Floor standing speakers

[Lysardman]

I'm about to buy some floor standing speakers (Max £1K) and would appreciate your inputs as to the one(s) to buy. I listen to Classical and Jazz music only.
The speakers will work with my Quad 303, with a home made passive pre-amp. I use a radio, CD player and a Vinyl turntable (a Garrard 301 with 2 SME arms). My room is 8 x 6m but I have the present speakers diagonally across it in a corner. Being disabled I cannot sit in chairs for long without severe pain, so I lie on a settee along the 8m side of the room.

 

[nopiano]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

You certainly have an unusual requirement, and I must confess I don’t know much about listening while lying down. Siting across a corner can actually be very good for the outcome, but it’s often not domestically acceptable!

What speakers have you been using? And why the change - what are you seeking?

 

[Lysardman]

Well, it's sitting up on a settee with my legs up as opposed to full length. I have a very badly damaged knee that causes even more pain than normal when I sit down for any small length of time. I had my 3rd operation on the knee 3 weeks ago but the pain came back after 4 days! Having acute osteoarthritis in my right ankle, the lower, middle and upper back, not to mention the base of both thumbs and elbows. So, basically I'm in pain almost everywhere and always, despite some hard painkillers beginning with M.
Meanwhile, back to the speakers! I have a pair of Aiwa 3 way enclosed bookshelf speakers that came with a CD/radio system I bought 23 years ago. Surprisingly, it sounds quite good but without much lower end sound when I play classical or jazz music music from either the radio, cd player or the Garrard 301. But they're beginning to loose their lustre now, after being on for 5-6 hours a day 7 days a week, hence the upgrade. (Having the spare cash at last helps!)

 

[Al ears]

I might suggest the Acoustic Energy AE120 mk2 or the Wharfedale Diamond 12.3 for starters

 

[daytona600]

Eltax Vintage PWR 1959
Eltax Vintage PWR 1959 Review « 7Review

 

[Basso]

You should try the Dali Oberon 5 if you can.

 

[Witterings]

I'm guessing part of the reason you mention lying down is due to listening position and your head not being at the right height and you also mention a lack of bass.

How about an upgraded pair of bookshelves, you could get some stands, table or something that would put them at a better height for lying down than you'll get the floorstanders but also add a Sub which would cover the lower end ... maybe look at something like the BK Electronics ones which would leave you about £700 for the bookshelves.

If you're set on floorstanders, I did a heap of research when I was looking in that price bracket and whilst I didn't actually hear them virtually everyone advised as mentined above the Dali Oberon 5's.

 

[podknocker]

The Spendor A2 is a small, low firing floorstander, but at £2k, it might be worth finding a 2nd hand pair. I was in my local HIFI shop recently and I could not believe how small they are and how are they worth £2k? They look like the need stands.

 

[newworld]

I'm also interested in getting one of those small floorstanders like the Acoustic Energy 109mk2's. What still doesn't convince me is how these can possible sound at their best with the tweeter and woofer sitting so low? I don't think I can get proper alignment to the ear without sitting on the floor and my back completely straight.

 

[James105]

I'm also interested in getting one of those small floorstanders like the Acoustic Energy 109mk2's. What still doesn't convince me is how these can possible sound at their best with the tweeter and woofer sitting so low? I don't think I can get proper alignment to the ear without sitting on the floor and my back completely straight.

Small, does anyone else remember the Royd Minstrel floor stander

 

[Al ears]

Small, does anyone else remember the Royd Minstrel floor stander

Yes, I do.
anything around 75cm is small and quite often perfectly adequate to smaller rooms, especially when they were aligned backwards and had to be because they were only 64cm.
the Totem Arros were 85cm and brilliant

 

[James105]

Yes, I do.
anything around 75cm is small and quite often perfectly adequate to smaller rooms, especially when they were aligned backwards and had to be because they were only 64cm.
the Totem Arros were 85cm and brilliant

Someday I'd love to have a spare room that I could use for looking all this stuff up on ebay and just listening to it, then moving back on for the next memory. Be even better if I had all my old HiFi mags from the 90's to help me search.

 

[GeoffreyW]

How about Neat Iota Alphas? At 45cm tall perhaps they'd be at ear height when you're on the settee?

 

[Al ears]

How about Neat Iota Alphas? At 45cm tall perhaps they'd be at ear height when you're on the settee?

As far as I am aware he is not laid flat on the settee mearly reclined....

 

[nopiano]

I'm also interested in getting one of those small floorstanders like the Acoustic Energy 109mk2's. What still doesn't convince me is how these can possible sound at their best with the tweeter and woofer sitting so low? I don't think I can get proper alignment to the ear without sitting on the floor and my back completely straight.

The woofer position doesn’t matter as bass isn’t directional. The tweeter position is often preferred at roughly ear height, and sometimes a position between tweeter and mid or woofer is the target.

My ears are about 0.9m high when sitting in a fairly upright chair. Those AE are 860mm tall, so I guess the tweeter is at about 810mm? Sitting around 2.5 to 3 metres away that doesn’t seem significant to me. Don’t let it put you off an audition, as modern tweeters have great dispersion in most cases. And you can always tilt them back a shade if you prefer them that way.