I would take a look at vanatoo if you want small and good bass with great imaging/separation. You should be able to add a sub later.
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Have 1, its awesome cheap thrill and it makes me feel fancy that i own a euro brand.
I will second Vanatoo. You can pick up a B-stock or used pair of T1E’s for around $500. Toss in a $150-200 sub and you will have a great time. The Vanatoo’s automatically sense when you have a sub connected and apply a crossover which makes it super easy to integrate. I have the JBL Sub 550P with mine and it’s great.
Another option can be a pair of studio monitors and matching sub (or non matching sub). I have the Fluid Audio FX50 in my bedroom. I am surprised with the bass from them. You can check out Zeos video on the Fluid FX80 + FC10S (matching sub). You will need a DAC with this option, but you can pick up a $100 DAC that sounds great though.
If you want high quality you will have to push $500+ imo.
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Yes, these will be near field on a desk, and the reason I wasn’t originally looking for an amp was to cut back on cost and all the amps I keep getting recommended by people are 400 plus dollars.
The speakers I really want are the Q acoustics 3020I but I was told those require a lot of power from a pre amp order to run properly.
They are so called passive speakers so you would need just a amp to power them.
The recommendation is 25-75w. So near the upper end is safe.
Preamp’s (in most cases = volume controlled dac’s and better ones are just volume controlled preamp’s with digital connection) usually are those that are used with powered speakers since they already have amp/amps. The good ones have own amp / panel per speaker.
may honestly just get amp that’s 100w just to be safe. may also grab 3010i because their a lot more compact and I have a really small desk.
I will also note that I’m trying to upgrade from the jbl 104b
On a desk not alot of power is needed nice to have though. How big is the space behind the chair ? Nothing like pushing 6ft from the desk and turing up the volume.
25w-50w real power is alot on a desk.
did you look at iLoud?
I’d like to advance the JBL Sub 550p if it ever comes back into availability at $179.99-$199.99 for a great 10" sealed sub. I don’t think you can out-do it for music at this price. I finally bought a pair late last year.
One could buy a Loxjie A30 for an affordable all-in-one near-field solution.
When considering power requirements of speakers, keep in mind that you’re near-field and will ultimately not be looking for the speaker to play sub 70-80hz.
I’m not hip on what the deal-of-the-moment in passive speakers are. I know Sony SSCS5 are well regarded, but don’t seem to be on their sale pricing right now. I bought a pair used for nearly nothing because a cross-over board came unglued. They seem detailed and reasonable in limited auditioning.
When the JBL deals come on-board, it is hard to refuse those.
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very small amount of space
nope, I have not checked out Iloud yet.
I was thinking more long the lines of the S.M.S.L SA300.
Also worth noting, my current set up isn’t bad, as I’m rocking the the jbl 104b pair of studio monitors. However I’m looking to get better compact speakers or wanting to get more.
If you’re looking for better and still compact, definitely look at iLoud, otherwise you’re going to be moving into something not as compact.
When I went down the rabbit hole on my desk setup I got a pair of Adam Audio T5Vs and a T10S sub, but that might be less compact than you’d like and definitely on the higher end of your budget:
The display goes out on my smsl SA300. Im not the only one reporting the problem.
With that said the volume the SA300 is ample at a desk for alot of cheap speakers.
The 3010i’s are a good cheap and compact speaker but they’re in no way bass monsters. I got mine to use in a second system and added one of Q Acoustics 7000 subs that was a leftover from an old home cinema system. Smaller monitors will never produce big bass and using a sub with them can sound a bit odd as the sub needs to handle much of the bass that the smaller woofers can’t reproduce, this really isn’t what they’re intended for. I put up with what I have as it’s a second system but would be unhappy with it as a main. REL subs were mentioned above and I’ll second this, I have a stereo pair in my main system and find them fantastic, they add soundstage as well as low bass and slam. Look at some guides on sub tuning, if you get it wrong it’s awful and reeally easy to make mistakes.
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Take a look at the Vanatoo T0 if you have limited space.
That is very helpful to know and if that’s the case I might stick to the jbl 104b or the jbl 306p and get a sub with speaker amp to power those.
Might be able to fit the jbl 306p if I get sound rise stands. However that would put me at 350 dollars for both 306p speaker so at that point it might e better price wise to get the 3020i with sound risers.
Just out of curiosity, in what country?
They usually cost ~400$ per pair of speakers, both speakers.
~200$ per speaker.
USD, currently for the 6’’ they cost 177 for just one speaker. oops, meant to add that it would cost 350 for both together but that would still cost more right now then the 3020i that are on sale for 260 USD.
Would it be true that most of the Q acoustic line up that their speakers are considered a more laid back warm sound, and not really fast pace so that certain genra’s of say metal may not perform well on the 3020i. And if so would it just be better to spend the 350 for pair of 306p jbl or go for the 3020i on sale?