Downsizing Front Speakers

[timbo999]

Sob. The time has come to down size my front speakers. Currently classic mission floorstanders that I love.

Looking to shrink down to something like the Monitor Apex A10’s for L/R and centre. Or, the Quad S-1’s and S-C. Size for the centre has to be quite compact and nothing bigger than small bookshelf’s for L/R.

Front speakers will be quite well placed.

Will be for TV and movies. But it’s those moments of TV where music transports you that I truly love. Some music, too. Voices and a well balanced soundstage are essential.

 

[Leeps]

I own the Monitor Audio Apex A10's. They're excellent as surround speakers, not so great with music IMO. For music I actually prefer their cheaper cousins, the Radius R90's, although in both cases, you really need to pair them with a subwoofer.

I heard the Quad S1's at the Bristol show this weekend. I was very impressed (with music). Some in the room had to ask whether it was the S1's or the big Quad electrostatics playing! They have a very natural voicing. Their treble wasn't harsh, but was spot on with piano, which isn't something all speakers get right. They were on the end of Quad's Artera amp though, so would respond to decent amplification (like most speakers do). I did find them ever so slightly boxey though. You could hear their cabinets. I would imagine their more expensive Z1's would counter this with more effort gone into the cabinet construction.

As always, if you're after small speakers that sound great I'd also have to recommend Neat Iotas or Iota Alphas. Superb speakers, again with a very natural voicing that gets the human voice and instruments tonally right. Heard the Iota Alphas on the end of a Heed Elixir amp. A beautiful match.

What amp do you intend to pair them with? That ought to be factored into your decision.

 

[timbo999]

Wow! Appreciate the feedback on the speakers you’ve heard.

Ive always wanted a pair of Motive’s so the Iota does have appeal. I have thought about them but not gone much further with them for some reason? Maybe as I’d have to use 3 of them to get the centre channel?

The Alpha’s are new to me and I really need to look into them more!!!! I’m going to model both Neat’s up on CAD and offer them up to my living room model tomorrow.

Theyll be driven by a surround amp. A Denon of the circa £800 mark to begin with. Supplemented by my MJ acoustics Pro 50 (mini) sub.

Any my further thoughts appreciated!

 

[Leeps]

If you've not purchased your amp/AV receiver yet, do try to demo first. The Neats mentioned could take better amplification really to get the best out of them. But there's no harm in trying.

If you were still keen on the Apexes, I think they work really well tonally with my Pioneer AV receiver. The Apexes are a little softer and less zingy than the Monitor Audio Radiuses, so welcome the slightly forward presentation of the Pioneer.