The best speakers for small rooms 

When I was in college I lived in a 10x12 room and had a pair of Altec Voice of the Theaters. Not only were they loud, they also took up a good portion of the floor space. To be young again!

I’m glad you mentioned active speakers. Focal Alpha 65 with a Neumann Kh 750 sub work great in my one bedroom apartment🤗

Thanks Steve,very happy listening to my Rega Brio-R (2017) and Dali spektor 2 in a 10w x 14L x 8h living room.

I have Magnepan MMGs, Schiit Vidar and a small REL sub in a 10’ x 11’ listening room. I do adhere to the 3’ rule. It sounds great. Big and spacious without the need to be played loud. The REL is used at low volume and low crossover and acts almost as the loudness control on old receivers. And the directional nature of the Maggies keeps the bleed through to other rooms at a minimum.

I've recently bought a pair of RP-600Ms for my small apartment living room (~3m x 4.5m), and was surprised that they worked so well, despite slightly compromised positioning and a lot of glass around.

Oh man, the Q acoustics 2020i are brilliant for a small room. Pushing a neutral yet engaging detailed sound, they ring like a bell and give a superb sound stage. They're the Staffordshire bull terrier of bookshelf speakers. Love love love.

Steve... I've been using PMC db1m hooked up to McIntosh MC30's in a small room for ages... Really agree with your view on small British speakers

I'm in a vary small room. I'm a proud owner of Zu DW speakers. Highly recommend them. My room is also dead. But these speakers bring the room to life!

I absolutely love my KEF LS50 bookshelf speakers. Paired with a Naim Uniti Atom integrated amp. and a SVS 12" sub. It's absolutely sublime!

I've got a medium size room and went with paradigm 15b. Excellent dynamic speaker that looks great.

I have Bowers and Wilkins 686's used as near field monitors just off my desk on stands. Awesome sound with an old school NAD amp and a Schiit Modi 3. Thanks for the video Steve.

Hello good afternoon. I just wanted to tell you that I really enjoy your videos. I see videos from different experts but yours are the best without a doubt. Greetings from Mexico City.

I've also had my ZU Dirty Weekends in this 12x10 room with SPECTACULAR results! I'm currently having some Omega 3 HO monitors built with dual RS5 4.5 inch drivers built that should be a very nice match for this room.

My new Rp600m’s sound killer in my 12x15 ‘ listening/living room. Plenty of bass. Thanks Steve!

From the start of this video was thinking the Totem Arro. And then there it is. Your first speaker selection.

The Technics SB-F1 is a great small-room speaker - they often crop up on eBay at pretty reasonable prices.

My Klipsch R41-PMs were on sale for $200 and sound awesome and has the ultimate flexibility in connectivity.

Linn Majik 109 with REL T5i subwoofer is doing good work in my 9’ by 15’ study. Very big sound and lots of detail!

I set up a couple of Triangle Esprit Heyda EZ bookshelf speakers in my daughter's small appartment. Impressed by the performance when driven however they are especially mellow at lower volumes.

Man I dig it, I am hooked, This channel is boss. In my small room I have ESS Heil PS-8 - 8 inch woofer, and the sweetest sounding heil air motion drivers.

Rega RS1... Superb in a small room. Lovely mid and highs, great integration between the two. Can be right up to the wall. Second hand $200.

As soon as I get some extra time I am going to build a set of the NX Studio's from GR Research ( 899.00 Kit ) which I hear from people I trust are pretty special.

Rarely mentioned for small home theater is the Home theater direct series 3 bookshelf.Ribbon tweeter and excellent bass, this also works well with music.

Late to the party,but I had some Canton speakers that had pretty good sound(and size) for my needs at the time. Canton GLE-50's. Those and Braun were my faves back then. You can still find them around for a quick-cheap-fix.

I'm staying in a small living room apartment having my elac b 6 power by rotel ra 960 bx and a cheap China made dvd player to transport. Sound great to me.

Perfect video for me. I want to get some audiophile grade speakers for my stereo but i’m confined to a small suite room for college! Steve, you’ve inspired me to continue down the path of audio.

peachtree grand integrated and dynaudio excite x12. Mind blowing setup. BIG power into a small speaker at moderate volume. Mega!

The Mcintosh XR50, three-way bookshelf speakers are amazing sounding in a small room.

Finally. Since I am working on a small room I need this advice. Now I guess I sell my magnepans mmg,,,,wait you just said it works! I am just starting a 12x13 foot room. Speaks first, room treatment next and then Amp. Keep the recommendations.

I have the Elac Debut Reference in a 12 x 14 room. They are amazing. They need a decent amp to drive them well, but the sound amazing, they are front ported and you can put them right against the wall and the sound doesn’t change much if at all. I’m using an Emotiva A300 and it does very well

KEF LSX’s too. Ideal for small to mid-sized rooms 😊

Using the KEF Q 150's and I'm more than happy.

I’m running a pair of kef q 300s bi amped with a Marantz amp and this absolutely rocks

Working to a very tight, very small budget I managed to get a pair of Kef coda 70s, a pioneer A8 amp and a Sony PS 4300 turntable. Space is at a premium as it's set up in the bedroom. I paid more for a copy of Into the wild than I did for the system and the Kef's are worth MUCH more than the £30 they cost me. Unfortunately like everyone else I'm always looking for something new (or more likely 2nd hand) that could improve the sound, so now I have much more to consider speaker wise. Love your enthusiasm for the subject.

The Jamo s803's are great for small rooms, very exciting sound (love the tweeters), work in near field and rooms up to 200 sq ft.

Great passive sub for a small room Dayton Audio MKSX4. Clean, punchy, defined bass that won’t sound boomy.

I have the Maggie’s as my home theater set up. 4 of the MMGs and a center I got years ago from them. With a sub they are great.

You can fit meaty speakers with large woofers and even subs for full range audio if you know enough about room acoustics and are willing to experiment. I am running EVE SC208 monitors (35Hz -3dB) with dual Martin Logan 1000W 12" subs in a bedroom. The key to reducing bass boominess (reduce decay times) is using multi subs. Multi subs, digital correction, good positioning, and patience go a long way to making small rooms manageable. What I've found though is small speakers paired with subs are more easily managed than floor standers in a small room.

I ran RF82 IIs for years in a 10' x 12' room. I dosagree with large speakers not working in a small space. It worked really well with out "boomy" bass. Pull the speakers out from the wall!

Easily one of my favorite videos...a great reference

I inherited my brothers very old school Klipsch LaScala's and a Sansui G-9000 receiver. Talk about large sound. It definitely needs more bass.

The Totem Signature One works well in my small room of 15x13ft. It helps that I have plenty of clean power to control them, and they tolerate being very close to the rear wall. Totem publish min and max distance from a rear wall recommendations which is pretty useful to give you an idea.

Thanks Steve - sounds like the Outlaw and the LRS would make a great budget system.

I'm running Vandersteen 2CEs with a 2wq sub in an 11 x 16 room, and the bass is glorious, tight, and perfect. Midrange is too acute on one channel, and I dial it down -3dB. No problems. ps- I've listened to the Totem Arro and they are really great for small rooms, and beautiful form too. Totem is really underrrated. Model 1 is superb.

Wharfedale Denton 80th. or 85th. Anniversary Bookshelf Speakers ... Mmmm, just the best!!!

Great video Steve, I have just put ATC scm 19 in my room and they are truly outstanding, on very good sand filled stands driven by naim audio electronics. The ATC scm11 are a bit smaller but also very highly regarded in the UK..

Great episode, i like to (most times have to) listen at low volumes, an episode about suggestions of systems that can sound dynamic and detailed at low volumes will be appreciated for appartment listeners

I agree with the exception of speakers where you can eq the bass, Vandersteen and a few others can work very well.

I scaled down because of the setup in my 12 7 x 9 5 room. The speakers were 119 pounds the amp 150 pounds. That was a lot of weight to carry up and down the stairs. But my new setup is just right. Sonus Faber minima amator II and the accuphase E-380 along with the esoteric dv-50. The sound is marvelous and I have more space.

for my small room/living room, I have Denon PMA800NE amp - Heybrook HB1 bookshelf speaker, Fluance RT84 turntable. Good setup for me.

I have martin logan sl3's in a 15×15 room, and I'm happy. They are rather large, however I'll always ride with the larger displacement over the small.

I'm using a pair russell k red 50s. And they sound amazing. My room 11x11 ft.

I have the bowers and wilkins 607 in my small room. It has decent bass but i want a little more so got the asw608. Great tiny 8 inch sub, it does not go down to teen hz but its clear, punchy, works well in my room. Im pretty much satisfied for music and satisfied with movies when i increase bass volume and extension. Im set for my system for now and not craving for any upgrade.

For a small room you forgot the Ohm Walsh 1000 which does best near the rear wall and with it's sit anywhere and hear both speakers perfectly and phenomenal imaging would be perfect for a small room.

I am in a small room in the basement and have a pair of Elac Uni-Fi 5 Floorstanders and an Elac 200 watt sub and it is just amazing. The soundstage is amazing. No boomy bloated bass. Speakers are out 4’ into the room with 12’ x 13’

Chario bottom ported speakers for me I love them

The Fluance Ai40 and Ai60 speakers fit my small room needs nicely.

Psb Alpha B1’s in my 10x10 room sound great to me. They seem to have dropped off the audiophile map lately after being on Stereophile’ s list of recommended components for several years.

Vienna accoustic Beethoven Concert Grand. Killing it in medium size rooms up to 30qm

I'm using the 40th Anniversary P3ESRs. Wowsers

The Totems remind me of JM Labs (Now Focal) Daline 3.1 I owned back in 2000. Paired with Arcams A65+ integrated amp, they were magical in my condo!

I have a 12x 8 room with Infinity 2000.5s being run by a Sansui 9900z receiver and that shot is banging!

I have a pair of polk rti 28 bookshelf speakers with a denon amp and a boston cr 400 sub in my room. Amazing match😍👌🏽

I'd also suggest the Amphion Helium 410. I use them nearfield on my desk. They also did surprisingly well when tested in my 13x22 family room.

In a small room I'm running a class d 3116 amp through a Chinese tubed preamp through to original nht super zeros and nht sw1 PASSIVE dual 6.5 sealed sub and am quite amazed and sometimes startled at the synergy of sound for music and movies😂.

For a low budget good sounding alternative I have 8 Sengled pulse 15 W speaker bulbs in my ceiling coupled w the sengled pulse amp which connects to a powered sub and is fully app controllable .When they came out they were about 200 for a master / satellite pair now they're available for about 30 or less . Good sound with stealthiness and dual functionality and since they are down firing from the ceiling carpet or rugs tame reflections.

Another great option for a low budget small room speaker is the DIY Overnight Sensation kit...love mine in my pc gaming/office desktop setup

Cool video Steve! My Room is only 15ft by 10ft. My setup is Yamaha A-S1100 Amplifier, Dali Rubicon 2s, Audiolab 6000cdt Transport & Arcam irdac ii. These Speaker's are lovely Standmount Speakers! They use a 29mm Silk Dome tweeter! 6.5inch Woodfibre Mid-base Driver!! & they sound smooth & detailed! That Yamaha runs clean power too my Speaker's & they're happy singing along to kinda anything I throw at them!! Anyways, cool video 👍✌

Steve I have a small room 14×12. I have a pair of Magico S1MKII and they do very well in a small room with a 7"woofer. They are a sealed speaker which helps greatly with placement and smaller rooms. I would also suggest maybe the Magico A1. A sealed bookshelf that beats almost everything in its price range. It is not cheap at $7k it is their entry level but could be an endgame speaker for many folks.

Thanks Steve! Been waiting for this one. I was surprised you put the Zu Dirty Weekend on this list because of the driver size. Great video.

I have a 15 x 15 room, walls are concrete. I have a pair of older model Monitor Audio Silver S1 on a Yamaha DSP-AX8. The Bass and sound stage is incredible. Clarity is great too. I set them approximately 2.5 FT from the wall.

Steve, very informative and fun as ever. I would like to hear your opinion/test about Proac Tablette 10 closed box speakers...

I'm really satisvied with my Jamo S803

I use Dali Zensor 1 paired with Marantz PM5005 in my small living room in Mumbai, India. This entry-level combination is my first hifi purchase and I'm loving it since I got it last year!

The Revel perfoma according to the absolute sound the best monitor at any price.

Klipsch R51m on a Marantz amp...beautiful sound!

My office setup is for a small 10x10 room with Monitor Audio Bronze 2, SVS SB-1000 sub and a stack of Nuprime DAC-9H and STA-9. The sub crossover is low at 60hz and the volume quite low so it doesn't overpower the room like you mentionned but I still get some nice low and sub bass, the speakers being quite capables in the bass departement. My room is not fully treated but there is a carpet and wall stuff keeping resonnances and stuff under control. A little overkill but I spend a lot of time in my office so I wanted something I could really enjoy.

I'm not much of a bass head, so the level of bass in the klipsch RP 600M is just about perfect for me.

Spendor S6e... Great speaker for a small/mid room... rich bass which is not over powering, beautiful mids.

I have a pair of Bowers and Wilkins 705 S2's with a Mcintosh MA5300 and am very happy with the sound I get, room is 11'x11"

Very small 10x12 room, using Wharfdale Diamond 220's and a little PSB subseries-100 that fills in the frequencies down into the 30's range. With an 80's Teac ax-750 90 watt RMS/channel integrated amp Listening is near-field in such a small room, or headphones. For now works well for me!, Though been looking at some Fluance speakers if they ever get anything back in stock.

I run Cambridge Audio SX50's paired with a AXA35 amp and Rega P1 that are doing the goods for my small lounge room

My room is right on the cusp, 14x11. Running Kappa 7.1's and it sounds fabulous. Walls are super thick too, it's an older brick house. No bloated bass and no turntable feedback.

I thought for sure you would say the Elac Debut 6.2.

I got a pair of IK Multimedia ILoud Micro studiomonitors. They are great for such mini speakers. My daily speakers are Infinity Kappa 100. My living room is not very small!

Three years ago, in my 9 x 11.5 room, I chose the ATC scm11 and I have never regretted it. I love "nearfield" listening with these speakers (6 foot).

0:24 Guilty as charged. I just bought a pair of Klipsch RF 82 II to use in a 13 ft by 11 ft room. I still haven´t heard them though, because i don´t have an amp yet. But i also bought a subwoofer, so i believe i won´t have so much bass problems as i would have if i would use only the speakers.

I use the Wharfendal Linton Heritage, they rock in a small room also the Klipsch RP51M, are perfect for a small room

Well I am experimenting with a Yamaha WXA-50, A pair of Focal chorus 706 for speakersAnd a Yamaha NS-SW200 subwoofer triggered by the AMP thru a mini jack mono cable supplied with the sub) . Since my speakers must be stuck near the corners of the room, and I would have too much bass, I Equalized out the bass (built-in) And transferred the job to the subwoofer, which is further out from the wall. Thanks to its SabreDac (same as Rn803D) little Yamaha amp Does a great job at playing my CDs through the TOSLINK, as well as handling all the digital files (DSD and up to 192/24) and services I run (Deezer Hifi, Qobuz) I only wish it had one extra digital in (coax say)and it were a real Roon endpoint, It is only recognized as an Airplay 1 device. I even connected my 4K TV in through analog input, but it’s digitized again, so if you’re into Vinyl you’d rather go for the WXC-50 (the preamp version) that hasn’t the class D amp, but I wanted it compact. I’m going to experiment with an EMK TOS Splitter that can be used as a “merger” (you watch TV OR listen to CDs). No loss of signal expected here, each source supplies its own light). SubRoom (TV Corner) is 3,75m by 2,5m, but half a side wall is open, so directing the SUB and playing with furniture placement should do it). Should I Move to a larger place, I expect my. System to Grow by virtue of tuning the bass up for the Focal Speakers.

I am happy with a pair of wall mounted Edifier P17 speakers running off a Micca OriGain amp fed by a AT-LP3 turntable, Yamaha KX-W492 cassette deck, or FiiO M7 DAP in a 12ft x 10 ft room.

I have a pair of Wharfedale Diamond V speakers. I bouhgt them 30 years ago and still like them. Small but heavy like ton of bricks. A good wire on it and a nice amplifier makes a good combination. Ik think the were around $250 at the time.

Sealed speakers work really well for small rooms due to combination of gradual rolloff and room gain

I have the Dali Zensor1 for my bedroom and they are great

My room is 11ft by 10.5ft but is well damped with soft furnishings and books. I am using Horns FP10 which are a 96db horn loaded two way stand-mount with ten inch woofers. With the right room treatments they are fabulous at a distance of 1.8m.

Steve, Steve, Steve …. luv ya babe. BUT you forgot to mention the small Triangle Titus EZ, which you just recently reviewed. Three weeks ago, I purchased a pair from a great dealer, Big Kids in Greensboro NC, to match up with my Musical Paradise MP 301mkII tube amp….. all for my "small room". In the past few days, these speakers have literally blossomed, bloomed and come to full break-in maturation. All I can say is WOW … what a great sound I now have for a "budget system. The Triangles are superb!

The Pioneer SP-BS22-LR ($129) is still a shockingly good speaker for small rooms or near-field use. Even better, when paired with a small sub for a 2.1 system. I used my Dayton Sub80 ($99) with added 100hz high-pass X-overs added ($30) and the sound is incredible. All that said, I recently acquired a pair of Klipsch KG4s, which is probably overkill for my 11'x14' listening room, but they sound and look magnificent.

Z reviews are a really good channel for advise on speakers

Fluance AI40 & AI60'S are a great value and sounds great considering the price.

Great video. I have a terrible room. 13 feet deep, But Window to stairs/hallway so open on one end. It has attic door so maximum speaker distance apart is 7.5 feet apart. I used to have Kef Q100's but traded for a pair of Polk RT-11t speakers. They're nice, but too much for this room. I've been considering the LS50, Klipsch RP600m, JBL530, Elac Debut Reference B6.2, Triangel Borea BR03, Wharfedale Denton, Stirling Broadcast Kit 1, Ergo IX and Rega RS-1. There's a lot of competition in this space. I'm thinking stand mount so I can push them back in the corner when not in use and pull out for listening. Oh yeah sloped walls behind the speakers and couch. Tough room

Great info. Thanks for the video👍