't know where to start.

For those that make it this far, apologies for the long post. :D
 
You have enough cash in your budget for a sub. 90% of the time, a sub will increase the overall performance of your system dramatically.

You should definitely try to incorporate one into your system, because ordinary stereo speakers (even large floorstanding models) cannot reproduce low frequencies well because of room interactions and thus, a sub usually has to be moved around the room to find the sweet spot. An easier way to do this is to put the sub in the listening position and doing the "sub crawl", where you measure for the highest dB around the available places to put the sucker).
 
+1 to audio thug's post. If you're looking for some kick in the bass dept. I'd definitely look into a sub. My Cerwin Vega floorstanding speakers sound great, and with 15" woofers they have some pretty nice low end...but they cannot begin to compete with the bass that my 15" CV sub is capable of.

If you can find the room I'd definitely recommend a sub. A good 10" or 12" model should provide ample kick and impact. Your budget is ample enough to accommodate a nice set of bookshelf speakers, a receiver, and a subwoofer (or, alternatively, powered monitors and a subwoofer). I would look at front ported models if the speakers are going to be really close to the wall.

With your budget, you should be able to get fantastic sound and have some $$$ left over!
 
Thanks. The only place I could put a sub would be on or under the desk and there's really not a lot of room under it. It would also be very enclosed (don't know if that's a problem).

It's basically a 10ftx10ft space with probably more furniture in it than there should be. x)
Cue less than helpful images (to scale):
bedroom1.jpg

bedroom2.jpg

If I can't get something to fit on the monitor shelf of that desk (not shown) I really don't know where I'd put it. There's some drawers under both sides of the desk too which makes things even more cramped.

Wall mounting isn't an option as I'm not making holes in the wall. :D

If I was going the 2.0 route do you know anything about Genelec 8030As? They're quite small, so bass might be a problem, and they're rear ported. They still cry out to me though. >.<

If I was going 2.1 what makes should I be looking out for for the speakers/sub? I like the look of the Adam A7+Sub8 combo. Obviously this is pro gear so I'm not sure how good it would be for actual listening rather than mixing.
 
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You should head over to avsforum or to audiokarma. Both websites will offer you a significantly better informed and experienced level of advice and help for this big of a purchase.
 
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