My wife (accidentally) may have suggested that I can look to replace my Paradigm Studio 20 v3 speakers with something like a narrow tower speaker, so I would like to explore this option while the window is open. Room is a small living room in a smaller, older home. Other equipment includes a PS Audio Stellar amp, Audio Research LS9 line stage, Benchmark DAC3, Roon Nucleus, a Rega Apollo CD player, and a very modest Rega phono setup. Speakers would need to be narrow and not very obtrusive. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
My B&W 704 S2 speakers are narrow, unobtrusive. $3,000 per pair. The B&W 603 is getting great reviews. It's about 2.5" wider, a bit taller and bit deeper than the 704 S2, but also cheaper $2000 per pair. The B&W 702 S2 is taller, a bit wider, but better for large rooms, has a better tweeter. But also $5,000 a pair.
Thank you! I’ll look into those suggestions. The 702s are probably a little steep for my budget, but always good to have options.
No experience with these, but they’re very skinny and can go near walls. CANTON CD-290.3 4" 2.5-Way Floordstanding Speaker White High Gloss Pair
I second the recommendation for the Totem Sky Tower. The retail list price is $2250, but most dealers will discount to $1900-$2000, which hits the OP’s budget. What a great speaker - IMO, one of the best small towers in the world right now under $5000. Its sound is sophisticated, powerful, dynamic, nuanced and remarkably transparent to the source material. The original Sky standmount has been on my personal top 5 list of standmount recommendations under $3000, and the Sky Towers earned their way onto my floorstander list. Highly recommended for an audition. Room placement of the Sky Tower is just as easy and versatile as the Sky bookshelf. Anything more than 4” from the wall behind is just fine. Totem - before the pandemic killed at the shows and exhibitions - typically set up Sky bookshelves and Sky Towers almost right against the demo room wall to prove the point. Though rear-ported, they’re not finicky at all. I’ve had best results anywhere from 8”-18” from the rear wall, so placement has been really simple.
Thank you - I’ll look into those as well. Little room, older home - at least it gives parameters where one can start.
what music do you normally play and your amp capability? edited.... I guess you have over 100 watts and you shouldn't have any problem in getting any speaker selection just a matter of room size and type of music.
Thank you - the Sky Tower looks intriguing. I’ll investigate that. I have read positive reviews of those speakers before. Being a Canadian speaker, would you know how they compare tonally to my Paradigm Studio 20s?
Yes, amp should be ok in the power regard, it fit my budget and sounds better than my Audio Research 150.2 Tripath amp, which was not one of their finest design moments. I listen to mostly 50s-60s jazz, classical, and occasionally a soul cleansing session of Rush, Zeppelin, or Todd Rundgren’s Utopia
Basically all around type of speaker in a decent size room. JBL Studio 590 w/ 2-8" woofers I'm not sure if they still have a brand new one. 60-day free trial. you can thank me later!
If you can find a preowned pair of Joseph Audio Profiles, they are fairly slim and work well with your amp. Great sounding speakers.
OP said he has small living room. I think the 590s will easily over power that room. 580s or 570s would likely be more appropriate.
from the jbl arena line, to studio will blow away thousand dollar + speakers. pretty much any of what you said is good. just make sure its a floorstander to get the magic of all 3 frequencies with the legendary jbl sound. not a speaker on a stand. PS .. I though a lot of people uses a 15 inch on a small room like theres no tomorrow that's why I suggested it. On my setup I use 1-7" inch speaker with 8 watts tube amp 325 sq ft. The room shakes!
I heard the Fyne F502's and they sound real nice. Another speaker I heard at the Tampa show along with the Fyne was the Q Acoustics 3050i. And I believe they are under $900 a pair. Lots of bang for the buck.
Your Paradigm Studio 20 V3 does a bunch of things right. Paradigm had the Studio 20 (which, IIRC, got up to V5 or V6 before Paradigm retired the line) around for twenty-five years. It was a good design. The Totem Sky Tower, by contrast, is an entirely newer bit of engineering from designer Vince Bruzzese. I have no idea how he gets such solid and detailed bass from the moderate size driver and the narrow cabinet dimensions, but he does and it’s not an acoustic trick. I can’t recall the details of the port tuning, but it is set to ideally balance the mid/woofer and integrate beautifully with the marvellous tweeter. Bruzzese has been doing a brilliant job on his crossovers for a few decades now, and the Sky bookshelves and Sky Tower contain some of his best crossover work to date I think. Tonally, the Sky Tower is more accurate and realistic that the Studio 20 (any version). The rather large 33mm tweeter in the Sky design is remarkable in the ways in which is provides an excellent reproduction of whatever air and a acoustic space is preserved on a recording. On both those points alone, the Sky Tower occupies a higher class of audio quality than the Studio 20 (any version). The real authority from Sky Tower comes from its wonderful imaging and large soundstage. The other thing that the Sky Tower does well is dynamics. It’s what the reviewers call a fast speaker. It has it limits, no doubt, but for anything up to loud listening levels (i.e., 82dB average at 7’-8’ distance) in any medium size room up to about 250 sq. ft., it provides a very well-sorted presentation of everything from rock, jazz and chamber music, up to live concert recordings, full symphonies, thumping studio-recorded electronica, and basically anything else you can think of. Push the Sky Tower beyond 82-85dB average and it starts to get congested. At a listening of 7’-8’ from the front baffles of the speakers, 82-85dB average is startlingly loud. Most people don’t listen anywhere near that level unless they’ve got hearing damage or a permanent hearing deficiency. Anyway, those are my measurements. Keep in mind that your listening room acoustics have an effect on all of these listening distances and average dB levels at the listening position and perceived loudness, etc., etc. In smaller rooms, the Sky Towers do equally well or, IMO, better. They need a moderate amount of current to get them fully going, so they’re also a relatively easy amp load. Tonally, purely in terms of what a lot of us refer to as temperature or color, the Sky Tower to my ears is relatively neutral perhaps leaning a touch toward excellent clarity and presence from the upper bass right through to the upper midrange, and leaning toward warmth without sacrificing that all important clarity. No nasal tone here - it’s all open and clear and detailed without every being harsh or strident. Acoustic instrument timbres are very good. By comparison, to my ears, the Paradigm Studio 20 (any version) sounds artificial.