Best Floorstanders Under £1000?

[Witterings]

Looking to upgrade my floorstanders I bought 17 years ago as a surround speaker package with the emphasis on stereo more than surround.

The speakers I have are "OK" and lovely tone but they lack in detail, mainly the mids / vocals.

I'm happy to spend £1000 but they'd need to be an awful lot better than say a £600 pair of speakers, if I genuinely felt there was a massive uplift at £1200 would possibly go there as well although I'm a bit of a sceptic of good vs dimising returns.

I recently bought a pair of Elac B 5.2's for another room which are absolutely amazing so was lookng at the Elac F5.2 Debut 2's, the others I'm looking at are the Dali Oberon 5's and possibly the Wharfedale 12.3's as well as Monitor Audio Silver 300's .... although they've just gone out of stock.

I re-iterate, I don't mind spending my upper limit but only if it'd make a noticeable difference above say a £600 pair.
This is my prelimenary research to find out what speakers I should be looking at before I go and listen in store or try and get a home trial.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

What's the rest of your gear again?

One issue with upgrading is that sometimes you don't see the full benefit until other bits are at least equally as good as the latest addition. In other words, you might not get all the gain straight away.

 

[Al ears]

Check out Dali Spektor 6 as well

 

[treesey]

how about some older 2nd hand floorstanders that were 1500 new? Ooooh I don't know.... maybe PMC?

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Never regretted buying gear 2nd hand - and given how speaker prices seem to have gone up in certain quarters, it's well worth considering.

 

[Al ears]

how about some older 2nd hand floorstanders that were 1500 new? Ooooh I don't know.... maybe PMC?

As he appears to be driving them with a home cinema amp I would certainly audition first and this is a tad tricky to do with second hand gear ...

 

[Witterings]

What's the rest of your gear again?

One issue with upgrading is that sometimes you don't see the full benefit until other bits are at least equally as good as the latest addition. In other words, you might not get all the gain straight away.

It's a Denon AVR 2311, majority of music played is from Amazon streamed via a WiiM Mini, I use the optical out into a Topping E30 Dac.

I use the external DAC rather than the Denon's onboard with optical in as the Amp has 2 Zones, I use the 2nd for garden speakers but the inputs for Zone 2 are Analogue only.

 

[plastic penguin]

Looking to upgrade my floorstanders I bought 17 years ago as a surround speaker package with the emphasis on stereo more than surround.

The speakers I have are "OK" and lovely tone but they lack in detail, mainly the mids / vocals.

I'm happy to spend £1000 but they'd need to be an awful lot better than say a £600 pair of speakers, if I genuinely felt there was a massive uplift at £1200 would possibly go there as well although I'm a bit of a sceptic of good vs dimising returns.

I recently bought a pair of Elac B 5.2's for another room which are absolutely amazing so was lookng at the Elac F5.2 Debut 2's, the others I'm looking at are the Dali Oberon 5's and possibly the Wharfedale 12.3's as well as Monitor Audio Silver 300's .... although they've just gone out of stock.

I re-iterate, I don't mind spending my upper limit but only if it'd make a noticeable difference above say a £600 pair.
This is my prelimenary research to find out what speakers I should be looking at before I go and listen in store or try and get a home trial.

Not heard the new MA Silvers but having the Gold 100, they're okay but not as good as the older models IMHO.
Biggest bang for your buck I would look the older PMC GB1i. If you want new Neat SX2 are stunning, but way over budget.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

It's a Denon AVR 2311, majority of music played is from Amazon streamed via a WiiM Mini, I use the optical out into a Topping E30 Dac.

I suspect that will limit how far you can go up the speaker tree and get the best. If that was an £800 AV amp back in the day, it's broadly equivalent to a £3-400 stereo amp. £1k speakers will work with it and may sound better, but not as 'better' as they could do, I suspect.

 

[Witterings]

I suspect that will limit how far you can go up the speaker tree and get the best. If that was an £800 AV amp back in the day, it's broadly equivalent to a £3-400 stereo amp. £1k speakers will work with it and may sound better, but not as 'better' as they could do, I suspect.

If I did look to change and have a seperate amp, any idea's what I should be looking at that would make a reasonable difference.
My biggest issue with this though, whilst could get away with adding an amp to the stack, it'd have to use the same speakers as the surround system ....not sure how easy that is to achieve and if you could run 2 sets of wires to the same speakers or if it'd damage anything?
Would really want A & B speakers on a seperate amp as well.

 

[plastic penguin]

If I did look to change and have a seperate amp, any idea's what I should be looking at that would make a reasonable difference.
My biggest issue with this though, whilst could get away with adding an amp to the stack, it'd have to use the same speakers as the surround system ....not sure how easy that is to achieve and if you could run 2 sets of wires to the same speakers or if it'd damage anything?
Would really want A & B speakers on a seperate amp as well.

Or go for a better quality multi-channel amp such as a Arcam AVR 600.

For the record, I heard that amp with Mordaunt Short Performance 6 speakers and a sub at WHFI towers... one of the best systems I've heard.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

If I did look to change and have a seperate amp, any idea's what I should be looking at that would make a reasonable difference.
My biggest issue with this though, whilst could get away with adding an amp to the stack, it'd have to use the same speakers as the surround system ....not sure how easy that is to achieve and if you could run 2 sets of wires to the same speakers or if it'd damage anything?
Would really want A & B speakers on a seperate amp as well.

I think it is probably doable, but complex. It's why I've always kept mine separate.

 

[treesey]

Or go for a better quality multi-channel amp such as a Arcam AVR 600.

same reason/solution and why I sourced a Pioneer SC-LX87 , steering away from the Arcam AVRs only due to possible reliability issues, and the Pioneer being so well regarded... in 2014 at least

 

[Zakhele]

Looking to upgrade my floorstanders I bought 17 years ago as a surround speaker package with the emphasis on stereo more than surround.

The speakers I have are "OK" and lovely tone but they lack in detail, mainly the mids / vocals.

I'm happy to spend £1000 but they'd need to be an awful lot better than say a £600 pair of speakers, if I genuinely felt there was a massive uplift at £1200 would possibly go there as well although I'm a bit of a sceptic of good vs dimising returns.

I recently bought a pair of Elac B 5.2's for another room which are absolutely amazing so was lookng at the Elac F5.2 Debut 2's, the others I'm looking at are the Dali Oberon 5's and possibly the Wharfedale 12.3's as well as Monitor Audio Silver 300's .... although they've just gone out of stock.

I re-iterate, I don't mind spending my upper limit but only if it'd make a noticeable difference above say a £600 pair.
This is my prelimenary research to find out what speakers I should be looking at before I go and listen in store or try and get a home trial.

Triangle Borea BR08 Floorstanding Speakers
Sensitivity = 92dB

 

[Witterings]

Triangle Borea BR08 Floorstanding Speakers

Funnily enough, I found these doing more research thismorning and thought they could be another good option.

same reason/solution and why I sourced a Pioneer SC-LX87 , steering away from the Arcam AVRs only due to possible reliability issues, and the Pioneer being so well regarded... in 2014 at least

Looked up the Arcam and Pioneer and must admit that combined with other comments that the amp may be the limiting factor has thrown me a bit as to which way to go.

I think the only way I'll find out is see where I can get some speakers for a home test and if there' a noticeable difference or not .... and if not look at options for the amp.
I'd have to look at AVR's with a higher quality amp / music focus unless I could find a way to switch between AVR and dedicated amp but using the same speakers.

 

[plastic penguin]

same reason/solution and why I sourced a Pioneer SC-LX87 , steering away from the Arcam AVRs only due to possible reliability issues, and the Pioneer being so well regarded... in 2014 at least

Absolutely, those Arcams originally had firmware issues, but most have had that resolved. I am biased as I'm a big Arcam fan. I also like Pioneer stuff. Was thinking about one of their Blu ray players before buying the current Panni but choked off by mechanical issues at the time.

 

[Al ears]

Funnily enough, I found these doing more research thismorning and thought they could be another good option.



Looked up the Arcam and Pioneer and must admit that combined with other comments that the amp may be the limiting factor has thrown me a bit as to which way to go.

I think the only way I'll find out is see where I can get some speakers for a home test and if there' a noticeable difference or not .... and if not look at options for the amp.
I'd have to look at AVR's with a higher quality amp / music focus unless I could find a way to switch between AVR and dedicated amp but using the same speakers.

Some of the best AVR amps for music use are those by Anthem.
Don't know if you would find any cheaply though

 

[davidf]

With AV receivers, you’re pretty much stuck with entry level floorstanders which are more geared towards being an easy load than sound quality. Once you get to the second ranges up (like KEF R Series and B&W 700 Series), less crossover trickery and components are added to make them an easy load for the amp, hence they’re usually a 4ohm (or less) impedance - this doesn’t go down too well with most AV receivers. When looking for speakers, the more efficient the better, and ideally with an impedance of 5-8ohms. Most speakers in this range will be under £1000-1200.

While the loudspeakers will naturally bring certain improvements due to better drivers etc, you won’t get the best from them as the AV receiver is struggling to provide what they need to sound as they have been designed to sound. You’d need AV receivers around the £2K mark upwards to start dealing electively with 4ohm loads, and even then it can be a little hit and miss with the mainstream AV receiver brands.

For my own system, I don’t think I’d have anything other than Anthem at the moment.

 

[suburbansky]

Triangle Borea BR08 Floorstanding Speakers
Sensitivity = 92dB

I have to Borea 09 and am super happy with them!

 

[matthewpianist]

If you go the speaker route I'd warmly suggest the Dali Oberon 5. Easy to drive, plenty of detail and insight and good scale for their size.

I do agree that the amp is another limiting factor and so there is a decision to make there.

 

[Witterings]

If you go the speaker route I'd warmly suggest the Dali Oberon 5. Easy to drive, plenty of detail and insight and good scale for their size.

I do agree that the amp is another limiting factor and so there is a decision to make there.

I'm guessing you may have the Oberon 5's?

I think I've narrowed my decision down to either those or Elac F6.2's, looking up reviews I've seen a few comments saying the 5's benefit from a sub which I won't be using and it's in a reasonable size 34 sq mtr room, do you use a sub / found them lacking at all?

 

[Basso]

Have a look at the Oberon 7. I am very impressed with them and don’t find them lacking at all.

 

[Al ears]

Have a look at the Oberon 7. I am very impressed with them and don’t find them lacking at all.

not too sure where he's going to find those for under £1000, unless he goes second hand or ex demo

 

[Basso]

£995 in Audio Affair. Brand new and ship in 2-3 days apparently.

 

[Al ears]

£995 in Audio Affair. Brand new and ship in 2-3 days apparently.

Bargain then , over £1100 anywhere else.