Active speakers for home office, spoiled by my media room and trying to decide what's reasonable.

[myusernamechosen]

I've been running a pair of Kanto YU6 speakers that I got when my company transition to WFH back in June of 2020. At the time my though was I don't want to spend a fortune on speakers and to a degree that's still the case but I listen to them a lot. My media room in my basement has a pair of Audio Physic Classic 30s and a pair of SVS SB 3000 subs, it sounds amazing but in fairness I have 40X more money into that system than the Kantos.

I'm trying to think about what upgrade in speakers could make sense. In my mind I wouldn't want to spend a lot, maybe $750...but then I go well is that dumb if I listen to them every day? Is there a price point where the quality really jumps notably? I'm not looking for the bass response of my system with two subs, but more the clarity to overall improve. Very open to questions and suggestions here.

Edit: my office is above my living room so can’t do a sub, so needs to be 2.0

Thanks.

 

[staticV3]

Here's the space they should fit into:

(Shamelessly stolen from your other thread @myusernamechosen, hope that's ok)

 

[staticV3]

I'll start with:

SVS PB1000 on clearance for $400:
+
some small, preferably white active studio monitor:
305p MKII?
MR4 (improved since Amir's review)?
iLoud Micro?
Kali LP6 V2?
+
Room Correction

Sub integration and room correction are a bit involved though, so I fully understand if you'd rather have your office setup be a simple 2.0 system.

 

[myusernamechosen]

I'll start with:

SVS PB1000 on clearance for $400:
+
some small, preferably white active studio monitor:
305p MKII?
MR4 (improved since Amir's review)?
iLoud Micro?
Kali LP6 V2?
+
Room Correction

Sub integration and room correction are a bit involved though, so I fully understand if you'd rather have your office setup be a simple 2.0 system.

I’m very familiar with using rew and doing room correction but because my office is right over our living room I can’t do a sub

 

[Ellebob]

What about Kali IN-5 would those be too big? Can come on white if you prefer.

 

[staticV3]

What about Kali IN-5 would those be too big?

Probably: https://comparesizes.com/comparison/YU6-vs-IN5/1681848819853

I’m very familiar with using rew and doing room correction but because my office is right over our living room I can’t do a sub

If you can go all in on a pair of monitors: Neumann KH 80 DSP, Genelec 8020D, Genelec G Two (same as 8020 but with RCA).

They're both smaller than the YU4, play even a bit deeper, and come in white (and bare aluminium for the Genelec).
They're $1100 a pair though...

 

[Battlebeast]

Pair of Apple Home Pod 2.

 

[myusernamechosen]

What about Kali IN-5 would those be too big? Can come on white if you prefer.

Yeah they are really big for the space but appreciate the idea

 

[myusernamechosen]

Probably: https://comparesizes.com/comparison/YU6-vs-IN5/1681848819853


If you can go all in on a pair of monitors: Neumann KH 80 DSP, Genelec 8020D, Genelec G Two (same as 8020 but with RCA).

They're both smaller than the YU4, play even a bit deeper, and come in white (and bare aluminium for the Genelec).
They're $1100 a pair though...

I’ll do some looking here. If I need to spend more so be it

 

[anotherhobby]

I’m very familiar with using rew and doing room correction but because my office is right over our living room I can’t do a sub

Just because you have subs doesn't mean they have to be dialed to 11 all day every day. You can find a middle ground here that's very rewarding.

My office is across the hall in my house from my wife's office. We both work from home, 5 days a week, and like any reasonable human, she is NOT tolerent of subwoofers or bass thumping while she's working. However, I'm also running 4x subwoofers with 2kW of power and have a happy marriage, so I feel I can offer some practical advice on the matter. The two keys for me have been (1) being an empathetic and understanding person, and (2) having 4 config presets on my miniDSP Flex to adjust my bass on the fly.

My 4 miniDSP/Dirac presets:
Preset1: subs enabled, ideal room curve applied in Dirac — this is my standard listening config
Preset2: subs enabled, but a bass cut is applied in Dirac — this is a compromise
Preset3: no subs, mains only (Revel M105s), full range, sounds good but lacks bass — guaranteed happy wife
Preset4: I leave this open for testing

Preset1 works fine 90% of the time during the work day because I choose music I know won't bug her (no driving thump thumb baselines) and I keep things at a reasonable volume. My wife has carté blance to ask me to nerf my bass at any time via text, and I always comply, and I never complain.

Preset2 is what I use when I want more volume, but I can tell something is too bassy, and Preset3 is excellent for a fast guarantee that bass won't irritate her. I actually rarely use Preset3, but it's there if I need it. Outside of our work schedules, I apply the same logic, but more loosely.

So no, I can't just rock my quad subs whenever I want, but that doesn't mean I don't extract a ridiculous amount of enjoyment out of them. I can always enjoy them at low and reasonable volumes, because full range sound still sounds fantastic even at low volumes. When it's appropriate to release the thunder, which is far more often than you'd think, it's extra rewarding.

Just beause you have subs doesn't mean it has to be a static thing where they just pound all day long.

 

[staticV3]

I’ll do some looking here. If I need to spend more so be it

If you stumble over Amir's reviews of the KH 80, keep in mind that he had to work out some issues with his measurement rig.
The first review was affected, so was the second, only the third review showed the speaker's response as it should be.

 

[Ellebob]

iLoud MTM
iKoud Micro
Kali IN-UNF

Here are some other options in your price range. Sometimes small speakers can sound great but really need a sub. So there aren't many small speakers that have decent bass. All of these could also use a sub to get the lower octaves but at least by themselves their bass is decent. the bass module on the Kali is not a subwoofer but goes low enough to give a nice fuller sound

I have the IN-UNF here and it's midrange really surprised me how good it sounded on vocals especially for the price. It has good bass and highs too. I don't know if you can make the bass module work on your desk but it would be my top pick of these three if it works for your situation. Second would be the MTM and if they are still too big then the Micro.