Had decided on the M105 or M106 until I saw this discussion. However, I should point out two things:
A ”small room” in the US may not be the same as in the UK. Remember, it’s only 14 x 12 ft. That’s probably a cupboard in the US.
I don’t have access to EQ. Although I would like to in the future, if I could find a good DAC with EQ capability. Don’t like to go off topic, but any suggestions appreciated.
So, does this change your advice for my particular use case e.g. forget the F206 without EQ.
Honestly the
only benefit to buying bookshelf speakers is that given a finite budget, you can generally buy a bookshelf speaker one tier higher in quality vs a tower of the same price.
For example, rather than a pair of Performa3 F206 towers, one could buy a pair of PerformaBe M126Be bookshelves for about the same price. A decision to go with a bookshelf over a tower for cost optimization reasons is a great strategy.
Other than cost optimization, there are little to no inherent advantages to bookshelves. Space savings is
not usually an advantage to a bookshelf speaker, because they will generally only sound good when stand-mounted — and most stands of similar solidity to towers actually consume
more floor space than towers, not less! Sure the stand itself consumes less air volume, but I have yet to see anyone ever make use of the free space around a stand’s pole above the floor and below the speaker (which is literally the only room space savings you get).
Also, even the cost savings point isn’t aways true — for example, if a tower satisfies your bass needs to the point where you don’t
need a subwoofer, it might actually end up costing you more to buy { bookshelf speakers, stands, subwoofer } than simply buying a pair of towers! And in your case of a small room, it’s quite likely that (with EQ) a good pair of towers will give you all the bass you need for music without a subwoofer, even at high playback levels. In contrast, it is unlikely that a bookshelf will be capable of this without the woofer bottoming out. For this reason, yes, I love towers even in small rooms.
However... I
do not recommend the Revel F206. In my experience, the treble of the F206 is lacking vs many other speakers. Everything else is great, but the treble did not satisfy me. The M105/M106/F208 measure much better, and I’d expect they will have much better treble. (So unfortunately, it’s not always safe to assume all speakers within a lineup have the same sound quality overall.)
And lastly, not to confuse your purchasing decision any further, but... as I type this I’m listening to Focal Aria 926 tower that just arrived, as they are on sale on Amazon.com (and a few other locations) for around $2.3k/pair (almost half the MSRP of a Revel F206). I find them much superior to the Revel F206 (from memory), particularly in treble. But their bass seems every bit as good too; they’re sufficient even without a subwoofer for most music in the 14x17” room they’re in!
These are the tower versions of the Focal Aria 906 reviewed here on ASR. I suspected I would like them due to the wide dispersion pattern, and I am not disappointed. That said, take this with a grain of salt until I’ve had them longer and my ears get over the initial excitement of new speakers