Please recommend small book shelf speakers

That applies more to reviewers who play near max output to compensate for all their hearing loss.

 

Which NAD? The old 3020 was rated at 20W RMS but the dynamic clipping was around 55 watts. Anyway in a small room you should be fine. I like NHT and Polk, among others. My big thing is do try to get to 6" woofers-they just have more cone area to produce bass from. But you should tell us what you mean by "small": take a ruler or maybe even cut up cardboard to mock up what size would start becoming too huge. Also, would you consider smaller speakers plus a subwoofer?

 

I don't think so. See my previous post.

 

and Music Direct has closeouts, B Stock and open box buys.

 

I had a pair of Wharfedale Denton's for a short time powered by an NAD receiver and really liked them. At low volume they needed the receivers loudness button to fill out the bottom but that's to be expected, but overall the sound was excellent and they are half your budget and look fantastic too.

 

Add another $200 to your budget and get a new pair of Audio Note AX Two speakers. Or if you want to stay below your budget, consider the Silverline Minuet Supreme Plus. Either will work really well on 25 watts.

 

I've had Wharfedale Dentons for over two weeks now and put about 30 hours on them so far. They sound splendid. I have them about 18" from the wall. No problem. $399 plus free shipping from Music Direct.

 

KEF LS50 but agree they may need some more juice.

 

Less than $500/pair?

Elac Debut B6.

 

Epos K1's are front ported and sound very very good in a small room. See https://www.epos-loudspeakers.com/products/stand-mount-loudspeakers/k1/

 

I'll endorse the Wharfedale Dentons, too. I've had mine 3 years, and I love them. Major league 'bang for the buck'....

 

Now how do you know that? I've demoed those speakers personally. Just because you can get sound out of a speaker by putting a signal through it doesn't mean that the signal is optimized. Every speaker has a power point at which the signal seems to come alive (to "bloom" so to speak) and some speakers just need more juice to get there. It's not a complicated concept.

I was actually a bit taken aback by what needed to go into the LS50s to make them sing...I mean, they're so small!

Great speakers at the price point, no matter how you slice it.

 

Check out Wharfedale Diamonds and have some money left over for a sub, some cables, or better yet some music.

 

I will refrain from recommending any particular speakers, but will offer this advice, based on actual experience, which I gained the hard way - in a room as small as yours, stay away from rear-ported or side-ported speakers. Those may produce boomy bass, and you may hate the result. You're a lot safer with front-ported, of even closed-box designs. Even if you LOVE a rear ported speaker you hear in a dealer's demo room, but the speakers are 4-5 feet from the wall, you may still hate them in your room, 2 feet away.

Keep in mind - most of the Wharfedale's and ELAC's recommended here are rear-ported.

 

I don't know whether you get them in the US, or price points, but how about a used pair of ATC SCM 11's ? Over here there are a few for sale "pre-owned" on EBay for under £1000. Used by professionals/studios, big, lovely sound for a small box. Win lots of awards/5* reviews.

 

I have a pair of these ascend sierra 2's and love them. They are a few hundred dollars over your budget but are great.
Sierra-2 RAAL Ribbon Tweeter Bamboo Cabinet Loudspeaker

 

Ascend Sierra One with the NrT tweeter upgrade if you like detail and airy highs, without the upgrade if you like warmer sound.

 

I own some. I've driven them with 25 tube watts in my large room and they were loud enough, though I consider that to be volumes in the low 80s. Bass was plenty tight and focused as well.

 

Legacy Audio Studio HD.

Over your budget so my apologies, but they can be found 2nd hand for around $1K perhaps. These are going to play well with 25watts and have a nice wide response. Thought you might be interested...

System Type: 2 Driver, 2 Way
Tweeter: 1" dual pole AMT folded ribbon
Midwoofer: 8" Silver/Graphite woven diaphragm, cast basket, phase compensation plug
Low Frequency Alignment: B4 Reflex, rear ported
Inputs: 2 Pair binding posts for Treble and Bass
Recommended Amplification: 15 - 200 watts
Frequency Response (Hz +/- 2dB): 41-30k
Impedance: 4 Ohm
Sensitivity: 93 dB (2.83V @ 1m)
Crossover: 2.8k
Dimensions (HxWxD): 13 x 10.8 x 10.8
Weight (each): 30 lbs
Shipping Weight: 74 lbs per pair

 

I like a lot of extra power for dynamic swings.

 

I'd second this advice. I listened to several speakers in a listening room at a dealers and fell in love with a pair: they sounded beautiful. I got them home, set them up, put on a CD I'm familiar with and immediately knew something was VERY wrong. The bass was just overblown and boomy. Sounded awful. I walked away; came back later in the day and had another listen but it was just dreadful. In a small room you really do need front ported or closed box speakers. The Epos I linked to earlier are front ported and they sound gorgeous in my room.

 

This is good advice. Even if you listen at moderate levels, an efficient speaker like the Klipsch will make your NAD really sing.

 

I took the amp out of storage. It’s an NAD 902 power amp. I wrote 20 watts from memory but it’s 30 watts per channel. It is 20 years old. Hope it powers up

There’s a Wharfedale dealer not too far away and will have a listen these few days.

 

Certainly good advice. However, the rear corners of my Diamond 10.1s sit 4" and 15" respectively from the 8' wall in an 8x15 room. Excellent and tight bass with zero boom. (One corner juts out, hiding what I assume are some pipes; hence the 4" for the one.)

I 'd be rather skeptical of the larger 10.2s doing well in those spots, though.

 

Mine were 10.7's in a 11x13 room - I've learned my lesson.