We have our sky hd box connected to an old Sony TA-FE300R amplifier. The speakers are really old and we are looking at replacing them.

I am getting a little bogged down with all the technical stuff, can anyone suggest what speakers we could use/buy please? We dont need anything super loud, but anything is better than the actual TV sound.

Budget? Features?
I recently bought some Monitor Audio Bronze 1 (for music rather than TV) and for their size, I’m really impressed.

I guess upto £100 or less. Nothing fancy as its only for TV, I dont really watch much TV, the only reason we have the amp and speakers is that the TV sound is utter crap, but I had a amp/speakers that were not being used so we plugged it all in…..

Wharfedale diamond from richer sounds for £49? 6ohm matches your amp output range.

Speaker Impedance, ohm, what are the do’s and donts when it come to matching speakers and amps please?

Unless your amp is 50 years old, I wouldn’t worry too much about impedance, power rating etc.

‘Any’ (there might be a few niche exceptions) modern budget bookshelf speaker will fit the bill & work fine for your case.
As mentioned above, the Wharfedale Diamond 9s from Richer Sounds (or the Mordaunt Short M10s) would be perfectly good purchases, and Richer Sounds customer service is very good.

Q Accoustic 3010i/3020i/3030i depending on budget.

Wharfdale D310’s are around 110, no experience with them.

The older non “i” model Q Accoustic 3010 is going for 100

I really rate my 3010is that I use for my surrounds

I second q acoustics, think I have the older versions of the ones above

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Q-ACOUSTICS-2010i-BOOKSHELF-SPEAKERS-IN-WHITE-GLOSS-FINISH/193751871464?hash=item2d1c82efe8:g:eR4AAOSweXhfsV79

If you are near North Kent, I have some Eltax speakers going for free.

At your budget I’d be considering a soundbar.

Nahhh the 3010s will crap all over an equivalently priced soundbar, you have to pay a small fortune to even start approaching the quality of a budget set of bookshelves. Those 3010s are genuinely good speakers that even sound better than 400-500 quid speakers from 10 years back. Plus option to add a sub using high level inputs or upgrade the amp/receiver in the future and add more speakers eg a centre.

Soundbars are disposable electronics, a set of those Q-accoustics will last you 10+ years – so you can keep your nice speakers and only ever really upgrade the receiver unless you are unlucky or wilfully negligent with the speakers.

A bit of a hijack.

I recently got hold of a used 300cd changer. Running through a Topping DAC and a used Naim Nait 5 amp. The speakers are a pair of Acoustic Energy 100 speakers that I bought new over 20 years ago for £200.

It sounds really rather good but it made me think how much better it might be if I invested in some new speakers.

So would a pair of modern, £400 – £500 speakers make a huge difference?

I’ve got a pair of the older non-i version of the Q Acoustics 3020 speakers mentioned above and would wholeheartedly recommend them if you are after bookshelf speakers. I paid £99 for the pair from Richer Sounds around 3 years ago. They’re really easy to drive so your old amp should be fine.

Depends on what you define as better or if you think there is an issue with your current speakers?

You might really love the sound of your current speakers, even if another set of speakers are technically flatter or have a better transient response. Maybe you don’t? Maybe you think the bass is lacking? Generally speaking, a bigger woofer will give you less roll off at lower frequencies. If the treble is harsh? Might be your room, might be the type of tweeter etc.

Go and listen to some speakers when COVID is over – also visit the audiosciencereview forums not whathifi or anyone who tells you that cables matter outside of gauge/distance – but mostly just take a listen with your own ears and ignore everyone.

3020’s are £120-£130 on Amazon depending on the finish, the extra 20-30 quid gets you a bigger driver and better bass response over the £99 3010s.

You may be able to get them even cheaper elsewhere.

Bought a pair of Q Acoustics 3010i for the home office and very happy with them. Couldn’t find a better price than Amazon at the time.

Not sure if this is your issue but I have made my new smart tv sound go through a very old (but good ) amp and speakers by useing a optical to analog converter box bought off a popular shopping website for a tenner. It really works a treat and films sound amazing now.

So would a pair of modern, £400 – £500 speakers make a huge difference?

There’s no guarantee that new speakers will sound better, or a new amp will make the existing speakers better. New speakers might make your existing amp sound shyte. It’s a black art. Some new speakers need a while to soften up and break in (not all do). Sometimes people replace perfectly good speakers when all they really needed was a sub to enhance the lower frequencies.

I’m using a pair of Diamond 9.5 floorstanders and they’re amazing for me. Entirely subjective though! YMMV.

At your budget I’d be considering a soundbar.

I’d agree with this. With a 2 channel hifi set up, you’ll be getting ridiculously loud music/effects and quiet speech. It just doesn’t sound right…

I’d agree with this. With a 2 channel hifi set up, you’ll be getting ridiculously loud music/effects and quiet speech. It just doesn’t sound right…

I have Edifier 1700’s for my TV, so active speakers and don’t have any of these issues and really struggle to believe a similar priced soundbar could sound better

I’d agree with this. With a 2 channel hifi set up, you’ll be getting ridiculously loud music/effects and quiet speech. It just doesn’t sound right…

Never had that issue with basic stereo setups, that’s you just not being used to proper reference level dynamic range – might be a problem if you’re in a semi with thin walls between you and your neighbours but the OP never complained about that with his old setup…so doubt it will be an issue with his new one.

The way to solve that down the road is with any budget yamaha AVR as opposed to a new amp – they all allow you to adjust the dynamic range – and the sound quality from the AVR will be easily good enough for a set of 100 quid bookshelves.

If you’re not chasing peak performance I’d recommend just keeping an eye out on ebay. I got eltax/gale towers, bookshelf speakers, centre speaker and sub as a 5.1 system for £53. Until I manage to get out of a flat and into a real house that’s more than enough for me/my neighbours!

I’d agree with this. With a 2 channel hifi set up, you’ll be getting ridiculously loud music/effects and quiet speech. It just doesn’t sound right…

Yeah, never heard of this being a problem before. My TV setup is a pair of Wharfedale floorstanders and a Yamaha AS-501 stereo integrated amp and I haven’t noticed any issues with the volume of speech coming from the TVs optical out directly into the amp’s DAC.

Just lurking on this thread because the sound on our TV is whack. On the preset modes you either set it for clear speech so you can actually hear what people are saying and lose all the music and atmosphere or you set it to ‘movie mode’ or similar and you can’t hear dialogue and the speakers buzz on the loud bits.

It’s a 55″ Samsung smart thing from a few years ago that came with the house and we don’t really want to replace it.

Could I cure the sound issues with some speakers? Do I need an amp? Would that plug into the TV or the Virgin box? Total noob, never bought anything like this before.

Active speakers/soundbar – eg the above Edifier 1700 bookshelves = no amp needed and connection via optical. You’ll get better clarity of speech but little control over dynamic range – the speakers especially will drive close to reference levels of dynamic range which means the explosions will be louder. Active bookshelves will definitely cure the distortion at volume as well.

Bookshelf speakers plus stereo amp, the same as above really but with the option of being able to upgrade more easily. Hifi diehards will stick to stereo amps over AVRs.

Bookshelf plus AVR – lots of fine tuning possibilities. The AVR’s can help to iron out your rooms acoustic issues, the extent to which depends on how much you spend. Dynamic range can be adjusted, plus each speaker can be independently adjusted for volume, timing and depending on the AVR basic to advanced equalisation using either automatic processes or manual processes depending on what you prefer. That means that not only can you adjust the dynamic range but for example, you can bump the centre speaker (if you upgrade to one) up by a couple of decibels (where the majority of speech comes from).

Could I cure the sound issues with some speakers? Do I need an amp? Would that plug into the TV or the Virgin box? Total noob, never bought anything like this before.

Active bookself = optical out from tv – Stereo amp = optical out from tv depending whether the stereo amp has that connection – AVR = every input known to man, you could connect your sky box to it via HDMI, it will then split the sound and picture – sending the picture to the tv via HDMI out and the sound to the speakers using the onboard amps.

I’d agree with this. With a 2 channel hifi set up, you’ll be getting ridiculously loud music/effects and quiet speech. It just doesn’t sound right…

you would only get that if you set a av receiver to 5.1 (or I guess, 3.1 or 7.1 or whatever) mode and only plugged 2 speakers in. Set whatever the source is to 2.0 and the mix will be completely fine

The AVR’s these days recognise how many speakers you have wired in and adjust accordingly during setup.

Also, agreed on the source – make sure you have netflix, amazon, apple tv etc set to stereo unless you have a 3.1 or 5.1 setup.

@gobuchul

Try Neat speakers with the Nait. Will go very nice. They do all their testing and power show demos for their speakers using Naim gear. Drop to silly money second hand for some pretty innovative designs behind the very normal aesthetics.

I’ve got the same setup as silverneedle and the speech is fine. Arcam A85 amp and Monitor Audio Bronze 2 speakers for reference. Bonus is that it also sounds good for music.

Yeah if I set my AVR to output stereo through my Q Accoustic 3050is, TV and movies still sounds just fine.

another thread hi-jack – my one of 15 yr old Kef iQ3 speakers has died, the rubber surround has split and it sounds like a driver has gone as well. i loved the sound out of them for a bookshelf speaker in a smaller room.

not sure if it’s best to try and get them repaired – if so any one got any recommendations for near Manchester / high peak area – or should i just use the money towards a new pair of speakers, something like those Q acoustics that seem to get widely recommended? have newer speakers moved on lots and is it better to spend the cash on them vs unknown repair costs?

I can’t tell you if the 3010i’s would be an upgrade. Those iQ3’s were pretty high end 500 quid speakers back in the day and KEF has a certain sound – brighter than Q Acoustics. I’m sure the newer larger 3020i/3030is would give you better bass response but they will sound different to KEFs. The KEF LS50 is going to be your modern equivalent.

KEF have a more “budget” model as well – the Q350

@oakleymuppet

thanks, the more i think about it, the more i think i’d like to get them repaired should it be cost effective.

anyone know of any good hi-fi repair outfits in the northwest??