Expensive experiment...Standmount suggestions ~ £2k

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the record spot

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The Audiosmile Kensai would be on my shortlist. An apparently excellent little speaker.
 
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Anonymous

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The cheapest (or next to cheapest) Harbeths? I think they're sealed boxes?
 

shooter

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JoelSim:
I don't see why floorstanders wouldn't work.

Me neither so i'm going to stick in the Kudos Cardea C2 @ 2k. A balance speaker with good neutrality and decent bass weight with porting in the base so no problems with positioning. Read a review were the associated equipment used was a Naim Pre-amp so could be very good but a demo should be order.
 

shooter

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Dan Turner:
Neat Momentum 3i

Need careful partnering as treble can be a bit lively.

Give them a good audition and if any doubt send them back within the 30 days.
 

sometimesuk

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If you like the Acoustic Energy, it will be worth checking out their new Reference Series that are due to launch soon. Sept, I think?

I heard the new reference one and two at this years hifi show, the reference two is meant to be £2k, and it also has two bass drivers which should give you more bottom end. They sounded very good, very clean and clear. Worth an audition, once you have saved up the money.

http://www.whathifi.com/news/BRISTOL-SHOW-2010-Meet-the-new-Reference-series-from-Acoustic-Energy/
 
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Anonymous

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Sounds like a nice bargain on those Momentum 3i's. If you're looking for more bass depth then I can recommend Neats Elite SX's. My room isn't much bigger than yours (4x5m) and my previous speakers (Mission 735i) were causing a massively overbloated bass, but then they were huge speakers. I thought about changing to standmounters thinking my room was too small to accept floorstanders but a local hi-fi dealer introduced me to the Elites saying they could be just what I needed. Demo'd them alongside the likes of PMC, Dynaudio and a few others but the Neats got my vote and I bought a set. Positioning was a doddle, mine are currently about 250mm from the side walls and 400mm from the back wall and bass boom is non existent. That said, I was very nearly swayed by the Dynaudio 110's. Unbelievable sound from speakers with such small dimensions, just need a bit more space behind them due to the port.
 

jaxwired

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The neats are great speakers no doubt. And they use the isobaric double woofer design for great bass.

I'm a dynaudio lover though. When it comes to speakers, midrange is undoubtedly the most important to get right, but it's the bass that is the hardest to get right and to my ears dynaudio speakers have the most natural and realistic sounding bass I've ever heard. Most other brand either roll off early and ignore real bass, or just don't produce a natural articulate bass. Dynaudio is the only brand I've heard that gives you bags of bass slam, but somehow magically keeps it sounding tight and clean and realistic. And they do it from small drivers and small boxes. Should be impossible.
 

Dan Turner

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OK thought I'd give an update on how the Momentum 3Is are shaping up. They duly arrived on Thursday at 17:15 (I was going spare by then thinking they wouldn't arrive and that I'd have to wait until the weekend and then be running around to couriers depots at the @rse end of no-where), but on reflection it was no bad thing because if they had arrived before that I think my concentration on work might have slipped somewhat!

I have to say that I was very impressed by the chaps at Neat - from the word go I was speaking to the 2 main guys and they were very informative and always called when they said they would and even gave me a courtesy call on Thu to update me on what was delaying the courier. They asked me what kit I was using and gave me some clues as to running in time (200 hours +!) and advice on how much to fill my speaker stands for best results. So a great service all in all.

When I first unpacked them I gave them a close inspection - I've basically got 1/3 off the full price because they are cosmetically imperfect - and I was delighted to find that the supposed cosmetic imperfection is so minor that even now I'm not sure whether i've really found it or if there has been some kind of mistake! Fantastic - not that it would count for much if they didn't sound the business.

So on day 1 hooked up to the SuperNait with my MacBook Pro plugged in via SPDIF and playing a range of stuff stored as Apple Lossless or AIFF files and immediately they are better than my PMCs - brighter balance, more detail, better clarity and sounding much more 3 dimensional. However my worst fears about the bass being excessive for my room look like they are coming true - the bass, whilst amazingly deep, sounds very thuddy and oppressive and somewhat disconnected from the rest of the frequency range....So I repositioned them slightly just moving them away from the sides and rear by about 3cm (they are now about as far out into the room as I can reasonably get them) and it's time to let them run in...

About 50 hours of running in later and things have changed quite a lot. The mid-range has really come out and now voices have an lovely pure tactility and the amount of detail on offer has also grown - I'm hearing new things on practically every track I play - but best of all the bass has stayed deep and powerful but is now much smoother and is integrating perfectly into the mid-range. The dynamics and the imaging are also improved (from an already better starting point). The ability of these speakers in conjunction with my amp to just render every sound with crystal clarity and rock solid consistency no matter how busy the soundstage gets and no matter how loud certain instruments are being played in the mix is just beautiful - Really sounding great now....Can't wait to hear what they sound like after 200 hours, but I'm beginning to think the gamble paid off big time!

Edit - actually in the interests of being balanced I should just say that on some tracks the overall character does still seem to be defined very much by the bass which can seem slightly out of proportion. not unpleasant, but perhaps slightly unrealistic and (slightly neighbour-unfriendly as the Mrs has reminded me...) I guess we'll see what a bit more running-in does. Other than that no negatives really.
 

Craig M.

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some speakers, when new, sound nothing like they do run in. try changing positioning too, a bit more toe-in can help knock the bass down a touch.
 

Dan Turner

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I estimate that I'm at about 120 hours of running in now and they are sounding fantastic. I'm keeping them! Listened to Inertia Creeps last night and that sealed it - it was like hearing it for the first time. Bass sounds perfectly integrated with the rest of the frequency range now, although it's still a little too strong on certain tracks, but nothing I can't live with and as Craig suggests, there are still a few tweaks that I can try once they're fully run-in.
 

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