Change of speakers....already

[admin_exported]

Ok so i bought some B&W 684's only two months ago but after a change of house the speakers sound no where near as good as they did in my old room. The old room was an attic room and so had no flat walls at all and a very low roof. The new room is bigger with flat walls and a higher roof. In this the room the B&W's are really missing lower mid range (300-800)hz and sound really quite strange and boring.

So i popped down to my local dealer to try some new speakers out and came away with some Neat Motive 3's on demo (they were the only speaker i could carry) and wow, what a speaker. I'd never listened to the Neat range when i was originally demoing but i'm really impressed with them. So much more detail,timing and a much better stereo width compared with the B&W's. My dealer warned that i would find them too bright with the Kandy and they are a bright speaker but they have the mid range that the B&W's are missing and generally treat the whole frequency range fairly equal,which i like. They do however get a little tiring on longer listens.

So i'm interested in people's suggestions of a speaker that has a detailed mid range and perhaps a little less bright than the Motive 3, that will work well with the Kandy. I'm interested in listening to speakers made by different manufactures than i have already listened to,mostly B&W,Dali and Monitor Audio .

So what speakers do people have to suggest? I'm already going to demo the whole Motive range as well as the ATC SCM11's,Dali Ikon 6's and the Epos m22i's.

Many Thanks

 

[Craig M.]

try pmc and dynaudio, as well.

 

[d_a_n1979]

The N~eat Motive 2's are superb speakers so get a demo with them if you can

The M/A RX6's, QUAD 22L2's and Rega RS5's should be demo'd IMO; even if just to rule them out!

What's your budget as the B&W CM7's could be worth considering also

 

[Anonymous]

Craig - Cheers for the recommendation's. Any specific models to be looking at?

Dan - Again cheers, i tired the MA RX range last time i was demoing i'll see if they fit better with my new room. I'll try and demo the quad and Rega's as well.

My main problem is that i do not drive so am limited to what i can test locally if i want to use my own stuff. There are two hi-fi shops in town that stock dali,b&w,MA,neat,atc and epos. Luckily enough i know both the store owners well so can home demo with no problems. It's just that trying stuff not available in town is a pain as it involves taking my extremely heavy amp on the train.

My budget is constantly changing but i don't really want to spend more than £1.5k,any more than that i feel the Kandy would be the weak link.

 

[Anonymous]

So i have been listening to the Neat Motive 3's all day and they really are a fantastic speaker. I've been testing them out with some movie soundtracks and i'm stunned by the results. I'm hearing new things in pieces of music i must have heard 1000's of times. They also are great at Jazz,Downbeat electronica and softrock. They do however struggle with some Hip-hop and faster dancy stuff. Will the Motive 2's or 1's be a happy compromise? If not i'm tempted to have two different types of speaker as my music choice is so wide, i always struggle to find a speaker that's perfect for everything.

 

[SteveR750]

Stevie_Blaze:
So i have been listening to the Neat Motive 3's all day and they really are a fantastic speaker. I've been testing them out with some movie soundtracks and i'm stunned by the results. I'm hearing new things in pieces of music i must have heard 1000's of times. They also are great at Jazz,Downbeat electronica and softrock. They do however struggle with some Hip-hop and faster dancy stuff. Will the Motive 2's or 1's be a happy compromise? If not i'm tempted to have two different types of speaker as my music choice is so wide, i always struggle to find a speaker that's perfect for everything.

In what way do they struggle?

 

[JoelSim]

Try some of these

http://www.kudosaudio.com/loudspeakers/x2/

or if you prefer standmounts

http://www.kudosaudio.com/loudspeakers/c1/

Not as bright as the Neats but in my opinion way better than the likes of B&W/MA/Dali.

 

[Anonymous]

The high end that is detailed most of the time really seams to struggle and becomes very sibilant. They also lack a little weight and scale but this can be forgiven due to there size.It's only the odd song that the Motives struggle with. In A/B comparison woth the 684's i'd say 70% of songs sound better of the Motive 3's.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers for the recommendation Joel, are these available to buy in stores or online only?

 

[SteveR750]

well I've just got a pair to try against the spendors. There are several threads about the Neats and Spendors on the Roksan forum.

 

[Anonymous]

Cool. Did you get the 3's or 2's to try?

 

[SteveR750]

Pair of used 3s for £310 so worth a try. I'm sure I would get a fair bit more for the spendors if I decided to let them go....

 

[Anonymous]

Good price - i'd be interested on your opinion of the Neats v the Spenders

 

[Craig M.]

stevie, if you can demo atc i think you should give them a try. if you can home dem, even better, as i found that a bit of time to adjust to the sound can be an eye opener. i was a little underwhelmed at first but once i realised what was going on, that was it. i find mine suit pretty much all music, i think it's because they have so little sound of their own, so don't impose any colour that suits some music and not others. they'll also stand future upgrades.

when i had my L.lll cdp/amp, i could demo locally pmc, kef, m.a., proac, dynaudio and b+w. i preferred dyn focus110 with pmc db1i in 2nd place. the pmcs probably had the most balanced presentation but i thought the treble was a little too 'sparkly', the focus110s were a touch bass heavy but i really liked the natural mid and treble. with hindsight, i don't think the 110s were the best match for the kandy amp - a bit too hard to control, this was confirmed when i heard how much grip a primare i30 had over them.

edit: just seen your budget, if you demo atc try the 19s, they really will stand future upgrades!

 

[Anonymous]

Ok so i spent the whole day demoing different speakers. Must have tried every pair in two different shops. And i've managed to narrow it down to three speakers. The ATC scm 11's, the Neat Elite SX (brand new £1000) and the B&W 805s(ed demo £1300). Unfortunately the SCM19's were out on home demo so could not be tried today. I tried all different kind of speakers including the Pro-Ac studio 130's, these were good just not as good as the three mentioned above. Neither store stocked PCM, Dynaudio or Rega so i could not try these,and as i really want to try my new speakers with both my amp and my own room i will probably be getting one of the three speakers.

The question is which one? They are all fantastic in there own way. I loved the ATC's neutral sound and they were the least bright of the three. I really liked the 805's,they are similar in character to my 684's but sound so much better,the only problem being the stands are an extra £400. And finally the Neat Elite SX has the timing of the Motive range but with much more scale. It's really hard to chose between them, hopefully a home demo will sort things out.

 

[SteveR750]

I take it the Motive 3s are going back?

I need to book a couple of days off and spend a few hours in a demo room.

 

[Anonymous]

Yup. Not that i didn't enjoy them, they are a fantastic little speaker, just a little bright with the LIII and didn't quite fill my new larger room. Although if i could get them at the price you got them at id buy them anyway,i'd find a use for them somewhere. Btw i tried them with some Naim gear today and can confirm that the synergy is fantastic.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok so after another day of Demoing the B&W 805's are out of the running. It's now a straight fight between the ATC 11's and the Neat Elite SE's. Really hard to choose between the two,love the mid range on the ATC's but love the timing on the Neat's. Two very different speakers, both amazing to listen to. Decisions, decisions.

 

[SteveR750]

Stevie_Blaze:Ok so after another day of Demoing the B&W 805's are out of the running. It's now a straight fight between the ATC 11's and the Neat Elite SE's. Really hard to choose between the two,love the mid range on the ATC's but love the timing on the Neat's. Two very different speakers, both amazing to listen to. Decisions, decisions.

Hoew about a pair of used S6es?? [;-)]

 

[Anonymous]

I take it your enjoying your Motive 3's then?

 

[SteveR750]

My tongue was in my chek - I haven't got them yet. Will do a proper comparison report when I have got them and had a chance to listen to them.

 

[Anonymous]

A manufacturer of speakers that is well worth checking out is XTZ and their 99.25s and 99.26 stand mount speakers. They feature drive units usually seen in £2000+ designs, yet cost less than £1k and have a wonderful warm yet detailed sound.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Stevie_Blaze:Ok so after another day of Demoing the B&W 805's are out of the running. It's now a straight fight between the ATC 11's and the Neat Elite SE's. Really hard to choose between the two,love the mid range on the ATC's but love the timing on the Neat's. Two very different speakers, both amazing to listen to. Decisions, decisions.

What a choice!!

 

[Anonymous]

FrankHarveyHiFi:
Stevie_Blaze:Ok so after another day of Demoing the B&W 805's are out of the running. It's now a straight fight between the ATC 11's and the Neat Elite SE's. Really hard to choose between the two,love the mid range on the ATC's but love the timing on the Neat's. Two very different speakers, both amazing to listen to. Decisions, decisions.

What a choice!!

Indeed it is,not the worst decision to be made ever is it. Do you feel i have managed to get it down to two good speakers for my price range?

 

[Anonymous]

Ok so i currently have the SCM11's set up at home and they sound even more incredible here than they did in the demo room. I've been offered them at £800 brand new, almost too good to pass up really.

Hopefully i should make around £600 for the 684's as they are brand new and haven't even opened the box that contains their plinths,anyone got any ideas as to where to sell them? Ebay is the obvious choice but item's seam to go for less if your not willing to post them. I wouldn't like to imagine how much it would cost to ship these beasts.