speaker advice

We need to know

a) your budget

b) your views on going second hand

Regards

Mick

a) let's say around £500-£750 in addition to whatever I can get for the B&Ws

b) don't mind s/h but I've always thought speakers were a bit iffy as a s/h proposition

Rest of system FYI is:
Nait5, CD5/FC2, Rega P25, NACA5

-- woody

[This message was edited by woody on Sun 02 May 2004 at 14:56.]

How fussy are the options given so far about placement? They would have to be pretty close to a rear wall (20cm) and be about 1.8m apart. Listening position is about 2.2m from speakers. Room is not ideal - painted plaster walls, hardwood flooring, lots of reflective surfaces

-- woody

Woody,

Although slightly above your budget, a couple of speakers that might be worth checking out are the Spendor s5e and the PMC GB1's.

The Spendor has been out a for a little while and you can read about how well received they have been on other threads. The GB1's are only just out and (because I've been making similar discrete enquiries myself re speaker upgrades!) I happen to know that PJ Hifi in Guildford have a pair for demo-purposes (they also do Spendor).

Hope that helps.

Regards,

JonR

Speakers are the best second hand buy in the Hifi supply chain. If they sound good then the are 99% certain to be ok.

I have a pair of 1986 Briks and they sound fantastic.

The advantage of buying speakers second hand is that it gives you more money to put at the front end of your system and it is there that you will get the best results per £ spent.

For your budget I would go for

a) SBL's....good sound but need careful setting up.

b) Castle Chesters....superb looking and a rich mellow sound.

c) Neat Elites

d) EPOS 14s or 22s

Regards

Mick

Hi woody,
can't comment re the other suggestions re speakers but would warn you that sbl's like a solid brick/concrete wall to nestle up against - they don't do studded walls well IMO...

andy c!

House was built in 1840 so walls are thick brick with painted plaster.

-- woody

Hi Woody,

Regarding the Spendor S5e that JonR offered up as a possibility (which I concur with):

For my home auditioning I had them placed 30 to 40 centimeters from the rear wall. This setup worked wonderfully, bass was powerful, tight and articulate without overloading my room. My room is approx. 3.9 m x 5.5 m with lathe and plaster walls (not brick), suspended hardwood floors and a fairly large opening on the short wall to another room of similar size. Spendor claims that room placement is not an issue with this speaker, however your placement requirements might be pushing things a bit - I could feel a decent amount of air exiting the speaker from the "linear-flow port" (which exits at the bottom/rear of the speaker) when playing at decent volume.

My previous Dynaudio Contour 1.3 mkII speakers could not play anywhere near the rear wall without having a foam plug installed in the rear port, which sucked a lot of life out of the sound. Otherwise they turned the entire room into a seemingly giant woofer.

My guess is that Spendor's linear-flow port works much like a transmission line design. Where physically does the transmission line design vent to on the Ela speaker?

Good luck with your search,
Bill

Sorry to be a pain - does anyone know how much I should be able to get for the B&Ws?

-- woody

Hi Woody

Don't overlook the 'soon to be discontinued' Naim Intro2's. A little over your budget (Naim dealers may be keen to shift them?) but still an excellent loudspeaker.

You really need a Naim speaker to exploit that system synergy thing. There are of course, lots of other good speakers out there; but little else seems to boogie like a Naim speaker.

Good luck.

I'm off to see Billy Vee on my birthday, I'll tell you how the B&W 704's sound. (As well as lots of other stuff I can't afford!)

Ignore the Intro 2 comments, overblown bass for my taste.

How was your birthday? All the present money burning a hole?

Seth

I suspect the 704s will be more difficult in my room than current B&Ws...definitely "off" B&Ws.

-- woody