Advice for first hi-fi system (speakers, positioning and pairing with integrated amp)

[costis_d]

Hi all,

I would appreciate your advice since I am in the process of buying my first hi-fi and I am a bit confused.

Once bought, the system will be installed on a furniture with a TV, books, LPs, etc., in a room of 34-35 square meters, which is in the shape of a parallelogram.

The left rectangle is the area where the system will be placed and the couch is opposite to it:

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| couch |

| |

| speaker1 <furniture with TV and Hi-Fi> speaker 2 |

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The distance between the left speaker (speaker1 in the drawing) and couch is 2.4 meters.

The distance between the couch and speaker2 is about 2,8 meters.

One should also consider the height of the room which is at 3.20 meters.

I have a problem with the positioning of speaker1 (wrt to booming), in the sense that its back will be very close to a wall (20 cm) and to the left of the speaker there is a glass door leading to a balcony (15 cm).

First question:

Should I go for bookshelf or floorstander speakers? Due to the size and the many openings of the room would a bookshelf speaker suffice? And due to the relatively small distance between speaker and couch (2.4 min), would a floorstander be too much, adding to that the possibility of booming?

I am inclined to go for floorstanders, and I have liked the Epos M16i (I heard them paired with Creek EVO 2, which was quite acceptable but I did not fall in love with) . But... I have a thing for the Spendors A5 (a disastrous choice, budget-wise).

How would the Spendors (yes, budget-wise, I am doomed) behave in such a room? Note that in Greece, it is rare to have a shop bring equipment for test at your place, unless they are in the high-end price range.

Second question:

The pairing of speakers and integrated amplifier. Which of the following would be the best choice of integrated amplifiers for the Spendors and for the EPOS M16i ?

Naim Nait 5i

Roksan Kandy K2

Creek EVO 2

N.B. A third speaker that I have read good reviews but not listened to it yet, is the B&W CM7.

Any advice on the type of speakers, and the best pairing between these 3 speakers and these amps, would be more than welcome.

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[costis_d]

Guys, some help here please.

 

[matthewpiano]

What sort of music do you listen to?

Creek and Epos is always an excellent combination, as is Spendor and Cyrus but it would help to know a little more about yourmusical tastes and the sort of sound you are looking for.

 

[costis_d]

Thanks for answering. Various kinds, in this order: 80's - 00's Rock , Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Irish Folk, Jazz, Soundtracks, Classical music.

The sort of sound I am looking for, is a difficult question to answer, given that this will be my first hi-fi system after 10+ years (I listen mostly music in the PC and in my car

Wait, I know: A month ago, I went with a friend to listen to the system of one of his friends. The system was comprised by a Musical Fidelity A100 Class A amplifier, and the Rogers Studio 001 speakers. The guy put in the CD player, the Bohemian Rapsody, and I could not utter a word while the song was playing It was really beautiful.

 

[matthewpiano]

OK. Then I'd be looking at the used market for Musical Fidelity amps and Rogers speakers. Its a fairly unique sounding combination and if it really took your breath away I think you might have hit the nail on the head. See if you can take some of your CDs over and have a longer listen.

 

[Anonymous]

can you post a few pics of your listening room?

 

[costis_d]

Just to add one thing about the Rogers: although the sound was brilliant I would prefer to find a floorstander with that sound and not a bookshelf speaker since I have two kids (4.5 and 2.5) and things tend to obey to small hands and gravity...

 

[costis_d]

@matthewpiano: I already looked for Rogers in local ads and fora. They are really scarce, and besides that, as I wrote in a later post, bookshelf speakers on bases are not really an option since I have two very energetic kids with an appetite for bringing things down to their eye and hand level. Besides, the MF A100 got REALLY hot after a few songs. Where I will place the amp, there is a shortage of space (the CD player will be on top of the amp), so I think I will go for a transistor Class AB.

@dim_span: I will, tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

if you dont mind buying 2nd hand and are on a tight budget .... look at IMF TLS80 speakers, Spendor BC1 or B&W DM2 speakers ... and search on ebay (many sellers from the UK and other countries will ship to Greece, but you need to ask them and get quotes) ...

these compare favourably with the Rogers .... if you do get Rogers speakers, look for the older verson that do not have the metal tweeters

but as with all systems, you need to match all the components carefully, so you will need to research (and audition if possible)