Office speaker setup without subwoofer

[The Dali]

Everybody, I have a question about my office set up. I have a small office about 10 x 10 and I don’t have much for space so I’m trying to get a stereo set up without the use of a subwoofer looking for recommendation somewhere in the $300 to $400 range or something that has good base but is small and stature. Thoughts?

 

[ski2xblack]

To get the extension you want will be fighting against size constraints.

Are JBL lsr308 too large? They're quite good, with satisfying bass extension, in budget, but are not exactly tiny. (The 305/306 are smaller at the expense of extension. 308 you can get by sans subwoofer.)

 

[Matt34]

JBL or Kali studio monitors are probably going to your best choice in that price range. If you have an amp already maybe the Elac elac debut 3.0 db63 which would be a little over budget. I would go with the above monitors over the Elacs.

 

[The Dali]

Hi everyone. I have an amplifier already. Just switching from tiny satellites and sub to two bookshelf speakers. Trying to create space by getting rid of the sub and clean up the office while upgrading the speakers. (I had small Mirage Sat speakers and a Polk sub in there originally).

 

[ski2xblack]

Hmm. Crutchfield has the Revel Concerta2 M16 for $350. In room, they're probably good to 50 hz, maybe slightly deeper, a welcome mid bass bump which may help sans sub, and are otherwise really, really good little(ish) passive monitors.

edit: check that, that price is for each, not a pair. Sorry.

 

[The Dali]

Thx anyway! lol. I’m looking around and will add some potential options in this thread.

 

[ski2xblack]

@shadyJ has more empirical experience than anyone here, hopefully he can suggest something like those Revels but in budget.

Maybe the best option for long term satisfaction means saving the necessary scratch to get something like the Revels.

 

[Mr._Clark]

Thx anyway! lol. I’m looking around and will add some potential options in this thread.

Have you looked at the Philharmonic true mini monitor? They're $380/pair and the frequency response is 70 Hz - 20kHz (+1.5 / - 3db) Anechoic (ported).

I have not heard these speakers, but they're probably worth checking out.

The True Mini Monitor (Price per Pair)

philharmonicaudio.com

 

[shadyJ]

The Revels are good but they are basically doubling the OP's budget. A no-brainer for this would have been the HECO Aurora 300s while they were still in stock, but it looks like they aren't available in the USA anymore. The Philharmonic True Minis look liek a great suggestion for this. The Dayton OPAL1s are nearly perfect for this situation but they are out of the OP's budget too.

 

[ski2xblack]

Are you willing to glue and screw? DIY kits offer some very cost effective, worthy options you may not have considered. Our resident builder extraordinaire @MrBoat has built quite a few small format monitors and could advise which are pleasing sans subs.

 

[The Dali]

A couple of options.

Triangle br03
KEF q150
Klipsch RP-500m ii
Klipsch RP-160
Wharfedale Diamond
B&w 606 series
JBL 530

maybe even older paradigm options too.

just starting out… got my theater sorted out this weekend so now fixing to the home office. I haven’t done research on bass output from any of these…

 

[ski2xblack]

The Philharmonic True Minis look liek a great suggestion for this

Satisfying sans sub, though? Dennis' work is exceptional, but these roll off kinda high.

 

[The Dali]

The budget could be flexible, but probably tapping out at $600

this would be for music listening…

 

[shadyJ]

Satisfying sans sub, though? Dennis' work is exceptional, but these roll off kinda high.

The port is probably a bit over-damped, but placing this speaker near any surface will show up low bass, especialy in a small room like what OP described. But these speakers have a 35Hz port tuning. OP is not going to get that from any other small speaker in this price range. My only concern is that such a small and unflared port get get overwhelmed pretty easily and get into turbulence. May not be a problem for OP depending on their expectations and use.

 

[The Dali]

Are you willing to glue and screw? DIY kits offer some very cost effective, worthy options you may not have considered. Our resident builder extraordinaire @MrBoat has built quite a few small format monitors and could advise which are pleasing sans subs.

Appreciate the suggestion but I’d prefer to get something complete at this stage

 

[isolar8001]

Everybody, I have a question about my office set up. I have a small office about 10 x 10 and I don’t have much for space so I’m trying to get a stereo set up without the use of a subwoofer looking for recommendation somewhere in the $300 to $400 range or something that has good base but is small and stature. Thoughts?

I have a pair of white Q Acoustics 3030i's. Bought new at 400 bucks about 4 years ago (have the white matching stands also) They go for around 550 now, but I'm sure you can get them cheaper.

I pull these out every so often just to run them in stereo, no sub.
Amazing bass from these speakers...you would swear there is a small sub somewhere in the room when they are playing.

Q acoustics 3030i review - Google Search

 

[Trell]

Appreciate the suggestion but I’d prefer to get something complete at this stage

I for sure sympathize with that but you do have requirements that's hard to meet, so something has to give.

Do note that speakers have a minimum recommended listening distance so check up on that as well for your usage.

 

[ski2xblack]

But these speakers have a 35Hz port tuning

A-ha! They should have a fairly shallow roll off and useful response well below rated 70 hz. when accounting for boundary gain. Thanks, James. Given that, I would agree that these are a great suggestion for the OP's requirements.

 

[Trell]

A-ha! They should have a fairly shallow roll off and useful response well below rated 70 hz. when accounting for boundary gain. Thanks, James. Given that, I would agree that these are a great suggestion for the OP's requirements.

The OP has not said how close to the speakers he is sitting in his small office.

 

[ski2xblack]

The OP has not said how close to the speakers he is sitting in his small office.

Yeah, but he'll get some boundary gain simply from being on a desktop. Your point is worth The Dali's consideration, though. His expectations for dynamic range are probably realistic considering he's specifically after smallish speakers. He could do worse than phils, for sure. Dennis' speakers are smooth as silk.

A friend of mine has the Q Acoustics 3030i mentioned just upthread. They are undoubtedly more bangin than the phils, their bass is strong, but I doubt they're as linear/neutral as the phils.