B&W MT-30 + Yamaha Amp, any benefits in adding floor standers

[ChrisWaller]

My current setup is a set of 5 B&W MT-30s (Sub) plus Yamaha Amp. I've been very happy with the crispness and dynamism with the setup but it's still a little middling with music - nice, but not great.

I visited a friend's house where they had some relatively budget Mordaunt Short speakers coupled to a mid-range Sony Surround Amp + two Wharfedale floor standers for FL and FR. I was pleasantly surprised with how good the sound was, both for movies and music.

Would anyone advise making this kind of upgrade to my system (basically turning it into 7.1 with some mid-price floor standing speakers for Front Left and Front Right)? If so, which speakers would you recommend - ideally in the sub £200 price range (if feasible)?

 

[Andrew Everard]

You could do, but to keep the sound right you'd really need to replace the centre speaker, too, with one tonally matched to the new floorstanders. And that, I think, would be hard to achieve on your £200 budget.

About the least expensive combination I'd suggest would be the Q Acoustics 1030i floorstanders, at around £150 a pair, plus the 1000Ci centre speaker, which is £80.

 

[ChrisWaller]

Thanks for that.

I notice for that price that Richer Sounds also have some Eltax Concept 400s, what are your thoughts? Talking to my friend, he's got Wharfdale Diamonds (10.3?). Would these be a good match? Also, should I also look at bookshelf speakers and if so are there any you recommend?

And yet another question... are there any that would already be quite a good tonal match to my MT-30 centre? I'd be loath to start replacing more and more of the speakers. What would be cheapest tonal match?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Last question answered first: no, not really.

The Wharfedales are a possible, but again you'll need the matching centre, and the Eltaxes (Eltaces?) - well, I wouldn't myself...

That's why I suggested the QAcous as the best bet...

 

[rs6mra]

I hope Chris doesn't mind me jumping in on this thread as I am considering something similar...........cheers

I have the MT-30 also and looking to replace my receiver and front speakers as I am not entirely happy with the output when listening to music. My budget is slightly higher for both speakers and also the receiver and can go to ideally £1.5k and at a stretch to £2k.

What speakers and receiver can be recommended as a good all rounder? Your recommendations would be greatly appreciated and sorry once again Chris but butt in.

 

[ChrisWaller]

Hi,

Upgrading my Amp has eaten up my budget up till now and I'm now saving to upgrade my speakers. I'm concerned that the Q Acoustics are going to be sold out by the time I can afford them. Could you recommend some similarly priced alternatives?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[festing11]

In reply to 'rs6mra' and 'chriswaller' if you are changing from your m1's to floor standers, what are you going to do with them, as im in the market fro some at the moment!

 

[ChrisWaller]

'fraid I'm keeping (I've kept) them. Part of the reason for upgrading was to move to 7.1 from 5.1.

 

[rs6mra]

Sorry, I am keeping mine also and going for a dedicated Hi-fi system

 

[ChrisWaller]

Hi Andrew,

Having just upgraded my amp (to a Yamaha RX-V667), I'm again revisiting the idea of replacing what I'm currently using (some surprisingly well matched Gale Bookshelf speakers and my existing B&W MT-30s) with some floorstanders.

I'd really like to go for the Q-Acoustics (with the option of upgrading the centre too), but they seem to be in quite short supply. If - when the time comes - there are none left, are there any alternatives that are a similar tonal match? There are some Wharfedale CR30.4s available from Richer Sounds, but these look a little bass heavy. Failing that, there are some Tannoys (F3 Custom) or Cambridge Audios (S70).

Thanks in advance,

Chris