Advice on speakers short list

Are there any restrictions on room placement relative to walls etc? And what's your budget?

SBLs are ridiculous value nowadays and would seem to match your amps.

In the '90s I ran an 820/250 with LP12 and CDI using SBLs. Yes your combo would be well matched with the SBLs

Dave***t posted:

Are there any restrictions on room placement relative to walls etc? And what's your budget?

SBLs are ridiculous value nowadays and would seem to match your amps.

Good questions - Currenty the MA RS6's fire across the room (the narrow direction) so tend to be about 2' from the rear wall. Any closer and I get bass boom (even with the rear firing ports bunged). I am looking to spend about £6-800.

I want speakers (or rather my wife does) that look reasonable in a living room environment (the MA's have a great dark rosewood veneer and are really nice 'furniture') and unless I can still get decent foam grills, the SBLs would not really meet that criteria.  I would want speakers that are a little more recent than SBLs. I think older PMC's (pre 22, 23 etc) and Spendor's (S5E, A5, S6E, A6, etc) would be worth considering and would appreciate anyones' experiences with these.

I don't see a lot of Raidho or Scansonic recommendations on the forum but I'll say the Scansonic MB line is tough to beat for the money and pair with Naim very well too. If you can audition those I think you'll be impressed with what you here. They also look very nice and stylish IMO. 

Thanks for the suggestions - these are new considerations that I have never heard of...."let the investigations begin"!

Kevin

Very modern looking! Raidho are stocked by Criterion Audio - they are near me, so worth an initial call. Thanks.

Only...just read a review the C2 retails at £13,995.  A little beyond my budget! Don't think I will be making that call after all!  
Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

The Scansonic line is a bit more affordable...

If you are having problems with bass boom less than 2' from the wall then steer clear of Spendor unless you can audition in your home.

Spendors have many good qualities and given a sympathetic room will sound excellent, but bass boom is likely to be an issue for you I fear.

I had A5's and enjoyed my time with them, but other forum members had far less success.

PMC's are much more flexible in this respect and any design that is either sealed or has a downward firing port is likely to be more succesful.

If you could stretch your budget you may find a better long term bet, given your reluctance for classic Naim speakers which are excellent value for money.  Your system certainly seems up to the task of taking a good pair of speakers.

I run Kudos C20's and am very pleased with them, they have downward firing ports which help with placement but with speakers all bets are off as to how well they will work in your room.

Richard

Of the speakers I've owned, and given that you don't want SBLs or something old, the PMC GB1i would be my choice. They are small and pretty and will sit about six inches from the wall. Or, if you are willing to take a punt for £250 or so, Linn Kabers. 

Two speakers that will be fantastic in their own way:

Naim SL 2 or Kudos Titan 88. 

//Jonas

Well, if you can find Titans or SL2s for £600 to £800, let me know. 

Kevo posted:

Very modern looking! Raidho are stocked by Criterion Audio - they are near me, so worth an initial call. Thanks.

Only...just read a review the C2 retails at £13,995.  A little beyond my budget! Don't think I will be making that call after all!  
Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

The Raidho line is expensive. Really the only one I would be able to afford is the X1. It does have the same tweeter as the top of the line D5 but would need a sub for my needs. The upcoming X2 would be great but a bit out of my price range too. The Scansonic MB line is designed by the same guy that designs Raidho. They have a similar sound for much less money. I currently have the MB 2.5 but upgrading to MB 3.5 early next year. The new MB 6 would be great but that will have to wait another couple of years for me. I'm sure that dealer has Scansonic so give him a call and take a listen. Good luck with your search.

I am a huge Joseph Audio fan, and they represent a good value to performance ratio.  I just replaced my RM25XL's, which were fabulous, with Focal Diablo Utopia III's, which are significantly pricier, but definitely an improvement . . . $10K better?  Hard to say.  If you can find some RM25XL's, they are probably $3K on the used market.  I'm super-happy with my Focals, plus the Focals have a huge WAF, but definitely check out the Josephs if you can.

Thanks guys for all the suggestions - there are certainly some new names for me here, as well as some well known ones!

 Thanks Richard for the feedback on the A5's - I do like the build quality of the Spendors and the reports on S5E SQ would seem to be what I would like.

I can have the speakers more than 2' from the rear wall, but it encroaches on my listening distance. I am trying to get my other half to let me position the speakers to fire down the room, but this places the RH speaker a bit too far into the open for her liking! However this would certainly allow me to consider a wider range of options! If not, then something like HungryHalibuts PMC GB1i  pointer is worth following up. 

Thanks again for all the follow ups - all appreciated. 

Kevin

Maybe a little more difficult to find depending on where you are but Goldenear Triton 3 (with powered bass) or 7 (passive) may come in close to the price if you can find s/hand or ex-demo.

I heard the 7's and felt they had an edge over the MA Silver8's in overall sound, and were a little easier to drive (my little NAP100 was able to 'wake them up' more easily than the Silver8's although both would be a much better match with your 180 or higher up the Naim range). Nice overall balance similar to the MA's but maybe with a little more resolution & dynamics and a nice slim profile.

Kevin,

My vinyl playing system is not hugely different to yours.  I had SBLs for some 20 years and was extremely happy with them.  However, my wife hated the looks so eventually I gave in and agreed to change them (I know, I'm far too accommodating!).  I listened to many different speakers - Spendor, Ovators, Kudos, Sonus Faber, Focal - but ended up plumping for PMC.  They were the ones that gave me the most musical enjoyment.

I am also thinking of changing the 180 to a 250 so I would be very interested in hearing your view on what improvement it brings.

Hope you have fun auditioning the various options available.

Dave Hedgehog posted:

 

I am also thinking of changing the 180 to a 250 so I would be very interested in hearing your view on what improvement it brings.

Hope you have fun auditioning the various options available.

Hi Dave

I already heard a friends CB 250 and compared to the 180, that had more depth and clarity to the bass, better 'presence' of the sound image (maybe that should be "more realistic"?) and certainly more 'weight'. Generally it just sounded more coherent and live. It was quite surprising, but then given the differences in the electronics (much better PSU and regulation) it's not surprising. 

I hope these descriptions are understandable for you - I am not used to describing how something sounds!

Kev

Kev,

Thanks for that.  The move up to a 250 is on my list for the (hopefully) near future.

I get what you mean; I tend to work on what my right foot is doing - if it ain't tapping, it ain't happening!

I use Spendor A5s with a 82/250 and they need to be well away from a back wall a 250 will certainly help as they need a 250 to get the best out of them.

I just listened to some Monitor Audio speakers at a dealer. I listened to the Silver 8, Silver 10, GX300 ( or maybe 200) and Gold 300.  The GX was amazing in many ways but hurtfully harsh on old classic rock music. The Silver Range was a nice balance on the older rock albums, but didn't have the air in well recorded music.  The Gold 300 brought it for rock and other Genre's of music. 

spurrier sucks posted:

Kevo posted:

Very modern looking! Raidho are stocked by Criterion Audio - they are near me, so worth an initial call. Thanks.

Only...just read a review the C2 retails at £13,995.  A little beyond my budget! Don't think I will be making that call after all!  
Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

The Raidho line is expensive.

And so tilted you can't imagine tonal balance ever gets it right

Kevo posted:

Dave***t posted:

Are there any restrictions on room placement relative to walls etc? And what's your budget?

SBLs are ridiculous value nowadays and would seem to match your amps.

Good questions - Currenty the MA RS6's fire across the room (the narrow direction) so tend to be about 2' from the rear wall. Any closer and I get bass boom (even with the rear firing ports bunged). I am looking to spend about £6-800.

I want speakers (or rather my wife does) that look reasonable in a living room environment (the MA's have a great dark rosewood veneer and are really nice 'furniture') and unless I can still get decent foam grills, the SBLs would not really meet that criteria.  I would want speakers that are a little more recent than SBLs. I think older PMC's (pre 22, 23 etc) and Spendor's (S5E, A5, S6E, A6, etc) would be worth considering and would appreciate anyones' experiences with these.

It's true, SBLs are ridiculous value nowadays.

Also, SBLs 'WAF' rating is usually quite high due to them being boundary speakers so far easier to live with the placement close up against a wall in a real living room environment. There are lots of beautiful Walnut veneered ones around, and also Cherry, and Beech veneers with a less hurried search. New foam grills can be purchased from Tom Tom if you really want them, but SBLs look fantastic with or without them, an understated classic with time proven engineering that works.

Just about every other alternative speaker mentioned above will be a lesser speaker but more expensive to buy, just as plane boxy to look with but a need to encroach out into the room [so Mrs Wife will find them more evidently 'in the way' ...and fugly] and sounding worse than SBLs : (

Debs

.....come on .SBLs just look ridiculous.   Yes SL2s do have a look to them that once you get your eye in - has something, and others like the Ovators - The DBLs and SBLs though looks like something from a Terry Gilliam movie. Like a steam driven trouser press for over weight vicars that was made in a shed from Formica and Velcro  

I would rather have these looking at me....

Haha, much as I actually disagree and think that SBLs are very smart & discrete, I love that comparison.