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Affordable speakers that performed way better than their price suggested.

theadmans said:
AVI Neutron IV:-

1998-06-av1neutron-1-dd.8uAqUy6Os4DEhr5I7rWPb6dxqfhvq.jpg


Originally about £500 I believe...

...and I bought them secondhand around 10 years ago for £200 in mint condition.

The last of the Made In England Neutrons and the sweet spot of the line IMHO.

People pay much more for LS3/5a speakers...

...but these are even better. Scanspeak tweeters are fantastic.

Mine aren't going anywhere soon!
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Not a particularly well-matched pair, though...
 
JPW Gold Monitors. Throw a bit more filling in & cross-brace the side walls, & you have a speaker that’s as near as dammit as detailed, more open & airy sounding, & maybe a tad more dynamic than LS3/5As. A superb match with an A&R A60.
 
Tigerjones said:
Presume you are adding on the cost of sub here which probably takes it all over £2K?
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You don’t need a sub. It benefits from one, definitely, but its bass is ample to cover all but the lowest octave, which makes it surprisingly ‘complete’ sounding to my ears. But I added a sub anyway. In the range it covers it bettered my £8k-ish Tannoys mostly…
 
JTC said:
You don’t need a sub. It benefits from one, definitely, but its bass is ample to cover all but the lowest octave, which makes it surprisingly ‘complete’ sounding to my ears. But I added a sub anyway. In the range it covers it bettered my £8k-ish Tannoys mostly…
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I do love the P3s, would have liked to try some with a sub.
 
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One of my most memorable moments was in 1993, when I heard music coming out of some cheap Mission 760i's, fed by a Rega Planar 3 & Naim Nait 2 combo.
Nowadays these (though very dull and cheap looking) speakers can be had for only a few tenners.

Some other fairly affordable speakers that made me wonder if I got the price right (appr. €700,- a pair, but purely based on their performance double that price would be justified) are the Audio Note AX-two.
They look very plain, finished in a cheap looking, fake veneer, but boy o boy...they can sound truly amazing when partnered with the 'right' amp and source.

My most recent experience with some affordable speakers that (can) perform way better than their price would suggest is the little Dali Oberon 1.
The finish (eventhough the light-oak veneer is fake) is wonderful, they're not really fussy about placement and they're great for people who live in a small, noisy appartment, and listen mostly at modest/late-night volume levels. The Oberon 1's are open, fast and detailed. (the treble, eventhough sparkling and detailed can be a little spicey though, so the partnering components have to be chosen carefully)
 
Alco said:
Some other fairly affordable speakers that made me wonder if I got the price right (appr. €700,- a pair, but purely based on their performance double that price would be justified) are the Audio Note AX-two.
They look very plain, finished in a cheap looking, fake veneer, but boy o boy...they can sound truly amazing when partnered with the 'right' amp and source.
Click to expand...
I have to agree with all of that. They were pretty light speakers as well if i remember rightly, felt like there was very little inside them. Beautiful sounding speakers which needed very little power. What they lacked in bass they more than made up for in other areas.

I always have a lookout for a pair on ebay, hoping to get a cheap pair, which I won’t.
 
True, Tigerjones. They are quite lightweight speakers indeed, and to me practically everything on this speaker felt kinda cheap, but they sure did/do sound beautiful.
I only heard them once, in a local HiFi-shop, hooked up to my own little 15w Naim Nait-2 (I think the source was a Accuphase CD-player)
 
Alco said:
One of my most memorable moments was in 1993, when I heard music coming out of some cheap Mission 760i's, fed by a Rega Planar 3 & Naim Nait 2 combo.
Nowadays these (though very dull and cheap looking) speakers can be had for only a few tenners.

Some other fairly affordable speakers that made me wonder if I got the price right (appr. €700,- a pair, but purely based on their performance double that price would be justified) are the Audio Note AX-two.
They look very plain, finished in a cheap looking, fake veneer, but boy o boy...they can sound truly amazing when partnered with the 'right' amp and source.

My most recent experience with some affordable speakers that (can) perform way better than their price would suggest is the little Dali Oberon 1.
The finish (eventhough the light-oak veneer is fake) is wonderful, they're not really fussy about placement and they're great for people who live in a small, noisy appartment, and listen mostly at modest/late-night volume levels. The Oberon 1's are open, fast and detailed. (the treble, eventhough sparkling and detailed can be a little spicey though, so the partnering components have to be chosen carefully)
Click to expand...

What source/amp was being used on the Dali's?

S.
 
What source/amp was being used on the Dali's ?
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Well,...only a cheap, humble Sonos Connect streamer (no external DAC) and a Rega IO amp, Shane. Therefor I wonder how the Dali's can sound with a more serious source.
(the Dali's placed on SolidSteel SS-6 stands, which actually cost more than the Dali's)
 
JTC said:
Harbeth P3ESR. Not cheap, but definitely affordable.
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o_O Some of us can afford them; some will never be able to. In any case they’re a frivolous spend when there are hugely less expensive speakers of similar or greater abilities to choose from, not to mention a matter of personal taste as all hi-fi is.
 
LS50’s - I paid £530 for my pair when I had them. I know they divide opinion, but I loved mine. They replaced some tannoy floor standers that cost nearly twice that amount 10 years before and wiped the floor with them.
 
the caretaker said:
To any younglings who may come across this thread..save up your money and buy Dynaudio...the only thing that punchs above its weight is hifi enthusiasts wistful opinions on speakers they once owned a million years ago..so stop buying waccy baccy and save....get Dynaudio, why? Danes dont lie!
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Yes younglings get Dynaudio and wonder why everything sounds so smoooooth now.
 
Here's another vote for bargains being rare in new kit but amazingly common on eBay.

Right now I see Proac Super Tablettes for £210, KEF Reference 1 for £395, Ruark Crusaders for £325, Linn Kans for £395, Royd Minstrels for £150, Epos ES11s for £150, Neat Petites for £450, Linn Keilidhs or Spender SP2s for £450...the list goes on almost forever, and many are not very old.

Pushing the boat out and approaching 4 figures offers Linn Isobariks, Martin Logan Aeon ESLs, Quad 989s, recent PMC Twenty.23s, Sonus Faber Concertos and even more exotica. If buying from a dealer, problems are unlikely, though I'd always want to hear speakers first - if they don't sound great, risk nothing and move on to the next option.

You may not get what you think of as the perfect speaker (and perhaps in the 'wrong' colour), yet end up with a very suitable speaker whose new price is 5 X what you were prepared to spend. Avoiding over-enthusiasm, and building a 'mullet' (e.g. Naim SBLs for your Naim Atom or B&W 800s for your Rega Planar 3) may be a bigger problem than finding a bargain.
 
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