Good surround but great stereo... Need help with speakers

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Hi all

15 years ago, I was a hi-fi nut who (thought I) knew all there was to know about hi-fi, but then life kicked in and marriage, work and a nomad lifestyle kind of got me side tracked. I am now in the position of having more or less everything I need except a decent AV setup - and I miss good sound… I am still doing the nomad life style because of my work and my antique (but still cheap'ish at the time) Marantz Signature stereo plus huge Dali speakers have been rotting away in storage for the last 6 years… I have had to make do with iPod's and JBL/B&W iPod docks for my 'hi-fi' needs.

But no more! I need a decent stereo and as a second priority a TV/surround setup. And I need your help with the speakers.

I have settled on the Denon AVR-4311 as the hub and an Oppo BDP-95EU as the media player instead of my PS3. The TV is a Samsung UE55D8000 series.

My listening habits is… rhythmic music..? I listen to a lot of Rock, Metal and Blues with the occasional folk and very very occasional classical piece. I don't watch much tv - probably one or two BD movies a week. Mostly I buy concerts on BD. My CDs and LPs are in storage in my home country and I don't buy any physical music media anymore. All music shopping is from the Apple store or similar online places.
Now, because of my habits of not really watching much tv, my emphasis is definitely on the music but since I have a great tv and since I do have a sizable collection of music BD's which I love I would like to have a surround setup that is good at surround and great at stereo. On top of that, since I am married and therefore not alone in deciding how the living room should look, I need something that is either very aestethically (sp?) pleasing or looks like it is designed by some famous guy on tv… I have a good size living room/kitchen area at the moment - around 17x7 meters, but the actual listening space is probably around 7x11 meters, the rest is kitchen.

So… speakers… 5.1 would be best for the room I have at the moment. Price range? $2-2,500. What can you experts recommend I have a look at?

 

[Anonymous]

I can't give specific recommendations but in general I would looke for 5.1 speaker packages which use traditional "hifi" speakers as the front channel. Looking at the WHF reviews, the Monitor Audio Silver RX6 AV12, Tannoy Revolution Signature & Dali Ikon 6 5.1 packages are highly rated and within budget (Assuming you mean £2500 not $2500)...so something along those lines.

I've heard the B&W M-1 sattellites which are somewhat cheaper and was not impressed, you will need to go to "full range" front speakers, may be spending more on these at the expense of a sub perhaps.

I've stuck with a 2 channel setup and would question whether, with good front and rear speakers, whether you really need a centre speaker and sub.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply.

hmmm I think you are right. I need to find a 2 channel hifi setup and then build outwards. I think I can get away with fairly big stereo speakers but that will probably be as far as the leash goes before my better half starts to pick up interest...

I've looked at the monitor audio and to be honest they don't appeal much to me. They look erhm... dated?

B&W undoubtedly makes great speakers but after having 3 Zeppelins fail withing 6 months each, I seriously doubt their electrical engineers (all my Zeppelins died because of their power supplies). I've given up on B&W and am now using my latest Zep as a flowerbed. JBL iPod docs however works a treat after 5 years...

The Tannoys fare a bit better though. Watched the blob and must say that the size of the speakers surprise me a lot. They are very small... My old Dali's are a lot bigger in depth (35 cms) and height (110 cms) and about double in width... (!) - and I thought that they were kind of my benchmark for my new setup, ie. nothing bigger than that please ;-).

Now either big developments have happened in the last 10-20 years regarding the physics of sound vs the size of speakers or people in general have just gotten smaller rooms..?? Dunno, but I have a hard time convincing myself that those Tannoys can ever get below 60Hz with any dignity. Am I wrong? Anyway, with speakers that size I would definately be needing a 2.1 setup to start with. I wouldnt mind a setup with fairly big front speakers/sub but the rear speakers need to be small. Banging your head against some 50x25x25 speaker mounted in face height everytime you turn a corner just doesnt work.

Now i've read somewhere that if you want a surround system, it must be from the same manufacturer and preferably the same system to keep the tonal balance right. I have no doubt that they are right. But unless you have enough money to buy a set of B&O speakers or similar where people will marvel at their shape, materials (and price) and not really seeing the speaker it gets a bit hard finding something that is both aestetically pleasing and at the same time sound good. Oh well - no one said this was going to be easy ;-)

 

[Anonymous]

Thats really class, using a B & W Zepplin as a flower bed. What sort of plants are you growing?

 

[professorhat]

Now i've read somewhere that if you want a surround system, it must be from the same manufacturer and preferably the same system to keep the tonal balance right. I have no doubt that they are right.

They are indeed, but the crucial bit is the front three - you really want those to be from the same manufacturer's range. However, I know from experience that using a satellite speaker for rears works well (I run B&W 685 fronts, HTM62 centre and M1 rears with the ASW610 sub). I'd also agree you want the front three to be "large speakers" rather than satellites - not just to ensure you get excellent stereo performance, but also because of the size of your room! Even "just" the living area is 77 sq m., so I think a small style system is going to really struggle to fill that space properly.

It's a shame you've ruled out B&W, as the M1 satellites are small but work perfectly for surround duties, whilst you could use something like the B&W 684s and HTM62 centre for your front three. Combine this with an ASW610 and you've got (IMO) a brilliant system for a bit below your budget. You could always add another ASW610 into the mix to help spread the bass throughout that huge room, either by extending to your full budget, or by swapping out the 684 fronts for 685s.

Naturally, you need to audition before you buy, but I'd look at listening to the above at least, and then looking at a few similar setups e.g. with KEF Q500s (or Q300s), the Q200c centre and 400b sub (or two), and then using one of KEF's style package speakers for rears (like the ones used in the KHT3005 package), or the Monitor Audio package mentioned above, but using the Vector V10s as rears, and see what you think.

 

[Anonymous]

I had considered using my ES30 speakers at the front and ES14s at the rear since I have them, but those ES14s are just way too big.

The other option is to have a dual-setup i.e. decent 2 channel hifi speakers complemented by a separate 5.1 setup. However this means you have to buy 2 more speakers and dilute your spending. I definately think the way to go is to find a good pair of hifi main speakers where there are centre/rears/sub produce by the same company if not in the same range.

EPOS were good in that regard (not sure if they still are) as I could have used the ES30s at the front and added something smaller and cheaper from their newer range for the centre/rear/bass in the knowledge everything should gel fairly well. Just never got round to doing it!