Speaker recommendations please

[twotone]

Hi guys, I'm about to pull the trigger on a pair of speakers tonight but before I do I wouldn't mind some advice/recommendations?

Basically I bought a pair of speakers last week that didn't suit me but I'm kinda impetuous so when I make up my mind I go for it (being a bit circumspect now LOL) so I sold my then current speakers and totally regretted it.

I've now sold the new speakers and here we are

Anyway my previous speakers were Dali Oberon 1s paired with a Yamaha R-N803D receiver and both amp and speakers worked perfectly with each other.

I listen to mainly FM radios two and four, DAB & internet radio, the occasional record, streamed music from tidal via my amp and Amazon music & spotify on my iPhone and airplayed to the amp.

Music is mainly jazz, female vocals and the spoken voice

The room is in a typical 1930s UK bungalow with tiled floor and pretty sparse ie modern so lots of reflective surfaces.

The obvious thing to do would be to buy another pair of Oberon1s but they're now £350 new and I can buy the Oberon 3s for not much more but they're pretty much about half the size again of the ones but that's not such a big deal.

My budget is about £500 for a new pair of speakers and the have to be white, preferably piano or gloss finish and they must be good at low volume listening.

I would love a pair of Dali Menuttes (sp) but I'm not sure that they would be big enough for my room plus I can't afford them but they do come in gloss white however the wife would murder me if I spent £900 on a pair of speakers sight and sound unheard.

The other speakers I'm considering are Dynaudio Emit 20s (£530) and B&W 606 (£479) and then there's a left field option of a pair of white Buchardt s300 Mk2s which have garnered rave reviews online but they look just a wee bit too good to be true.

One reviewer stuck a camera up their jacksie which showed that they were in fact cheaply made speakers
with off the shelf drivers and no internal bracing but with a decently designed crossover, he also reckons that they're vastly overpriced and not as good as the hype suggests they are but anyway I can buy a SH pair for about £600 with no warranty or a refurbished pair from the manufacturer for about £950 and send them back for a refund after 45 days with only a £25 postal charge so that makes the SH ones a huge gamble.

I also looked at Kef LS50s non-wireless which are about £800 new but they too seem totally overhyped plus I think you either love them or hate them.

Thanks for reading and for any replies/advice/recommendations.

Tony

 

[Michael J]

... FM radios two and four, ... the spoken voice... B&W 600s (£479) ...

I have a pair of B&W DM600i (the original series, thirty odd years old, sealed boxes) and they were astonishingly good at reproducing speech - when placed well in the room, away from walls, not too far from you, on 1m tall stands, with bass turned down a bit to counter too-near-to-the-microphone studio boom, and treble turned down a bit to tame sibilant women. Holographic. But they are black.

 

[Del monaco]

Pair of white B&W CM8. Terrific speakers and underrated.

 

[Ponty]

I’m using my 803 with Neat Motive 2. Sounds fab. However, don’t listen to me as I also like Cesti MB’s!

 

[twotone]

Thanks guys, I should have mentioned that I'm only interested in bookshelf speakers

 

[Amber Audio]

Have had a few bookshelves and Yammy amps/receivers last couple of years, but, I have and like Cesti MBRs, they went into the office in place of ProAc 115. I bought them out of curiosity and am actually happy with them considering their price.

Can you get to a dealer and at least get a rough idea what might work and then home demo? Buying used/selling on is fun if you don't mind the agro and chances of losing a few quid or waiting ages for a sale.

Out of the small bookshelves I’ve had, these stood out, Mission LX2, Rega RS1 and Dali Zensor 3, the first 2 were in white. Did not like the B&W CM1, Kef LS50 or Mission QX2. Amps were Yammy, Rega Brio-R and Naim UQ, speakers were positioned near the wall.

Buying blind as a safe bet I’d go ProAc cos I have not heard/had a bad pair, older Tablettes would be in budget, some versions I believe come in silk white dunno about gloss.

 

[twotone]

Have had a few bookshelves and Yammy amps/receivers last couple of years, but, I have and like Cesti MBRs, they went into the office in place of ProAc 115. I bought them out of curiosity and am actually happy with them considering their price.

Can you get to a dealer and at least get a rough idea what might work and then home demo? Buying used/selling on is fun if you don't mind the agro and chances of losing a few quid or waiting ages for a sale.

Out of the small bookshelves I’ve had, these stood out, Mission LX2, Rega RS1 and Dali Zensor 3, the first 2 were in white. Did not like the B&W CM1, Kef LS50 or Mission QX2. Amps were Yammy, Rega Brio-R and Naim UQ, speakers were positioned near the wall.

Buying blind as a safe bet I’d go ProAc cos I have not heard/had a bad pair, older Tablettes would be in budget, some versions I believe come in silk white dunno about gloss.

Thanks, I bought the amp and the Oberon 1s from Richer-sounds, they were recommended together by the guy in RS and I have to say both the amp and speakers were excellent with each other which is why I'm seriously considering the Oberon 3s for not much more than a new pair of the Oberon 1s however the Oberon 3s don't review well or at least not as well as the ones.

I'm thinking of waiting and trying to pick up a pair of Menuets SH which seem to go for about £450 or £850 new but there's a SE version at about £1100 but that's way out of my price range plus the gloss white finish is rare on the second hand market, gloss black is prevalent though.

The Dynaudio Emit 20s maybe easier to pick up SH especially in satin white and they go for around £400 SH or £500 new which is a better option re warranty etc but they seem to be a difficult load plus they don't appear to be great at low volume.

The Dali Oberon 3s are about £350 second hand and white is easy to come by but I can buy a pair new tonight with warranty for £429 delivered or £399 but there's no colour option with those don't think they're white though as it's his last pair.

I've had Proacs before and Dynaudio both floor standers.

 

[booja30]

I have a pair of B&W DM600i (the original series, thirty odd years old, sealed boxes) and they were astonishingly good at reproducing speech - when placed well in the room, away from walls, not too far from you, on 1m tall stands, with bass turned down a bit to counter too-near-to-the-microphone studio boom, and treble turned down a bit to tame sibilant women. Holographic. But they are black.

That was my first real speaker purchase back in high school. Great memories of them!

 

[Gervais Cote]

On paper, the Buchardt look like the best option and if I was in your situation, this would be my first choice.
Nevertheless, you cannot go wrong with the mentioned B&W and they would be very easy to resell if you don’t like them overtime.

 

[Subito]

White satin Emit 10 or Emit 20 would be my first choices...

 

[twotone]

On paper, the Buchardt look like the best option and if I was in your situation, this would be my first choice.
Nevertheless, you cannot go wrong with the mentioned B&W and they would be very easy to resell if you don’t like them overtime.

I was ready to buy a pair last week, there’s a pair on EBay second hand, and did a lot of research and eventually came across a review that ripped them apart, the guy may well be a contrarian but he was completely convincing he basically said that they are cheep speakers totally overhyped, the drivers he said were available off the shelf for about £100 the pair, the cabinet was also off the shelf and that there really wasn’t anything special about the speakers.

His view was that the manufacturer have spent a lot of money sending speakers reviewers and placing positive reviews on HiFI forums via friendly ‘enthusiasts’.

If you read the positive reviews on hifi forums that seems to be very much the case.

The guy concluded that the speakers probably aren’t worth any more than about £500 new from the manufacturer and that there are much better speakers available at that price from other manufacturers.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

I'm not sure what the reviewer means by 'off the shelf' cabinets. And most speaker manufacturers use OEM drivers from the main manufacturers, so again that isn't really a criticism, is it? I've not seen the review you mention, but from what you say, I'm not convinced the reviewer is justified in his claims. Normal costings for speakers would be 3-5x the cost of the components. If the drivers are £100, by the time you've added the cabinet, crossover components, etc, you're probably at double that. Do the maths, as they say. Also, it's not smart to throw around suggestions of bribery and corruption between manufacturer and reviewer. I smell an agenda.

I've already mentioned Amphion Argons to you, specifically the Argon 3 and Argon 1. Reading this thread, they may be out of your budget, but the dinky Argon 0 is also a gem so don't dismiss it either. Available in white (albeit a Matt/satin rather than high gloss).

 

[Elephantears]

Music is mainly jazz, female vocals and the spoken voice

The room is in a typical 1930s UK bungalow with tiled floor and pretty sparse ie modern so lots of reflective surfaces.

I don't know what size your room is, but if it's relatively small I'd recommend Linn M109 for that musical fare, used close the wall to give slight bass reinforcement. They are relatively subdued off axis and that will ameliorate the effect of the hard shiny surfaces in your room. They are quite an honest small speaker, not trying to give the impression they are larger than they are, so they really do suit a small room.

 

[twotone]

White satin Emit 10 or Emit 20 would be my first choices...

Thanks, I agree. I’m about to pull the trigger on a new pair of the 20s unless someone has a pair they want to move on even a pair Dali minuets in gloss white.

 

[twotone]

I don't know what size your room is, but if it's relatively small I'd recommend Linn M109 for that musical fare, used close the wall to give slight bass reinforcement. They are relatively subdued off axis and that will ameliorate the effect of the hard shiny surfaces in your room. They are quite an honest small speaker, not trying to give the impression they are larger than they are, so they really do suit a small room.

Thanks, I’ll have a look at those, the room size is about 5mts X 4Mts X 3mts in height with a bay window and a tiled floor.

 

[twotone]

I'm not sure what the reviewer means by 'off the shelf' cabinets. And most speaker manufacturers use OEM drivers from the main manufacturers, so again that isn't really a criticism, is it? I've not seen the review you mention, but from what you say, I'm not convinced the reviewer is justified in his claims. Normal costings for speakers would be 3-5x the cost of the components. If the drivers are £100, by the time you've added the cabinet, crossover components, etc, you're probably at double that. Do the maths, as they say. Also, it's not smart to throw around suggestions of bribery and corruption between manufacturer and reviewer. I smell an agenda.

I've already mentioned Amphion Argons to you, specifically the Argon 3 and Argon 1. Reading this thread, they may be out of your budget, but the dinky Argon 0 is also a gem so don't dismiss it either. Available in white (albeit a Matt/satin rather than high gloss).

I'll try and find the review Steve but basically that manufacturer makes great play about how they manufacturer their speakers and how the designer is some super designer whereas in reality they buy the drivers off the shelf, have the cabinets manufactured by the shed load in China/the far east and there's no internal bracing in the cabinet cause if there was they would have to use bigger cabinets, the guy said that the only thing 'bespoke' about the speakers was the crossover and even then the crossover wasn't super expensive to produce.

The cabinets look really poor in those speakers in my option especially those magnetic driver covers personally I much prefer the magnetic covers that cover the entire front of the cabinet like the ones on the Cesti MBs

I had a look at the Argon 1 via the link (couldn't live with those red drivers) and did some research the consensus seems to be that the 1s aren't that good but that the 3s are much better and they both need good amplification so I'm going to pass on those, the Argon 0 reviewed terribly BTW.

Thanks

 

[twotone]

Here's the Buchardt S300 MK2 review guys, it's only one poor review out of loads of positive reviews but personally I think the guy is honest and doesn't have an agenda.

"Buchardt Audio says "No Frills. No BS. Just good sound. We've eliminated everything deemed unnecessary to the speakers, including expensive marketing, distributors, agents, and Hi-Fi dealers. By selling directly to the consumer, we eliminate 60-70% of the cost in comparison to other brands"

"It get me very curious to see whats inside the box, To see whats inside, I put my endoscope camera inside the cabinet of Buchardt S300MK2 speakers. As I went through the bass reflex port with camera I noticed that the whole bass reflex tube was made of hard cardboard to my surprised but ends were made of plastic, I have not seen cardboard bass reflex port tube in above $500 speakers, they were right about it again."

https://www.tharbamar.com/single-post/2019/07/05/Buchardt-Audio-S300-MK2-Speaker-Review

 

[Elephantears]

Thanks, I’ll have a look at those, the room size is about 5mts X 4Mts X 3mts in height with a bay window and a tiled floor.

That's actually a pretty decent sized room, so I'll probably withdraw my recommendation. Maybe say a bit more about placement and how far into the room you can bring the speakers to help inform people's advice.

 

[twotone]

That's actually a pretty decent sized room, so I'll probably withdraw my recommendation. Maybe say a bit more about placement and how far into the room you can bring the speakers to help inform people's advice.

Here's the Dalis placement which have now been replaced with Marc Audio Cesti MBs but those are on stools temporarily either side of that unit and flat up against the wall.

The unit will be replaced with something else shorty but the new speakers will either be on the new unit or on stands either side of it much like what's below but only a different unit.

The window is to the left and takes up about the entire wall.

My listening position is opposite the tv/unit and about three meters away

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

I had a look at the Argon 1 via the link (couldn't live with those red drivers) and did some research the consensus seems to be that the 1s aren't that good but that the 3s are much better and they both need good amplification so I'm going to pass on those, the Argon 0 reviewed terribly BTW.

Thanks

The red drivers are a trim option, default is black. I've spent quite a lot of time with the 1s, and they are superb, though the 3s are definitely a sweet spot in the range. The 0 is like a smaller, cuter 1, and again I'd have to disagree on the review. I spent quite a lot of time at one of the Bristol shows in the room where the Argon 0s were on duty. They were loads of fun, and most visitors couldn't believe it wasn't one of the larger models doing the business.

The thing about Amphion is that they are different to conventional ported speakers (the 3, especially, as it's the first model in the range that uses ABRs in a sealed box). They don't initially impress, because they don't have that open, free-breathing sound of many ported designs, but then they start to get under your skin and you realise that that 'openness' you liked before is often just an artefact of the port, and it's often more like 'undamped' in reality. Once you've heard it, you can't un-hear it, IME, and that's where the Amphions score. Also, what they say about getting the crossovers outside the ear's most sensitive region also makes a lot of sense.

I'm a convert, by the way, my regular speakers are a pair of Argon 7LS, and I love them to bits.