near field small footprint bookshelves for a teenager?

[mkawa]

Folks,

My brother's kid just got a hand-me-down 80s sony receiver (pulse power!) and turntable and is super excited to try it out with entry-level high quality near-field box speakers. Right now, they are running a pyle phono stage to audioengine A2s, but the kiddo loves retro things (the last CD user is a 15 year old!). This will be my christmas present to them, so i'd like to stay in the 150$ range or under.

Unfortunately, the desk they need to fit on is pretty space constrained. it's only 50x23 and is enclosed in a loft-type of situation (https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/smastad-loft-bed-white-white-with-desk-with-3-drawers-s49391460/). floors are hardwood.

diy kits aren't an option right now. my brother is just too busy to help put them together, and his soldering is... not great on top of that. we tried a diy kit last year and they just ended up returned.

i was looking at the JBL control 1's, but that huge gap around 4khz is exactly where pop music sits and i'm allergic to near-fields that have a dropout in the midrange. i'd rather have a high 3db dropoff at the low end (i expect 100-120hz) and fill in the bottom end with a larger sub that can sit on the floor than to have a huge hole in the mid or mid uppers.

suggestions?

EDIT: oh, i forgot, they have to be easier returnable. 15 year old..

 

[pjug]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...dale-diamond-220-budget-speaker-review.16752/

Or if those are too big maybe the smaller D310?: https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/Wharfedale-D310-Bookshelf-Speakers?variant=AWFD310RW
I think @Xulonn has the D310, maybe can offer if he thinks they would be good for a desktop setup.

Possibly these are over budget, but maybe you can find a deal.

 

[hex168]

JBL Stage A120:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109SA...lqa2tp2k9WOE3Y7aDABfkKczNTzLe8fBoCWXMQAvD_BwE

Their larger brother did spectacularly well:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-stage-a130-review-speaker.18260/

 

[mkawa]

unfortunately the diamond 220s are out of stock everywhere. when amir reviews a good budget speaker, there is usually a run on them

the stage a120s are pretty small! i hadn't realized their footprint was like 8x7. my feeling is 8x8 is small enough, but 5x5 matches the audioengines, so definitely small enough. the the d310s are a little pricey, but also shorter, which might make a difference. @Xulonn care to share your thoughts?

the receiver is a sony ta-ax5. at 0.005% thd it was pretty low noise for its time, but SNR is not great, so the speakers just need to avoid having any huge flaws and i think they'll be a nice step up.

 

[Kachda]

Edifier 1280BT, you can find the review here

 

[Xulonn]

I think @Xulonn has the Wharfedale D310,

Actually, I have a pair of the larger Wharfedale D320's and a D300C center around my Samsung 40" LCD TV in my very small office/media room, and a pair of Q-Acoustics 3010's on my desktop. I am pleased with both, and for me they are well-suited to each of their applications. With a total of four 5" bass/mid drivers including the center in a 3.0 setup, the bass goes much deeper than I expected, although it is rolled off - as it should be.

The Q-Acoustics 3010's are a bit big for my small desk, but I wanted a bit more bass without using a subwoofer. They definitely need to be elevated or tilted upwards to get good near-field sound.

I just ordered a pair of the Edifier 1280BT (BT for Bluetooth vs the non-Bluetooth 1280s that Amir tested and reviewed) powered speakers for my bedroom where I spend a total of 2+ hours per day under a red/infrared light therapy panel trying to stop/reverse a nerve degeneration problem.

There are good smaller desktop speakers available, but they are typically more expensive. A search for "desktop speakers" here at ASR gets lots of hits linking to recent posts. I'm happy with my system(s), so I'm not going to dig into this any further, but hope the OP finds an optimal pair of speakers for the application.

(One of the desktop speaker hits found a post that someone had purchased a pair of Edifiier 1700BT speakers because he thought they would be similar, but they were a fair bit different and he did not like them at all. Be careful when buying speakers based on a review of a particular model and then buying a pair that are not in the same exact model line. Sonic signatures can vary from line to line even from reputable companies - and sometimes vary quite a bit within the same exact model line or generation.)

 

[restorer-john]

This will be my christmas present to them, so i'd like to stay in the 150$ range or under.

I say, blow the loft out, build him a dedicated and treated listening room and maybe just a pair of Salon2s would do the trick on that tight budget.

Edit. I thought the budget was $150K.

 

[mkawa]