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Budget secondhand standmount speakers

I recently sold some Myryad A170's. For the £100 or so they go for secondhand, they're a very good buy and appealing in their piano black finish.

Outside of an outrageous bargain, any flavour of the passive AVI Neutron is likely to be as good as it gets in small speakers for less than £200.

As ever, 'collection only' items from e bay, FB marketplace and gumtree is where the outrageous bargains can be found.

The Myryads remind me the Q Acoustics Concept 20.
 
It's possible that my Concept 20s were not up to spec, but they sounded very poor. Very dull and boring.
Listen before purchase if possible (I didn't :().

Usher S-520s are much better. I found them a touch forward in the upper mids in my room/system, but in another system they sounded excellent.
 
I recently sold some Myryad A170's. For the £100 or so they go for secondhand, they're a very good buy and appealing in their piano black finish.

Outside of an outrageous bargain, any flavour of the passive AVI Neutron is likely to be as good as it gets in small speakers for less than £200.

As ever, 'collection only' items from e bay, FB marketplace and gumtree is where the outrageous bargains can be found.


I can vouch for the Myryad A170, tried on the end of a Denon micro system for my son pretty decent for giggles hooked them up to my Nait XS and was gob smacked. Yes not going to offer the depth and sheer slam of bigger floorstanders , but in isolation they are superb fast precise and detailed with more bass then a cabinet that size has any right to produce!
They are extremely revealing and will simply convey the music but won't flatter a bad source.

As my son has a different set up now these might be available soon as I have too much stuff!
 
I bought Klipsch R41 and they are supremely good bookshelf speaker. They have boundless energy and rhythmc assurance. They can be picked up second hand for under £200
 
eBay today suggests you could afford: -
B&W DM1400 or DM4
Monitor Audio Silver 2
Heybrook Quartet
Q Acoustics 3030i
Castle Trent 2 or Pembroke
Epos 5 or 11
Dali Spektor 2
Castle Durham
Naim n-Sats
Linn Tukan
Tannoy Revolution DC4

That's from a minute's looking. The point is just that they are all different. Can you give us a steer on what you want - anything different from what you had (apart from cost)?
 
It's possible that my Concept 20s were not up to spec, but they sounded very poor. Very dull and boring.
Listen before purchase if possible (I didn't :().

Usher S-520s are much better. I found them a touch forward in the upper mids in my room/system, but in another system they sounded excellent.

I’d bought the pair of Q Acoustics for my daughter mail order from Richer Sounds, based on many great reviews. Luckily I then heard a pair in a shop before we’d even opened the box.

Managed to switch to a pair of Dali Zensors.

Reminded me that auditioning is not an optional step at any price point.
 
eBay today suggests you could afford: -
B&W DM1400 or DM4
Monitor Audio Silver 2
Heybrook Quartet
Q Acoustics 3030i
Castle Trent 2 or Pembroke
Epos 5 or 11
Dali Spektor 2
Castle Durham
Naim n-Sats
Linn Tukan
Tannoy Revolution DC4

That's from a minute's looking. The point is just that they are all different. Can you give us a steer on what you want - anything different from what you had (apart from cost)?
Hmmm, tempted by the DM4 and Epos 11...........
 
For that money, you can probably try them for a month or two and then sell them for no cost (apart from the faff of selling on eBay). What's not to like?
 
Shame you must move the Guru's on, nothing that I know of in your price bracket is going to give them a run for the money overall, not that the QM's are perfect, but the ability of them to give a fairly realistic account of bass in such a small enclosure is hard to find generally. I love my Guru Juniors and would hate to give them up! Hopefully you will find something acceptable though!
 
Shame you must move the Guru's on, nothing that I know of in your price bracket is going to give them a run for the money overall, not that the QM's are perfect, but the ability of them to give a fairly realistic account of bass in such a small enclosure is hard to find generally. I love my Guru Juniors and would hate to give them up! Hopefully you will find something acceptable though!

Unfortunately I've had a heavy drop in my job work, so I have to sell my speakers and some of my turntables to finish paying taxes to the government. :(
 
eBay today suggests you could afford: -
B&W DM1400 or DM4
Monitor Audio Silver 2
Heybrook Quartet
Q Acoustics 3030i
Castle Trent 2 or Pembroke
Epos 5 or 11
Dali Spektor 2
Castle Durham
Naim n-Sats
Linn Tukan
Tannoy Revolution DC4

That's from a minute's looking. The point is just that they are all different. Can you give us a steer on what you want - anything different from what you had (apart from cost)?
I wouldn’t mind having most of those in my collection, the Heybrook, Castle, Epos and Linn options are all excellent.
 
If it were up to me I would have no doubts and I would take the excellent Royd Minstrel at about £150,
but unfortunately SWMBO wants them small, white and glossy, so: Q Acoustics, Markaudio Sota, or .....
I get that… although there’s the argument (probably not a successful one) that Minstrels are more compact than any stand mounted speaker when you factor in the stands… white and glossy they ain’t though.

Shame you can’t stretch to Neat Iotas, they definitely fit the bill for compact, white and glossy… but you’re probably not finding them for under £500 for a clean used pair, they’re £1000 new now (thanks to stupid inflation), and it’s pushing used values up.

The Q Acoustics speakers are nice, but somewhat tame/safe sounding unless you’re either sitting near field or driving them hard… probably not what you’re after.

If you come across a pair of white Linn Katans, just buy them, I’m absolutely certain that they would satisfy your needs… not gloss, but beautifully finished and they sound fantastic.
 


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