Looking for Bookshelf Speakers with Clarity and Brightness for Nearfield Listening

[porcoalado]

Hello everyone, Brazilian planning to buy speakers for my house in Argentina.

I'm currently using a Sony STR-DE895 (more info below) receiver and I'm interested in finding a pair of bookshelf speakers that excel in clarity and have a slightly brighter sound signature. These speakers would primarily be used for nearfield listening in a small room (more info below). While I recently lost my subwoofer to a thunderstorm, adding another one is planned for the future.

I understand that my receiver has a compatible impedance range of 8-16 ohms. To confirm, would using 6 ohm speakers be safe for the receiver?

Room Dimensions: 2.5m x 5m (length x width)

Wall Layout:

One long wall with a built-in wardrobe (wood door) Opposite wall: standard construction Window at the front of the room Back entrance with a door leading to a 1.25m x 1.25m corridor Ceiling: Wood

Height: Approximately 2.5m

Current Setup:

Work desk positioned directly in front of the window Listening position: Center of the room due to limited space behind the desk for speakers

Receiver information https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/res/manuals/W001/W0010617M.pdf https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158STR895B/Sony-STR-DE895-Black.html I can't access crutch field due to my location but from the info I have it's 8-16 ohm impedance and 110w per chanel which are 6 and an output for a subwoofer, I think It can do the job, if not I'm planning on getting an amp.

Current speakers info I have a set of Sony SS-MS445 satellite speakers mounted on the wall, following home theater speaker placement recommendations. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the specifications for this specific model, but based on my experience, they sound similar to the Bose Acoustimass cubes, with the addition of a small tweeter.

I found a link to the Sony SA-VE445H speaker system on Crutchfield, which I believe might be the same product https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158SAVE445/Sony-SA-VE445H.html (although the website is currently unavailable in my region).

My primary music source is Amazon Music on the highest quality setting, with occasional use of Spotify. My listening tastes are eclectic, encompassing funk, rock and roll, blues, jazz, and beyond.

I'm interested in speakers with a brighter, more airy sound signature, acknowledging that this can be fatiguing to some listeners. This preference aligns with my enjoyment of artists like Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons, whose music often benefits from a clear and detailed presentation. However, I also appreciate the warmth and presence of genres like bossa nova, MPB, and classic jazz (Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis). For these styles, a speaker with a touch more warmth would be ideal. Notably, I rarely listen to modern, bass-heavy music unless hosting friends.

Budget Considerations:

It's important to note that due to import taxes, speaker prices in Brazil tend to run significantly higher compared to the US market. With that in mind, my budget is flexible around 3500 reais (approximately $678 USD). This has led me to consider speaker options that are considered budget-friendly in the US, but may not necessarily translate directly to the Brazilian market due to these price differences. Usually prices are 150% higher than in the hs market, in Argentina is even worse.

With that in mind i had these as options Q acoustics 3030i, Klipsch rp500m II, Klipsch r51m, monitor audio bronze 100, JBL stage a130, Polk audio signature es20. I'm open to suggestions If I'm lacking info please let me know and I'll edit the post. Thanks in advance Edit: unfortunately I can't demo any of these because I live in a rural area. I have been offered the Jamo 805 HCS system , looks nice but I think it would be overkill for the room (but the pricing was great, around 500 for 2 towers, 2 bookshelfs and one center speaker Q acoustics 3030i seems to be a good choice as a near field from what I've been told The Klipsch rp500m II appears to have an interesting sound signature

 

[porcoalado]

Mostly ill be listening from around a meter and a half to 1,8m

 

[staticV3]

Hi @porcoalado! Welcome to ASR.

Have you considered active studio monitors?

These usually have better sound quality for the money, and you don't have to worry about matching impedance to your receiver.

For around 3500 reais, you can for example get a pair of JBL 306P MKII.

JBL 306P MK II Review (Studio Monitor)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the JBL Professional 306P MKII powered speaker. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $149 including Prime shipping from Amazon (each). Naturally the 306p has identical look and feel of the rest of the LSR series: Same as the back...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[porcoalado]

Hi @porcoalado! Welcome to ASR.

Have you considered active studio monitors?

These usually have better sound quality for the money, and you don't have to worry about matching impedance to your receiver.

For around 3500 reais, you can for example get a pair of JBL 306P MKII.

JBL 306P MK II Review (Studio Monitor)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the JBL Professional 306P MKII powered speaker. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $149 including Prime shipping from Amazon (each). Naturally the 306p has identical look and feel of the rest of the LSR series: Same as the back...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Hello, thank you for replying! the city where the speakers are going to be have a terrible electricity, things simply stop working, fridges, televisions, my subwoofer and so on, so im afraid that having an active speaker makes me more suceptible to eletric problems, my sub fried using stabilizers and so on...

However i had considered it but i also thought that maybe a passive speaker would be more focused on the quality of the speakers and not having to pay for the added amplifier on the speaker that might get fried, i had considered the Yamaha HS5 before

 

[staticV3]

i had considered the Yamaha HS5 before

The HS5 is not that good of a choice:

Yamaha HS5 Powered Monitor Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yamaha HS5 Powered Monitor (speaker). I purchased it this afternoon for US $200 which is the price that it goes for everywhere. This is for a single unit by the way. The industrial design of the HS5 is fantastic: Get the larger ones and I am...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[porcoalado]

The HS5 is not that good of a choice:

Yamaha HS5 Powered Monitor Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yamaha HS5 Powered Monitor (speaker). I purchased it this afternoon for US $200 which is the price that it goes for everywhere. This is for a single unit by the way. The industrial design of the HS5 is fantastic: Get the larger ones and I am...

www.audiosciencereview.com

wouldnt any of those speakers be a good choice? the other thing im considering is that id be paying 700 dollars for a 140 dollars speaker and the klipsch or q acoustics wouldnt be that much of a loss

 

[ZolaIII]

Yamahas have relatively aggressive power protection which can be pain in... but it does save amplifier. Can you get a deacent measurement microphone? It doesn't have to be UMIK-1. To see what are you getting out of the room. I have Q3030i in little smaller room (4 m long, rest is pretty much same) and at 3 m listening distance (close to wall behind them with port's plugged with 2 sub's...) and still need to tame them a little even the room is half treated and those are not exactly bright. First stop is to see what you are getting and then what can be done about it. For given music choice (with lot of experimental planning) definitely one's which will have very good sound stage (helped with DSP phase manipulation future more) not exactly bright more wide (dispersion) and deep (again referring to sound stage). If you don't want to go with sub's... I guess Wharfedale Linton's are out of a budget, perhaps good quality A-B class larger (8") monitors (with good power protection) would be a good idea but again probably out of the budget.
Small room will be problematic anyway so good DSP is more then advisable.

 

[Newman]

The HS5 is not that good of a choice: [ASR review]

I can see why the OP is interested: Amir gives it a happy panther and his graph notes say “somewhat bright sound”, which the OP specifically wants.

…I'm interested in speakers with a brighter, more airy sound signature, acknowledging that this can be fatiguing to some listeners…

Hi there. You have to consider the possibility that your existing mediocre speakers have a somewhat dull sound, and that by comparison, a speaker with a nice flat response will sound brighter and more airy by comparison, and satisfy you. For that reason, if you can get to a hifi store and listen, it can help clarify whether you want speakers that are “brighter than neutral”, or maybe, just “brighter than my existing speakers”.

You want passive speakers, and I understand your reason, so what about the Emotiva Airmotiv B1+. Your own speaker suggestions look pretty decent to me.

cheers

 

[porcoalado]

I can see why the OP is interested: Amir gives it a happy panther and his graph notes say “somewhat bright sound”, which the OP specifically wants.


Hi there. You have to consider the possibility that your existing mediocre speakers have a somewhat dull sound, and that by comparison, a speaker with a nice flat response will sound brighter and more airy by comparison, and satisfy you. For that reason, if you can get to a hifi store and listen, it can help clarify whether you want speakers that are “brighter than neutral”, or maybe, just “brighter than my existing speakers”.

You want passive speakers, and I understand your reason, so what about the Emotiva Airmotiv B1+. Your own speaker suggestions look pretty decent to me.

cheers

Yes i have considered it, my reasoning is that i can compensate lack of lower frequencies with a sub and thus a brighter speaker would be better, the emotivas are not availiable here unfortunately, its the one i was going after, so it seems that i should go for the one that performs better at a near field and with better imaging and sound stage, correct?

 

[porcoalado]

Yamahas have relatively aggressive power protection which can be pain in... but it does save amplifier. Can you get a deacent measurement microphone? It doesn't have to be UMIK-1. To see what are you getting out of the room. I have Q3030i in little smaller room (4 m long, rest is pretty much same) and at 3 m listening distance (close to wall behind them with port's plugged with 2 sub's...) and still need to tame them a little even the room is half treated and those are not exactly bright. First stop is to see what you are getting and then what can be done about it. For given music choice (with lot of experimental planning) definitely one's which will have very good sound stage (helped with DSP phase manipulation future more) not exactly bright more wide (dispersion) and deep (again referring to sound stage). If you don't want to go with sub's... I guess Wharfedale Linton's are out of a budget, perhaps good quality A-B class larger (8") monitors (with good power protection) would be a good idea but again probably out of the budget.
Small room will be problematic anyway so good DSP is more then advisable.

i was going to do that but im not in argentina atm so i cant get precise measurements... would you recommend the 3030i? say if you were listening to wouldnt want to be like you by alan parson and the dark side of the moon album does it reproduce the small details in the higher frequencies or the vocals on hold on by yes for example? are they ''eqable''? ill get a subwoofer on the future, i was told that the bronze 100 have really nice bass. the things is that i got used to the sound of supertweeters haha
edit: the whaferdale are waaaay out of budget, im a broke student haha, however the KEF Q150 is on budget, but i dont know if having a single driver is a great idea

 

[ZolaIII]

Didn't get you first part? Any half deacent measurement microphone will be good to let's say 5 KHz, 7 KHz with little bit of effort and even if off over that it wouldn't be by far so much not to show general picture in the room. Second hand will also be fine old or a new ARC USB one you probably could find one for about 30€ if you are lucky. You won't have calibration file that you will be able to use with REW but that's not the end of the world and you have free DSP software such as EQ-APO (Windows PC) also. Would be like Dream Within a Dream (whole album as that's only opening) and Live in Pompey if it whose me Eloy, Eno and so on... Q3030i's are a bit bright in a top end on axe which goes away at 12~15°, port is large and at the back and cabinets are deap do not really easy to handle, the uper highs in crossover region are bit recessed while bass is a bit willed. They are also relatively wide dispersion so not for close feald listening exactly. Didn't liked them all that much like that and ended up with 2x 10"closed enclosure sub's on which they are sitting with port's closed and crossed high at 120 Hz (true 2.2 setup) and good tuned they are revealing enough for me still going on the scale only to airy part (about 17 KHz). You want bass get rid of the neighbours and get sub's. I never perceived Progressive (true to the name) R'N'R of first and second generation as bright as it isn't, there is hardly almost anything in any kind of music (with possibly exception of overblown odd 3rd~4rd order harmonics) above 12.5 KHz if you are not into pipe organs (which you obviously are not) and not even there even they can go that high. You can use super tweeters if you like, purpose is still more to extend coverage area (in °) then reach. You can do that and with proper implemented wave guide on classic silk dome and such tweeter designs to a extent (about +10°) or with ribbon tweeters one in (not so tight) budget category and let's say mid feald.
Redit; you might be lucky to find only Linton's without stands for ⅓ less price then what they go together. That's still my general recommendation for what will have a good sound stage and can pass as all in one speaker (without sub's or super tweeters).
Or you can try to find some deacent still in the budget category one's with ribbon tweeters (as much as I remember Wharfedale, EVE, Adam had some) or classic one with proper wave guide and JBL had some but mostly active in which case preferably older quality class A-B one's (big 8" one's). Remember if you pay more now for bigger ones it will be still less money then getting smaller ones now and adding even a single sub later (not to mention additional cost and effort needed to make that work properly).

A collection of loudspeakers measurements

www.spinorama.org