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Small desk top speakers for my £100 nearfield system

I might build one at some point, I lubed a cheap cherry red up and it sounds thocky good
 
They’re impressive things, much more so when used in your specific use case, as I used them too. They can sound a bit lost at the other end of a large-ish room unless you’re giving them a hoofing, but up close, they’re superb.

Don’t discount the Wharfedale Diamond 9.0 though, they’re a remarkably full/warm sounding speaker for such a small box. I have a pair of Quad L-ites, which are a similar size but much more expensive, the Wharfedale don’t have the quality of finish that the Quads have, but they’re the better speaker. The Quads sound very bandwidth limited and opaque by comparison.

I will wander down to Richer Sounds later. Seems the Wharfdales can be had for £50 with a 6 year warranty

I use JBL Control 1 for my PC system. Classic mini speakers. Small and, in particular, very shallow (13 cm deep). I couldn't find any vaguely hi-fi speakers that were so shallow. They are plastic, but very well made and hefty. £69 on Amazon.

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I have a pair lurking in the attic. Thanks for the reminder.

Bought years ago for a wall mounting project that I abandoned. Never thought of them as desktop speakers but worth a try.
 
By the way the £40 front end of this system is proving to be lovely. That makes it easier to justify an extensive search.

I plugged the: phone, DAC and Knekt amp into my Falcon Q7s yesterday afternoon. That had me looking at the main system and wondering how it justifies £4000.
 
By the way the £40 front end of this system is proving to be lovely. That makes it easier to justify an extensive search.

I plugged the: phone, DAC and Knekt amp into my Falcon Q7s yesterday afternoon. That had me looking at the main system and wondering how it justifies £4000.
I found that little “dac in a dongle” works great too.
 
I found that little “dac in a dongle” works great too.

As it happened I was listening to Apple music yesterday during my test so vertical integration extended to the music files themselves, sitting on Apple servers, coded with Apple codecs. The only component plugged into the mains was the power amp. The "source" and the DAC were running on the phone's battery.

Subjectively, it was impossible to find fault with what was being delivered.
 
I was looking for a way to play digital audio into the aux input on my Tivoli Model One radio without attaching a RPi 3, wireless not so good, with dac hat because I don’t have network outlets round the house. The dongle allowed me to use my iPhone or iPad as a Roon endpoint and it works great.
 
By the way the £40 front end of this system is proving to be lovely. That makes it easier to justify an extensive search.

I plugged the: phone, DAC and Knekt amp into my Falcon Q7s yesterday afternoon. That had me looking at the main system and wondering how it justifies £4000.

Ah, you’ve bought a Linn Room Amp… that’s pretty impossible to beat for £31, on paper, it’s power output looks small, but in reality, it’s plenty… it has double the power of a Naim Nait 1/2… and excellent sound quality. I used one to test a pair of active Kabers, connected to the mid drivers… sounded great!

PS, I also used one between an iPhone, with the lightning adapter, and a pair of Royd Sapphires to listen to music whilst moving between houses (everything big was boxed up)… that sounded very good indeed!
 
Ah, you’ve bought a Linn Room Amp… that’s pretty impossible to beat for £31, on paper, it’s power output looks small, but in reality, it’s plenty… it has double the power of a Naim Nait 1/2… and excellent sound quality. I used one to test a pair of active Kabers, connected to the mid drivers… sounded great!

PS, I also used one between an iPhone, with the lightning adapter, and a pair of Royd Sapphires to listen to music whilst moving between houses (everything big was boxed up)… that sounded very good indeed!

It was actually £22, plus delivery.;)

I was thinking this morning that for my kids, who won’t use anything but their phone, it is all they would likely need.
 
I use JBL Control 1 for my PC system. Classic mini speakers. Small and, in particular, very shallow (13 cm deep). I couldn't find any vaguely hi-fi speakers that were so shallow. They are plastic, but very well made and hefty. £69 on Amazon.

This turned out to be a very good call. Thank you.

The ones I dusted off in the loft are; suitably small, happy to sit next to a wall, and, within their limits, pleasant to listen to. Mid-range is extraordinarily good. They are easily competent enough to allow me a leisurely search.

I'm starting to think that some bargain Anthony Gallos from towards the top of the range will be my destination. Now I can take my time finding them.
 
The search ended quicker than I’d imagined possible.



My local dealer is closing so I managed to snag a pair of Gallo Micro SEs for less than £150.

The Gallos are not terribly sensitive and that combined with the low output of the Apple Headphone DAC pointed to the need for a replacement.

I then recalled that I’ve got “HIBY” headphone amp/DAC sitting in a draw.

Nearfield it’s a lovely system. I’m delighted.
 
I'm late to the party, but for anyone else who might be looking, I have a pair of Monitor Audio Radius 90 on my desk and really can't fault them. Amp is nothing special (a cheap Chinese T-amp) but it drives them just fine.
 


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