Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Hi Fi/Home Cinema Speakers
  • Capt.Kronos
    Free Member

    I am sure someone here probably has more of an idea on such things than me (I believe that speakers should come in blocks of 4, be 12″ cones and say Marshall across the front), cos I am needing some new speakers for the HiFi/Surround Sound set up.

    Looking for something that will work in an averageish size room, so probably shying away from floorstanders, and as the viewing distance to the telly will be the short length of the room (about 3m) they would be deeply overkill. They need to work well with music and movies too, which may rule out most the teeny sub-sat set ups, and are getting driven by a Sony DA1200ES amp.

    Any thoughts of what I should be looking at? Thinking somewhere in the £500 – £1000 region, preferably less than £800… the cheaper the better though cos I want a carbon can for my Speed Triple 😉

    househusband
    Free Member

    As a former hi-fi geek I can only suggest getting yourself along to (ideally several) specialists with some favourite CD’s. That’s a reasonable budget for a speakers, so you deserve more than (no offence to anyone here) folk recommending what they’ve got or listened to!

    Some forums are pretty knowledgeable for hi-fi; AV Forums for instance.

    Capt.Kronos
    Free Member

    Normally I would… but there is a serious lack of HiFi retailers in these here parts! Just kind of looking for a starting point really – then if I can find somewhere with all/most in stock that is not too far away I can arrange some auditions before setting off!

    On the AV forums too, well – one of them. Seems very quiet on there though, so thought I would cast the net further for advise 😉 I have had some interesting general comments though, so starting to build a picture of what kind of set up I need to be looking at, which starts to narrow the field… which is a start!

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    geetee1972
    Free Member

    You shouldn’t rule out floor standers, their size has little to do with their performance and there is no correlation between how big your room is and how big your speakers are from an audio perspective but there may well be from an aesthetics (and what we HiFi geeks call WAF – wife appreciation factor ;o) ). It is however true, that in your budget range, it will be difficult to get a floor stander, even if only for the front left and right channels, that isn’t woolly and uncontrolled.
    I would suggest that either you lower your budget and buy something so generic that you don’t worry about the sound quality of, or you get yourself along to a decent retailer. Even Richer Sounds will allow you to audition the speaker package you’re looking for. If you absolutely can’t audition speakers that you’re going to spend up to £1000 on then you can’t justify spending up to £1000 on them.

    Spongebob
    Free Member

    KEF and B&W make decent sounding A/V sub/sat packages in that price range. I wouldn’t rate them for music in the context of a two channel hifi, but they will do the job. You must go and listen to whatever you shortlist. Don’t rule out floorstanders, but if you go for these, up your budget.

    Don’t forget the cost of decent cable and stands (10% of your budget generally speaking).

    Don’t take too much notice of hifi reviews as they are highly subjective and it hasn’t been unknown for manufacturer’s to “bung” the reviewer because of their alterior motives.

    Trust only your ears and your eyes!

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    I have Mordaunt-Short floorstanders (as does my mate) and love them to bits.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    The little KEF satellites are excellent speakers, especially connected with quality cable and using a good sub like the Cube. A mate got some recently, connected to a £600 Denon a/v amp, and the quality is a good as any reasonable person could want, especially when using a quality DVD/cd front-end like the huge Marantz he bought.

    iamtheresurrection
    Full Member

    eBay it.

    Mission 753s front, 751 rear and a 75c centre. Should pick that lot up for £500 or so. Last of the great Missions, and they work well in an AV set up too.

    You’d have money left for a decent S/H sub, which is a must if you don’t have neighbours…

    Capt.Kronos
    Free Member

    Speaker cable I have – erm… cannae remember what it is mind 😉 Fairly reasonable stuff though… Just found some, QED Silver Anniversary Biwire on the fronts, QED Contour Ultraflat for the rears. If I remember right I stripped a bit of the Silver Anniversary down (about 2 foot) to single strands to feed from the amp to the centre speaker.

    So that leaves stands if I go bookshelf then! And possibly a decent iPod dock, or perhaps a DAC transport or something to plug it through?

    Just toying with cutting the budget and going with something like the Warfdale Diamond 9 jobs as they are rumoured to be exceptional for a very modest spend (leaving me a good chunk for said carbon exhaust!)

    toby1
    Full Member

    I went with Mordaunt Shorts for around that price range, and yeah don’t rule out the floor standers – I got bookshelves then got stands and now think floorstanders would have looked cleaner! I got all speakers from the Avant range as I wanted them for music and surround and about a year down I’m definately not disappointed. Now I just need a decent upgraded amp as I just have a borrowed Nad at the moment.

    2unfit2ride
    Free Member

    I have Kef egg front’s, the Ci160.2QS ceiling speakers for the rear, Q6C center & a nice REL sub, it’s an OK setup, not quite the same as B&W floor standers, but it keeps the wife happy 😳

    I now listen to music through Sennheiser HD 595’s & a Marantz CD7300, but thats what family life is about so I’m told 🙁

    iamtheresurrection
    Full Member

    If it’s mainly for movies, then you don’t need to give much thought to speaker cable. Nearly all of your sources will be heavily compressed (and your amp is compromised anyway).

    Those KEF eggs sound pretty good (only heard the 2005.3s), as do the little Monitor Audio Radius speakers – the latter are VERY wife friendly.

    Those Missions I mentioned though – a second hand bargain if you can find them all (they’ll take much classier amplification for future upgrades)…

    jwt
    Free Member

    Q acoustics seem to get good reviews and have a variety of reasonable packages,
    http://www.qacoustics.co.uk/
    not heard them, but are on my list.

    Capt.Kronos
    Free Member

    I had been toying with the very skinny floorstanders for purely aesthetic reasons (Audio Pro I think) as most stands look a bit (lot) pants!

    It’s complicated getting down to a shortlist 😉

    sofaking
    Free Member

    i have kef 2005.3’s that i’m more than happy with for films ,games and music

    uponthedowns
    Free Member

    I use the Miller and Kreisel K series. K-15 left right and front with K-9 subwoofer. The rears are quite unusual being M&K floorstanders- they slip in behind the couch. The K-15’s are tiny as you can see here

    The sound quality is audiophile standard both for CD stereo and DVD. They are easy to drive and my Denon AV receiver which couldn’t cope with typical hard to drive hi-fi speakers like the Spendors I had before drive the M&Ks with ease.

    The only issue they have is because they sound transparent and uncoloured, unlike typical hi-fi speakers which are tuned to sound “nice”, and ruthlessly expose poor recordings.

    M&K invented the subwoofer configuration which was first used in a studio for Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic album. Lucasfilm mix their movies using M&K. If they’re good enough for Walter Becker, Donald Fagan and George Lucas they’re good enough for me.

    2unfit2ride
    Free Member

    My eggs are Ci Series Ci400, I can’t say I have really listened to the other models, so I can’t comment.

    Have fun choosing.

    househusband
    Free Member

    …the little Monitor Audio Radius speakers – the latter are VERY wife friendly…

    Yup, that’s what we’ve got; she even came with me to audition several years ago. Even the floorstanding Radius speakers look great.

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