Gaming speaker recommendations for small room?

[audiophool]

Room is 11x11x9 feet. I think listening distance will be around 4-5 feet. Setup will mainly be used for gaming and movies. I ordered Klipsch RP-600M and KEF LS50 to try out, but was curious what other options to consider? Budget is around $500/speaker. I'd prefer to stick with passive speakers.

 

[BillG]

Unsung heroes. While not the most attractive of speakers, they do the job well:

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/infinity-reference-r162-speaker-system

P.S. For gaming and movies, I'd suggest getting the sub...

 

[BDWoody]

Room is 11x11x9 feet. I think listening distance will be around 4-5 feet. Setup will mainly be used for gaming and movies. I ordered Klipsch RP-600M and KEF LS50 to try out, but was curious what other options to consider? Budget is around $500/speaker. I'd prefer to stick with passive speakers.

I would say the JBL 705i could be in that price range. The 705p (active version) was just on B stock sale for $500 each, but not sure how often that happens.

Edit: I should say, I have the LS50's as well, and I like them a lot. Just giving other suggestions.

 

[digitalfrost]

I've been using the KEF LS50 for a long time in such a setup. I think especially with short listenting distances, the coaxial drivers make a lot of sense.

For explosions and stuff, you will need a sub however. Integrating that can be problematic, especially at short listenting distances. I ended up putting subwoofers on the desk, because I could always locate the sub otherwise.

So you might want to think about satellites that already can go deep by themselves. I guess for that budget, you can't have it all and you'll have to chose which trade-off you can accept.

 

[audiophool]

I've been using the KEF LS50 for a long time in such a setup. I think especially with short listenting distances, the coaxial drivers make a lot of sense.

For explosions and stuff, you will need a sub however. Integrating that can be problematic, especially at short listenting distances. I ended up putting subwoofers on the desk, because I could always locate the sub otherwise.

So you might want to think about satellites that already can go deep by themselves. I guess for that budget, you can't have it all and you'll have to chose which trade-off you can accept.

What crossover did you use? Frequency and slope?

Hearing the subs is definitely concern for me, considering the LS50 bass extension.

 

[digitalfrost]

In the beginning I used 12db/oct Butterworth, that was just shit. Crossover frequency was determined using setup CD. Probably something around 80-120hz. Moving to 24db/oct LR was a huge improvement.

But if your listening distance is only 1m or something, I don't buy the whole "you can't locate bass frequencies" shenanigans. I had a sub to the side, just off the desk and that was annoying. I had a subwoofer under my desk, severly restricting the space for my feet, and I was still able to notice it. Might also have been the vibration I could feel with my feet. I wasn't happy until I found a solution to put the subwoofers on the desk. In fact, since I needed to raise the LS50 anyway to get the tweeter up to ear height, so I've just built subwoofers that doubled as stands for the satellites.

Mind you, the LS50 are down like -3dB at 60hz, so you can't just dial down the crossover frequency. Once I got my desk subs, I did multiple tests with crossover frequency and open/closed BR ports on the LS50 and I settled on 100hz crossover with _open_ BR ports. Sounded better to me.

- I would cross subs with 24db/oct or better
- Distance and location of the sub matters, at least with short distances to the sattelites

Optimal setup would probably be a single or double bass array, if you've got the space. Or at least multiple subwoofers.

 

[wadec22]

Vanatoo. Have their own remote and you can add a sub and stay in budget. Great for room size and distance you are sitting.

This guy does great reviews. Compares JBL 305 as well.

http://noaudiophile.com/Vanatoo_Transparent_One/

https://vanatoo.com/shop/speakers/transparent-one-encore/