Large standmounts...

[admin_exported]

Greetings all. I would love punchy, floorstanders with a large soundstage and plenty of bass but, I have just moved into a flat above an elderly gent who I'm pretty sure wouldn't appreciate my taste in reggae/dub and early punk rock. So the speakers have to come off the floor and the search is on for large standmounts that can offer plenty of weight. I have read and listened to a lot of small standmount speakers that go under the tag 'you won't believe the power and bass, don't let the size fool you' etc, but in reality, they never live up to their promises or my expectations.

I do listen to all music from all time aswell as reggae/punk so to be fussy, I need something with some clarity and control.. I'm not after booming dance boxes, plenty off attack and weighty, controlled bass I would like.

Room is roughly 3.5m by 5m, gear is Roksan Kandy Mk111 cd player and amp, price range is roughly £500- £800.

The 2 contenders I've found so far (and not yet listened to) are...Monitor Audio RX2's and
Focal JMLab Chorus 807v's

And that's it ! pretty thin on the ground.

Any recommendations would be gratefully appreciated by me, and my neighbour.

Many thanks Keith.

 

[plastic penguin]

Welcome to the madhouse... sorry, forum.oke:

Given you have older Roksans (and budget), I would be looking at B&W CM5s - lots of bang for your buck. Oddly, I've not heard the CM5s but the CM1 - the 'ones' are a little smaller but should have the same sonic traits.

 

[matthewpiano]

Might sound crazy given their lower price but I'd also try the Mordaunt-Short Aviano 2. Carefully set-up on decent stands they deliver a great punchy, rhythmic and dynamic sound with oodles of detail and control.

 

[MattSPL]

Put concrete paving slabs under your speaker stands or floor standing speakers. This will help keep the bass from going into the floor, so your neighbour wont be disturbed, and you will benefit from better, tighter bass i your room.

 

[jaxwired]

Monitor Audio RX2. Big and sound it.

Dynaudio Dm 2/8 have lots of bass as do Dynaudio X16s.

PMC TB2i.

 

[Dan Turner]

Neat momentum 3i. Huge punchy and forceful bass thanks to their isobaric design. However I would only recommend buying them if you can get a home demo from a dealer. My room's a touch smaller than yours and they are pretty borderline in terms of keeping the bass from booming and I'm constantly tweaking to try to rein it in - it's purely a room interaction thing, so just a word of caution. If they work in your room they could be just what you're after.

In fact having a home demo goes for buying any speaker as far as i'm concerned. What you're getting is the interaction of speakers and room, I would go as far as to say a speaker demo anywhere other than your listening room is completely irrelevant and it's pot luck as to whether they will work in your room.

 

[chebby]

I would recommend sealed cabinet stand mounts like ATC SCM7 (£500) in this situation. I have a lot of experience of the larger SCM11s (over your budget) and - despite not being my 'cup of tea' - I think they will work very well with your taste in music and with your circumstances (regarding the neighbour) and with your equipment.

Properly isolated from the floor on decent stands the sealed cabinets will react a lot less with the wall behind them and any nearby corners and give a tighter/more controlled bass.

For in between times when you need to really 'blast' your music, get some really good heaphones. (Unless you know when the neighbour will be out or away.)

 

[matthewpiano]

The trick is to learn which car belongs to the neighbour in question. When the car isn't there, BINGO!

When I put my music on I always have a look out of the window to see whose car is there and whose isn't and that helps to dictate my volume level. I'm not into disco levels but it is nice to get a bit of scale every now and then.

 

[Dan Turner]

Neat momentum 3i. Huge punchy and forceful bass thanks to their isobaric design. However I would only recommend buying them if you can get a home demo from a dealer. My room's a touch smaller than yours and they are pretty borderline in terms of keeping the bass from booming and I'm constantly tweaking to try to rein it in - it's purely a room interaction thing, so just a word of caution. If they work in your room they could be just what you're after.

In fact having a home demo goes for buying any speaker as far as i'm concerned. What you're getting is the interaction of speakers and room, I would go as far as to say a speaker demo anywhere other than your listening room is completely irrelevant and it's pot luck as to whether they will work in your room.

Apologies - I seem to have totally missed the part where you stated your budget! Ignore me.

 

[CnoEvil]

I would add Dynaudio DM 2/7 or Excite X12 to your list.

 

[richardw42]

I also have Roksan amp and have just switched to Monitor Audio GS10 lovely weight to them. I am used to floorstanders and MAs are not far behind in bass. There is an ex demo pair on bay at the mo and Audiovisualonline are doing the GS stands for £125 (down from over 300).
Re the B&w speakers, I had a pair of CM7s (floors) and wasn't impressed with them + Roksan.

 

[Shanka]

Hi,

I think we have similar musical tastes and I have the same problem regarding getting enough bass and not upsetting the neighbours.

As you say with standmounts everyone will tell you how much bass they give out but you only get it at large volumes which kind of defeats the purpose.

In my experience esp for reggae of the period we are talking about I found the only way to get the right sound was to use floorstanders at lower volumes to get the right mix of bass into the mix. As previously suggested here i would strongly suggest investing in a pair of tesco granite chopping boards that will prevent some of the bass going into the floorboards, they only cost about £12 ea so worthwhile investment.

With the Roksan gear and for the music you say you like to listen to I would suggest trying some B&W 684's, may be not the best in hifi terms but lots of bass at low volume and plenty of attack too, not the sweetest sounding speaker but I have listend to these with rock, reggae, classical and found that they gave me the sound i liked.

You could try Monitor Audio RX6 but would suggest a long demo as in my mind they may sound great initially but will be more fatiguing in the long term with Roksan , they have good bass at lower volumes, very lively.

Demo as much as you can and good luck, is tricky trying to find good hifi that does justice to good reggae imo, good luck and have fun.

 

[lindsayt]

Yamaha NSM1000's

Goodmans Magisters

Medium sized sealed box stand-mounted speakers with adequately sized bass cones and good quality drivers. It's not rocket science. Just simple common sense engineering.

 

[chebby]

Goodmans Magisters

Medium sized sealed box stand-mounted speakers with adequately sized bass cones and good quality drivers. It's not rocket science. Just simple common sense engineering.

With 15" bass cones!

(Did you read the bit about the elderly neighbour downstairs?)

 

[CnoEvil]

Goodmans Magisters

Medium sized sealed box stand-mounted speakers with adequately sized bass cones and good quality drivers. It's not rocket science. Just simple common sense engineering.

With 15" bass cones!

(Did you read the bit about the elderly neighbour downstairs?)

He can only hope the elderly gent is profoundly deaf.

 

[Blackdawn]

Dynaudio DM 8 DM 10, Klipsch RB81, Monitor Audio Rx2 or the Focals. Don't forget to factor in good quality stands with added weight.

 

[lindsayt]

Goodmans Magisters

Medium sized sealed box stand-mounted speakers with adequately sized bass cones and good quality drivers. It's not rocket science. Just simple common sense engineering.

With 15" bass cones!

(Did you read the bit about the elderly neighbour downstairs?)

Yes I did read the bit about the elderly gent.

Did you read this bit from the OP?

I do listen to all music from all time aswell as reggae/punk so to be fussy, I need something with some clarity and control.. I'm not after booming dance boxes, plenty off attack and weighty, controlled bass I would like.

The two speakers I recommended are sealed box designs which helps a lot in getting more controlled bass than ported designs. Both the speakers I recomended have good clarity and control with plenty of attack.

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for the replies, food for thought ... a system that's tailored for reggae/dub/punk at low volumes. I've read up on sound dampening with different boards underneath floorstanders, some say it works great, some say it's a waste of time, some say 'granite rings like a bell'... I can't imagine a slab of granite having any sort of acoustic qualities, never mind ringing like a bell. Damn good idea if it works though.

P.S I'm the OP, can someone please tell me what OP means?

Many thanks errr...the OP.

 

[The_Lhc]

P.S I'm the OP, can someone please tell me what OP means?

Original Poster - the person who started the thread.

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, I've put granite chopping boards (or "worktop protectors") under my floorstanders and on the equipment rack under the amps and CD player, it really made the bass come alive in a controlled manner. Quite cheap to do, and really effective in my experience. My AV stand has glass shelves...might not work so well with wooden shelves.