Correction
I'm re-writing this post because I've re-thought it. The Alnico Monitor and XRS should work in a small room because their real world high efficiency and flyweight drivers allow them to show their incredible dynamics at lower volumes. An extreme case in point: the Super 3i fills a 13' x 25' room no problem, yet is perfect on the desktop. I believe the room acoustics play just as big a role in good sound as the size and dimensions of the room.
Rob,
I would be interested in the basis for your edit. Your unedited comment seemed to indicate that the Alnico speakers - both XRS and Monitor - would overpower a small room. My current dedicated room is embarrassingly small at 12 x 12. I use Super 3's (wide baffle) in a semi-nearfield environment. In reality , this room would never allow a listening distance of greater 8 feet or so even with the speakers and listener pushed to within 2 feet of the room boundaries. In a semi-nearfield environment (4-6 feet listening distance) the RS5-equipped speakers do wonderfully. However, my questions would be a) would the Alnico be better, equal or worse
in this environment? and b) is there either a minimum room size and/or a minimum listening distance that the XRS models need to present an improvement over the monitor models?
I've owned and listened to a number of speakers that simply won't work in the wrong environment. My Quad ESL's could work in a nearfield environment if they had a
lot of room behind them. Big three ways and especially panel speakers like Maggie's needed lots of breathing room and distance for proper integration.
While I have no doubt that any of Louis' speakers will work within their limits in almost any listening environment (except perhaps the dipoles, which need room behind them to function properly) I would be interested in an honest opinion of where each of the models actually does
best. We agree that in a nearfield desktop/console environment the Super 3 monitor series is the natural choice, but would a Super Alnico Monitor be better or worse in this environment provided we can accommodate the additional space and resolve driver height positioning? Would a Super Alnico XRS in a nearfield environment be better still or worse?
I think that we can assume in a small room at healthy (i.e., non injurious) listening levels all Omega speakers will provide adequate SPL and dynamics from 2 watts up to their thermal limits (lets call it 32 tube watts - 15 dB gain or 108-113 maximum output at 1m). However, in a larger space the larger drivers will have the ability to move more air, and in the case of the Super 8 do so much more efficiently, and will present a plausible advantage over the RS5's
once the need for more power is present. The $100k question is that in that very low power environment presented by nearfield listening does the lighter RS5 driver present an advantage over the larger, more massive drivers? And do the monitor versions of these speakers present an advantage over the XRS versions?
