What would you choose for small front speakers?

[JonnyG83]

Hi, im John, im new here. I started with a good home theater without investing any thought or research. Then I liked car audio, then a good travel and a good large bluetooth speaker. Now its time for me to do a bit of research into home theater because I have to change my setup. I have a denon receiver, paradigm monitor 7s and paradigm cinema 70s with an andrew jones pioneer sub. I plan on upgrading my receiver to a marantz so I can get audyssey and I like the smaller profile. Also Ill be upgrading the sub to a rythmik L12. What I am trying to research is what to do for my fronts.

I needed to switch my fronts to using the cinema 70s instead of the monitor 7s for family reasons (new little one) and for aesthetic reasons. Its just not cutting it for me though, so I want a more serious small front speaker to complete my 2.1 setup. What I was originally trying to do was look for a speaker with a 4.5" woofer even on the smaller side of that kind of speaker. So I thought possibly a NHT Superzero 2.1 or a SVS satellite. I wanted to keep the budget to $250 US ish. Im open to buying used as well. I wanted the smaller profile cause of how the TV is set up, but now im wondering if there is a much better speaker I could get thats slightly larger if I do plan on using them as my dedicated fronts for a while. Seeing the frequency response of the NHT Superzeros didnt leave me feeling like I would be making the right move. I got a recommendation for the Kef Q100 which looked MUCH better with a great looking frequency response. I want to buy something with the possibility of not using a sub at some point in time and still get some bass. Also, the possability to wall mount, so a port on the back might not be best.

So im not familiar with too many audio brands, which brands are considered great or what lines of the brands are great and it would be nice to get some guidance from some knowledgeable people here. It would be greatly appreciated and im looking forward to learning about home theaters more deeply now.

So if you had to choose a small set of front speakers for a good 2.1 setup what would it be? 4.5" woofer to possibly a 5.25", preferably 6-8" wide and under 12" tall, like the kef q100s, but I understand that might be hard to achieve.

 

[shadyJ]

If you want bass without a subwoofer, you will need a large speaker. There is no speaker that will give you any decent bass that is less than 6" wide. That limits you to a 4.5" woofer. Here is one speaker I would be looking at. It's out of your budget, but it has a -3 db point of 85 Hz, which is better than what most 4" woofer speakers will get you. RBH is a very highly regarded brand.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Thought it's the larger size, both it's price and sound (including very competent bass) will surprise you:
http://philharmonicaudio.com/aa.html

 

[JonnyG83]

Wow those reviews on the affordable accuracy monitors make it sound to be a pretty great speaker and a bargain! I will have to contemplate if I could make those work possibly.

Sorry I meant to say 7" wide in the initial post - ill correct that.

I know it may be asking a lot, but seeing the Kef Q100's being 12" tall and 7" wide and reach down to 49hz, that sounds like a pretty good speaker compared to the other options like the superzeros, svs satellites that are slightly smaller and get down to 85ish hz. What im trying to do is see if there's something better than the Kef's, because I guess that will be my front runner at the moment. Its had some pretty good reviews, but it hasnt been all praise, so thats why im trying to see if there's possibly something better. So my budget really is atleast $350 (Kef @ amazon: $300 + tax)

Also if a speaker thats slightly larger, but definitely better, maybe its worth trying to make it work, like the Affordable accuracy monitors or something similar.

Thanks for your guys' input and suggestions

 

[JonnyG83]

Im liking the looks of the NHT Superones right now. I found a great comparison between speakers that are almost exactly what I am looking for, I would highly recommend reading the comparison.

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/89-speakers/2233954-2-0-bookshelf-compared-wharfedale-philharmonic-chane-musichall-elac-energy-kef.html

Theres more speakers, but these were the most applicable to me -

NHT Superones - 11.5 x 7.25 x 8.5 - 56 Hz - 6.5"
Wave Crest HVL-1 - 12 x 7 x 9.5 - 63 Hz - 5.25"
KEF Q100 - 12 x 7 x 9.5 - 49 Hz - 5.25"
Wharfdale 220 - 12.5 x 7 x 10 - 56 Hz - 5.25"
Philharmonic AA made the list the one BoredSysAdmin suggested as well (cheapest ones on the list) - 14 x 9 x 11 - 48 Hz - 6.5"

"These speakers definitely hit well above their price bracket. Listening to these back and forth between the other speakers I’m thoroughly impressed. While they don’t have the clearest mids or the most detailed highs, they reproduce a full spectrum of sounds very well from highs to the bass making it one of the best speakers I’ve heard for just a 2.0 setup.

They’re a bit more clear than the Wharfedales or the HTD’s in the mids, about equal in treble detail as those two, and have a much better bass than the Chane’s or KEF or just about all the other speakers tested for using as a 2.0 System. Dennis did a great job with these.

One thing to note about other reviews I’ve read on a number of these speakers, some will say “you can get away without a subwoofer for these.” Such as for the Chane’s or NHT’s. And the thing is it’s true, when you listen to them on their own, you’ll enjoy the bass response, but when you listen to something like the Philharmonic AA’s in direct comparison, you do get the full range of sounds and the other speakers will sound lacking in the bass department. The only speaker with a better bass quality/quantity was possibly the Elac B6’s, but I had to send those back before these arrived, these win on mid/treble clarity vs the B6.

These are slightly warm but mostly neutral.

Pros:

• Great reproduction of sound from treble to bass making them a great 2.0 selection
• Price!

Cons:

• The lower mids/upper bass can get just slightly muddy
• Slightly recessed mids"

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I would look for the AA Monitors.

 

[rojo]

@JonnyG83 Here you go. Monoprice Monolith K-BAS. 5¼" driver, -3dB @ 39Hz. You'll have to wait a month to order them, and they're 15" tall and double your budget.

Also a bit on the tall side but worth considering are the Hsu Research HB-1 MK2.

 

[KEW]

I want to buy something with the possibility of not using a sub at some point in time and still get some bass. Also, the possibility to wall mount, so a port on the back might not be best.

For overall quality of sound plus solid bass, I have not found anything that competes with the AA's for under $1000! However, realize that it is rear ported and not especially small/light.

https://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Clamping-Mounting-Surrounding-MS56B/dp/B000X9O8SI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441293830&sr=8-1&keywords=speaker+mount

The NHT SuperZero and AA's have a pretty similar sound, but the SuperZeros have no bass.
You might also look at the Sony Core Series (Best Buy has for around $220). They have a similar sound and add much better bass than the NHT's, but still fall well short of the bass of the AA's. However, they are more compact than the AA's (but still rear ported-AH magazine suggested 1.5 times the port diameter as the minimum clearance from a wall).

While the AA's bass -3dB point is 48Hz, they produce noticeable bass down into the mid 30's.
Everyone who has been by to listen to these has been amazed at the bass once they confirmed that the subs were indeed off! More importantly, these do not have the bass hump many BS speakers have in their design to give the impression of deep bass.

 

[DD66000]

For a small speaker, with good soundstage and incredible bass, the JBL 530. It's a 2-way with a 5 1/4" woofer, horn loaded tweeter.....if I needed a small speaker, that would be my choice.

 

[JonnyG83]

Hey thanks for all the suggestions guys! I think I made my decision on the NHT Superones. I just like the size and sealed design. I would have loved to give the AA's a try, but just not at this time. They will definitely be remembered and hopefully ill even try to convince someone else to buy them lol, just so I could still play with them a little bit. They look like they are worth it and it would be easy to convince someone to part with that amount of money.

 

[KEW]

Those are fine speakers!
You'll certainly enjoy them!