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Recommend me kitchen speakers with oomph please

C

charliem

pfm Member
I'm having building work to make the end of my kitchen bigger and I have an opportunity to mount some speakers in the corners of the room. They need to be up in the corners by the ceiling so would like something compact but I also need them to be meaty in sound, with some bass. I'm thinking about a modded Ipod and Nait 2 as the source and amp. My main system is modded Ipod, Audio Synthesis Passion, Avondale 260Z and Epos ES22s.

Any suggestions for speakers that aint to big, can be mounted in the corners and will rock the kitchen and sound good? Second hand only and up to £350ish but cheaper is better.

Epos ES11s? Will they have enough bass?

Thanks all for recommendations,


Charlie
 
Genelec studio monitors sound very weighty in my mates studio and the 8020A is pretty small at 24 X 15cm. Not strictly hifi but I reckon they'd sound alright and they're active so now need for an amp.

Any thoughts?


Charlie
 
Agree, and a waste of the ES11 since it won't perform at all well in that location.

Look out for some original Wharfdale Diamonds or even the powered version.
Also the early 90s Goodmans Minixax II and its powered version.

Otherwise there is the JBL Control 1 which would do well in that location.

Remember that a ceiling corner location will tend to bloat the low end.
 
charliem said:
Genelec studio monitors sound very weighty in my mates studio and the 8020A is pretty small at 24 X 15cm. Not strictly hifi but I reckon they'd sound alright and they're active so now need for an amp.

Any thoughts?


Charlie
Click to expand...
The genelec suggestion is a great one. If it were possible to get a balanced output on a modded iPod there would be no sweat about long cables

Charlie, not sure why you feel they're not strictly hifi.
 
Genelec may be an option then. I had JBL Control 5 speakers in the past and they were OK for a dancey sound. Thanks all.


Charlie
 
Regards the little genelecs, I think it's fair to say they are carefully voiced to echo the company's bigger studio monitors which are found in some superb studios. Whilst theyre great for dance music :), they are genuine pro nearfield studio monitors.
 
I use Wharfdale Diamond 8.1s just like this, on top of kitchen cabinets in corners, with an NAD C350, a Squeezebox, and an MF V-DAC, and it all sounds way better than it should!

Highly recommended!
 
I havea pair of diamonds as well, bloody great, especially as i paid 3 quid for them. And they are in the kitchen
 
Terribly 'un-cool' to suggest them, but AVI Neutrons (any variant) would fit the bill. Small speakers that seem fairly unfussy about positioning, easy to drive and with a good sound.

Although personally, for Kitchen use, I'd probably go with something small and active (maybe the Genelecs mentioned above, budget permitting, or the rather bargainsome Alesis M1 530 Actives that I use for AV work are ideal).
 
Active monitors and get electrician to put remotely switched power socket at each location.

That's what I would do. Genelecs would have some boundary compensation switches to reduce bass for corner loading (I think).
 
After a suggestion on here I got some jbl control 1s as mentioned above.

The benefit of these is there is a mounting plate on the rear that enables you to point the tweeters towards the usual listening position. You can end up with a better balance.

One of my speakers is mounted in a corner and there is a clear boom at one frequency so I have to put up with that room resonance.
 
mudlark said:
One of my speakers is mounted in a corner and there is a clear boom at one frequency so I have to put up with that room resonance.
Click to expand...

May be room resonance, or may be the bass port of the control one. They do have a small bass reflex tunnel. Try and block that with something, on this one speaker only. See what happens.
 
Robert said:
Otherwise there is the JBL Control 1 which would do well in that location.
Click to expand...

A word of warning about these.
I've used these in my kitchen with a Teac compact (now an Onkyo) and the first pair blew. I bought another pair and within two years the foam cone surrounds have disintegrated.
In order to have music in the kitchen while I get a foam surround kit on order I have put into service a pair of Gale mini monitors that I used years ago as a TV surround system and they've been in the loft for years. £45 a pair sort of thing from Richer Sounds.
The sound is several times better than I ever got out of the JBLs - I was quite taken aback.
Personally I'd give the JBLs a miss. I wouldn't buy another pair and might even bin these.
 
Rega R1s. Can be positioned pretty much anywhere without inducing boom or loss of clarity. In fact corner placement may fill them out nicely. Open, lean sound, lots of fun. Rega do cheap wall brackets for them. Well within budget s/h. Pm me if you fancy a pair. I've been trying a pair out and am desperately trying to find a use for them because I like them so much, but there's no room for a 2nd system in my house currently.

Or alternatively the cheaper Audionotes, but I've yet to see a pair s/h.
 
I have a pair of Bose 301s :eek: up for grabs.

Could be ideal for a little rock in the kitchen, they were widely used in pubs !
 
Thanks all for the recommendations. PMd about the Rega and Bose offers,thanks.

The Wharfdale Diamond 8.1 seem like a cheap option. Anybody know the difference between 8.1 and 8.2 models? Are they going to fill a room the way that the Bose or Genelec speakers would? Can I get people shaking their hips? I could mount four of them at that price.

JBL I probably wouldn't consider just because the Control 5 I had wasn't great and the 1s seem to not have a great rep.

Alesis M1 530. I see loads of 520s on Ebay. Will research more.

An obvious question... Do the active speakers such as the Genelec and Alesis M1 need power as well as a speaker cable to each one? I assume so but need to be sure.

Thanks again all,

Charlie
 
charliem said:
An obvious question... Do the active speakers such as the Genelec and Alesis M1 need power as well as a speaker cable to each one? I assume so but need to be sure.

Thanks again all,

Charlie
Click to expand...
Yes charlie, you're right they do. Another option that are cheaper than the Genelecs and are arguably as good (or very close to them) are the KRK VXT series. The VXT 4 are lovely for the money and even with a 4" can fill a room (room dependent), plus they're front ported so you wouldn't have the issue of a rear port being too close to the wall (there are also the 6" and 8" options too for more cheddar). One potential downside being the yellow cone and the lit logo, which might not suit you. I personally really like them.

The KRKs are voiced a bit differently to the Gens and In terms of musicality (rather than critical monitoring) I might just pick them over the equivalent Gens. They do also have plenty of punch.
 
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