Good morning everyone!

I didn't post here for a while, but I've been reading and searching the forum from time to time. My general knowledge and experience about hi-fi is not as extended as it would need to contribute actively (and with some real content) to the discussion... But with time and with your (direct or indirect) advice this is going to change!

I've been listening for around two years with my recently recapped ION Obelisk 3X (with the X-Pak 1) driving my old Onkyo Q-1 loudspeakers (bought second hand in Italy in 1999 or 2000...), but I was starting to feel quite unsatisfied about the speakers because of their tendency to sound harsh on certain recordings, often somehow not organic (plenty of "detail", but all in the high frequencies) and being quickly on their limit (in terms of dynamic and clarity) with any orchestral recording. So I decided to look for alternatives, mainly in the second-hand market (no hurry), and in these days I'm trying at home a pair of Spendor S8 (not the S8e).

I like the Spendor in many many ways: full range extension in the low register (28 Hz: I can hear - or maybe better to say "feel" - them, tried with a test tone generator!), plenty of detail "inside" the recording and not "on top" of it, and a certain ability to produce a sound which allows me to concentrate on the music even with historic recordings and not so wonderful lp pressings. I listen only to classical music, but absolutely all sort of it, so the speakers must manage well a solo violin and a Mahler Symphony.

My question is... Because of limitations of my room (16 square meters, 4,30 x 4,10 m, but full of bookshelves and with some sound isolation - a grand piano is also in it) I can put the Spendors about 1 m away from the front wall, 1,20 m apart from each other, and my listening position works best at about 2 m from them - 2,50 if I want to hear some resonances of the room almost disappear and the lower register become lighter, which is good with some but not all recordings). The left speaker is about 65 cm from the side wall (with bookshelves). I'm wondering if it would be a significantly better solution to look for a smaller speaker but still with some low register extension, so something like Hartbeth M30 or C7es, or Spendor SP2, or even something like a Harbeth P3esr. They are pretty difficult to find second-hand here, and even if buying them new, it's a bit difficult to try them at home. The Spendors S8 are good, what is not really working in this setup is imaging (they do "disappear" if I sit far enough, but there is only left-right soundstage, no deepness) and on some recordings the low register may be a bit more controlled and a bit "faster" (but definitely not always... some Decca LPs from the 70s sound boomy in the bass, which they did with the Onkyo Q-1 too, some DGG are very "light"...). So, are the S8 "oversize", and I don't really notice it for lack of experience, or are they actually a good solution for my room, as I feel, being so much better than the Onkyo Q-1 on many parameters?

Thanks for your advice!

Marco