Bookshelf speakers advice, please...

[Brentford Bob]

I need to downsize a bit on my hifi kit and the obvious thing to change is the speakers.

currently I run a Rega Planar 3 into a Marantz 6005 amp and the into a pair of Acoustic Energy Aegis 3 floorstanders - it sounds good to my ears but the speakers do get in the way

Are there any decent bookshelf speakers that actually sound good on bookshelves, rather than on stands ?(which would actually take up just as much room as my floorstanders!).

Budget would be about £300....

 

[Al ears]

I need to downsize a bit on my hifi kit and the obvious thing to change is the speakers.

currently I run a Rega Planar 3 into a Marantz 6005 amp and the into a pair of Acoustic Energy Aegis 3 floorstanders - it sounds good to my ears but the speakers do get in the way

Are there any decent bookshelf speakers that actually sound good on bookshelves, rather than on stands ?(which would actually take up just as much room as my floorstanders!).

Budget would be about £300....

There have been many posts on this forum regards similar problems but in my opinion, and for your budget, the answer is probably not. They might be referred to as bookshelf but that's certainly not the best place for the vast majority of them.

 

[shadders]

Hi,

You could try a DIY option - they are available for the sum you are willing to spend - Wilmslow Audio :

http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/stand-mounting-loudspeakers-9-c.asp

Regards,

Shadders.

 

[muljao]

The placement of speaker makes so much difference.
It be hard to get the best off a bookshelf.

I suggest looking at the wharfedales diamond 220 and maybe try get some isolating stands. They have a bottom port and are supposed less fussy than most with position.

Other than them some front ported models may be a little better regarding required breathing space

 

[Frank Harvey]

Maybe £600/700 will give you a few pretty high quality options, but at £300 you usually have the choice of standmounts trying to be floorstanders (tonal balance is way off due to overpowering bass). Those that are better balanced won't be worrying floorstanders with their bass, and aren't designed to.

Those that do work well on shelves tend to be quite lean sounding to compensate for being so close to a wall.

 

[davedotco]

Are the obvious answer, though rather over budget.

Some deals are occasionally available on 'seconds' and there is the possibility of finding a used pair, but as far as I know they are pretty much in a class of their own for this kind of setup.

Otherwise, something like a pair of Dali Zensor 1s on shelves with maybe a sub to fill out the bottom end, a much less predictable option but could work...*unknw*

 

[nick8858]

Neat Iotas are excellent on bookshelves but probably over budget. You can get slight cosmetic seconds sometimes for around £450. Let no one tell you speakers don't work on bookshelves. Mine are, back to the wall and sound fantastic. They are also very small.

 

[gasolin]

Don't like the bass from the Diamond 220, it's lacking, mission LX-2 i would recommend,mabye Acoustics Energy 101/301 reviews by whathifi if you like the Acoustics Energy sound but just want smaller speakers, q acoustics 3020,concept 20 or dali zensor 1/3 is also speakers you wan't to consider listening to

 

[Brentford Bob]

Genuine thanks for the replies.

The Neat Iotas are probably ideal but a new set is well out of my price range..... I imagine they don't come up as used on eBAy very often!?

Does having front firing ports make a speaker more 'shelfable'?

 

[drummerman]

The afromentioned mission lx2 are big boxes. Good luck with putting them on shelves 🙂.

Do you know what, I totally understand why someone doesn't want to have big ugly boxes in the middle of the living room and good sound can be had from small speakers albeit your ears may have to readjust slightly. There are things these small speakers do better than bigger ones too.

My local Costa has tiny PA speakers in the corner and the sound they make is imho very good and probably more musical than a good many hifi home systems.. No excuses needed.

Monitor Audio Radius series are often praised and there are others.

 

[nick8858]

Does having front firing ports make a speaker more 'shelfable'?

Neat Iotas are rear firing and I have no problem in them being close to a wall. I did have a pair of Acoutic Energy AE1's once, front firing and very good. Possible second hand on ebay around the £400 area

 

[knaithrover]

Monitor Audio BX2's are the best budget speakers I've heard, front ported and under £200 on fleabay

 

[gasolin]

The afromentioned mission lx2 are big boxes. Good luck with putting them on shelves 🙂.

Do you know what, I totally understand why someone doesn't want to have big ugly boxes in the middle of the living room and good sound can be had from small speakers albeit your ears may have to readjust slightly. There are things these small speakers do better than bigger ones too.

My local Costa has tiny PA speakers in the corner and the sound they make is imho very good and probably more musical than a good many hifi home systems.. No excuses needed.

Monitor Audio Radius series are often praised and there are others.

They are smaller than the B&W 685 S2 but bigger than the 686 S2