Speaker upgrade for a Qute 2

Many dealers will loan kit for home demo before you commit to buying it, and will come to your home to set things up for you. Given your situation, I would have thought this was a reasonable thing to ask for.

Other people will be more able than me to suggest speakers to suit your setup, but before you commit all of your budget to them, I'd give some thought to wether or not it would be worth spending some of it on optimising your source, interconnects etc if you haven't already done so.

Can't really help on speaker suggestions, other than "smooth treble" and "PMC" are usually not best friends. 

Have you considered another route? Maybe headphones will bring you much more quality than any loudspeaker in your situation. 

I'm using Kef LS50s which are fantastic - they perform far above their price point.  I auditioned a pair of PMCs (can't remember which ones) and some Monitor Audios, and the LS50s with the 'Qute outperformed both of then.

Sadly the tinnitus makes using headphones impossible, they would be an ideal solution

Yes they seem to be ideal given how they will have to be placed, I'm a little concerned that they are "so" transparent, but the do keep heading to the top of my list.

I have considered them but everything I read tells me I need to audition them first to make sure they work in my room.

I'm going to try my local sevenoaks or audio T and see if they can help with a home demo after Christmas.

Interconnects wise, there are none really, just speaker cables and an upgrade is planned when getting the new speakers.

Thank you all for your replies so far, its giving me something to think about,.

Sorry to hear that.

Again, if you're considering PMC's, please do try them at home. I've heard several models, including the Fact8 on Naim amplification, and their treble made me quickly look further. Some say they are revealing, others lively, detailed, to my ears they sounded coarse in comparison with others brands. In fact, I never heard more coarse sounding speakers than PMCs. Even with the treble turned down. 

Maybe not surprising given their roots as a monitor brand

But don't take my word for it, I've mainly looked at considerable more expensive speakers, so I have limited experience with £1500 options. 

Been happy with my Kef Ls50's and I suffer from pretty heavy tinnitus at times. Keep in mind that if you do want to play loud, then a larger amp than the UQ's won't go louder necessarily but will be less hard sounding. The UQ is brilliant at lower volumes but when really pushed can be fatiguing. 

The KEF's take about a month or two to burn in but sound really nice after that. Good functioning stands are crucial. I just replaced my old wobbly ones with really solid ones and the sq went up dramatically. But they are rear ported so you may need to try something else. ATC's are nice though the 11's I demoed were underpowered by the UQ. But talk about really neutral. Maybe the 7's?

You might also want to look at your ethernet cables. I use Audioquest Cinnamon but would probably go with C-stream if it was available here (US) at a decent price. They can help tame the noise found in digital replay. It will help, believe me.

I've been thinking about all this over the Christmas period and I'm thinking of taking a slightly different route to that originally thought.

Firstly my carer managed to move the BX2's away from the walls by another two inches and what a difference its made!

I've also bought some new speaker cables so will wait and see what impact they have.

Obviously its not cured things so far but the system is now sounding much better than it did.

I can live with that for a few more months.

Looking at some of the suggested speakers, especially so the ACT's, I think it would be a smart move to spend the last of the Christmas money on a NAP 100, this will give me a wider choice of speakers (more power to drive the less sensitive models)later on in the spring when I should be able to access some of my pension funds, at which time I will try and get my local dealer to facilitate a home demo of those I'm interested in, including both the PMC twenty 21's and the ATC 11's.

In the meantime I'm doing a lot of reading/listening and re learning (the last time I really got into hi/fi was back when the original Creek audio 4040 amp came out !)

Do you have any ceiling space above or forward of your head?

How high is your bed from the ground?

Are you laying totally flat or is your head and shoulders propped up on pillows?

Be careful with the 100, to my ears it robs the Qute of it's fun and musicality!

a dealer told me once that PMC stands for "Professional Monitoring Company", they were initially designed as studio monitors and can be to revealing and analytical  for normal household use...

I have a feeling I know where you're going here Gale   I have plenty of ceiling space but have to leave it free to allow the bed to be raised & it has a hoist, I'm in a ground floor flat under my neighbours bedroom so cant really mount anything on the ceiling, bed height is approx 58 cm's when down, I can manage shoulders on my pillows but thats it.

I did some reading and I believe you're right there Justin, thats another idea out the window.

I believe your right David, and indeed the Hi-Fi arm of the business grew from their main professional monitor side, but the twenty series are apparently a different beast to the professional studio monitors they make.

My local Sevenoaks man (16yrs experience in Hi-Fi) advised me that the 21's are warmer than the 22's and have a fairly sweet treble after they're broken in when used with Naim equipment.

He also advised that I would certainly find the MA GX 50/GX 100's to bright and probably the same with the KEF LS 50's.

I've agreed to hold of until I have more funds then he will try and arrange a home demo for me.

Happy new year to all and many thanks for your input

Adding a power amp will make the Qute a far more sophisticated beast, and not just at volume. Something to consider-and above all try at home.

Doing this transformed the sound of my Qute system which was a bit 'raw' beforehand

Just an alternate view

Bruce

+1 I prefered my uq2 into a Nap100 than bare, I prefer it even more into a Hugo and a Supernait 2! 

I don't know what all this about PMCs having a harsh or strident treble is coming from. I tried the 21s and 23s at home and thought they were both excellent - so much so that I bought the 23s.

In this case, I would put the idea of a 100 on hold for now, until some alternative speakers have been tried. Note that the excellent PMC stands for the 21 normally cost £300, but there is a promotion on at the moment whereby they come free with a pair of 21s or 22s. I tried the 21 about 4" from the wall and the bass tightness was very good, and certainly not at all dull and floppy.

If the speakers work well with the Qute, that is £600 saved. And if you need more drive, a used 200 is what I would go for, rather than a new 100. I hope that helps.

I agree with HH.

Indeed, I don't really understand the comment about PMCs having a strident treble. They shouldn't fire straight at the listener, and you shouldn't assess them until you've had them at least 3-4 months, if not more. I have the Twenty 23s, and an older pair of DB1is - both on Naim amplification.

The treble is very much there, it is harsh in certain circumstances: I'm thinking of a recording of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto which may not be available in Britain,  Korcia/Kantorow/Liège Philharmonic on Naïve. The violin will sound harsh in the last movement, if it doesn't, then the speakers are not doing their job properly.

PMC speakers are harsh or strident in the treble! One word b******s!

Dave

One of the main reasons we chose the twenty.23 was because it can reveal detailed high frequencies in a controlled and balanced way. My wife is particularly sensitive to harsh treble.

I find the argument that a "professional monitor company" cannot produce speakers for domestic use rather odd. There are other manufacturers that began by producing professional monitors (ATC, etc.).

Even the Spendor BC1 was designed to be a professional monitor - and it is certainly not harsh.

The dealer who uses that kind of argument probably does not sell PMC speakers...

KEF LS50 are no good near walls.  Mine are about a metre away.  Any closer and you have to start sticking the bungs in which closes the sound a bit.

I listened to a pair of Acoustic Energy Reference 1's with my SU and they sounded very good.  In your room they'd definitely be worth an audition.  They're beautifully finished as well.

Try some dynaudios as well if you get the chance, to me are one of the best speakers available

+1 I use a pair of Dynaudio Excite X14 with my UQ2 and they work very well together.

I love Macassar ebony Dave, as long as its on speaker cabinets and not guitar fret boards

Well things got sorted for me yesterday, after chatting to Dan and Mark at my local Sevenoaks shop a wonderful lady I'm privileged to know appeared at my door last night lugging a couple of heavy boxes.

Contained within where a pair of PMC Twenty 21's, stands, a bucket of atabytes and some new speaker cables.

I'm one lucky guy and I know it..

I listened to Dans advice and had them placed 5 inches from the rear wall and slightly toed in, in fact they're in exactly the same spot as the MA's where, its just the larger stand base pushes the speakers themselves back 3 inches.

Ok so they aren't broken in by a long shot but the treble is as sweet as sweet can be with the UQ2 yet still full of detail.

In fact I was listening to the track September wine from Dando Shaft's Anthology album this afternoon and heard not only hitherto unheard Tibetan hand bells at the beginning of the track but also the drone type sounds that accompany them.

The mid range is a revelation after the MA's and the bottom end lovely and tight but the real surprises are the sheer level of detail at all frequencies and absolutely stellar imaging.

I can hear the variations in pick attack in a guitar piece,the variance of dynamics used by someone finger picking,whether they are playing with their nails or using the softer flesh of the fingers and thumb,even as far as hearing the scrape of a finger nail across a wound string!

Listening to the Tallis Scholars - Sacred music in the renaissance is like having angels in the room.

And as said the imaging is pinpoint, during Nelly Furtado's Powerless from the folklore album there's a moment when all is quiet save for a crescendoing swirl that emanates from well behind the speakers and then expands forward and outward to fill the whole room, in fact it sounds like it transcends the boundaries of the room!

These little babies work so well with the UQ2, I can now see why so many recommended them, and harsh treble? not at all, its as sweet as a nut and thats with only about 6 hours on them and the new cables.

Thanks so much to all of you for your help and suggestions, I don't think I've ever come across a more friendly forum... happy new year to you all.

Look no further than Harbeth P3 SERs - sealed box so positionally neutral, clear and precise mids and treble, limited (they're small) but accurate bass.