HI Randy - I am still thinking you listen in your small custom built listening room / man shed.  I had F15s a few years ago in my small room.  There was some good some not so good.  I am wondering how the Lii Audio 8's might be different from the 10's and 15's in your room.  Thinking in my small 12x13 room with lots of off-axis listening that one of the smaller drivers in a barrel might work better?  What has been your experience - not just Randy with this question.

thanks for the reply Randy - always love the photo of your room.

Makes sense regarding the 8s or 10s in a small room.  I have a couple of Rel subs so not too interested in the baffle that has the Lii 15 woofer on bottom and smaller driver on top.  Other thing for me is I listen off axis about 80% of the time (at a desk) - I found the low barrels didn't work as well off axis as my Zu speakers do now so may need a raise the driver strategy.  

Also FAsts or Silvers - both would be in my budget especially the 8 inchers.

As always more to thing about and read some more.

Just reporting back in that I purchased a 2nd hand pair of Crystal 10's in magnum Caintuck barrels. (from a member here).  They arrived last week.

I was nervous about these as a) I read the Crystals work best in a box and b) I was really thinking 8 incher or smaller in my small room.  And they sounded awful / even broken right out of the box - screechy in upper mid and high end.

Things settled down after about 10 hours.  I tried putting some rubber feet under the front to tilt them up - this seemed to help with off axis listening.

Running them with an Lta Ultralinear amp and lampizator dac.  Have other amps / preamps to try with them.  Very efficient as volume doesn't go very high with the integrated and these speakers.

By last night they were wow - best image I have ever had in this room, great dynamics and detail, have subwoofer now blended in and bass with detailed and sounding good.  Listening to Alexis Cole and Bucky Pizzarelli - what a great nightcap before bedtime.

Still get a little mid-range glare with poor recordings.  Only other negative is tilted up driver right at dog's tail level!  Listening to KSFR-FM out of Santa Fe this morning - great music and sounding radio station.  Open baffle working well in my small room - will try some other amps this week.

Hi Casey,

Thanks for the update .....

When the baffles are sitting on the floor, the drivers "couple" with the floor which increases the lower midrange / bass.
Having said that, several of my customers have the baffles sitting on stands and are happy with the results.

The Crystal / Silver drivers can definitely be a little thin and bright in open baffles with some recordings.
However, as you have found, recordings with a "rich" tonal balance can sound very, very good.

Best wishes,
Randy