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PSB Alpha.
It's easy for an audiophile to fall in love with grand, state-of-the-art speakers, but when it comes to high performance in a small space, fewer jewels stand out. Reader Gus Kund wants to know: What is your favorite bookshelf speaker?
Though I haven't seen a pair in over 30 years, I still have a soft spot in my heart for the AR2a. More recently I have enjoyed time with both the PSB Alpha in it's latest iteration and The Ruark Epilogue R. The PSBs sit on a shelf in a fairly large airport hanger and are driven hard by skydiving adrenaline junkies. The Ruarks sit on sand-filled Target stands in my office and are more subtly utilized.
My favorite book shelf speaker is the Gershman Acoustics X-1. It has beautiful mids, respectable bass, for a speaker of its size, and clear highs that are not in any way tizzy. The speakers are drop-dead beautiful, as well. They elicit a lot of oohs and ahhs from people who have seen them. The WAF for these speakers is very high.
I assume you mean small speakers, mini-monitors. You can't use an LS3/5a on a bookshelf because it would sound terrible but I had a pair for 9 years. Another candidate was the Spica TC-50 which was the best imaging speaker I ever heard. Another astounding little one was the a/d/s L300. My fourth choice is a pair of Radio Shack Minimus 77 which I modded with an upgraded capacitor, internal damping pads, and plastising the woofer cone. Very nice.
This is hard because I have owned and own bookshelf speakers. Large Advents, LS3/5As, Met 7s and Harbeth Model 30s. Floor standing Allison Model 1, Thiel CS2s and now Verity Fidelos have also provied music. I still own LS3/5As and my son uses my Met 7s but for me the Harbeth Model 30 are the best of a very good group.
How many people have the opportunity to own and then compare speakers let alone a subcategory such as "bookshelf"? I have heard nice examples from Totem and Dynaudio while at the local shop. I use Polk LSi9s for surrounds and have a pair of Meadowlark Swallows in a second bedroom system. Of the two, I have only listened to the Meadowlarks critically (I enjoyed them while placed in my main system) but I would suspect the offerings I've heard from Dynaudio would surpass the Meadowlarks. Isn't this why we read Stereophile?