Most cost effective upgrade?

[admin_exported]

Hi Im upgrading my 5.1 system to 7.1 and was wandering what the most cost effective speaker upgrade would be?

I have the option to add a used pair of old Q35s for around £80 as rear surrounds to compliment Q65 SEs at the front and Model 65 DS as side surrounds. (also got a Model 20B Sub)

Option 2 is a little more costly but the idea was to purchase a new set of front speakers. Possibly iQ7 SEs or iQ9s (£499/£599 on clearence) and move the Q65 SEs to the rear surrounds...

 Any thoughts greatly appreciated! 

 

[Anonymous]

hi im new to this but i have similar set up my 5.1 had q35.2s for front and q15.2s for rear , ive recently bought a pair of IQ7SEs from audio t and moved my q35s to the side surround ,it sounds great. but before you go out and buy any IQ7s you may find that the 65s for the surround are a bit over kill and wont really get driven to there optimum. its up to you of course but it could save you a few quid.the main question is how much better are the 7s over the 65s , you may want to ebay the 65s to off set the cost (they do sell for about £180 if your lucky ) if you do decide to go for the 7s then try audio t if you have one local i got £100 knocked off just because thats all i could afford.
sorry if this is no help at all

dean

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your advice Dean

I think you may have a good point. I did wander if the 65s as rears would be over kill!! I may go for the Q35s I'm bidding for on eBay and pocket the extra cash to put towards the newÿreceiver.

I may be able to open a KEF museum by the end of it 😛 The Q65s were old when I bought them!

 

[Anonymous]

Im am now the proud owner of a pair of Classic Q35s in tip topÿcondition! The only problem is that the drivers sit a little low due to the tiny size of these floor standers. I have read in many places that the drivers should be at ear level when you are sat down. Would I be insane if I were to buy some stubby speaker stands to raise them a little?ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

hi glad the speakers came in good condition , before you spend out try puting them on a couple of books or something first to raise to ear height .ive got mine on floor below ear height and they sound fine .do a comparison and see if you can tell a lot of difference.if it does then go for some stands , but you may find them to be a little unstable unless you use the spike screw threads to bolt them into the stand hold them in position.
i bet your system sounds great now.
enjoy
regards Dean

 

[Anonymous]

I am so pleased with the system now. I managed to get my grubby hands on a new Onkyo 875 for £650 at the weekend and the sound is just sublime. I was so pleased with my old setup but over the moon with the upgrades! I feel like the old Sony amp was never really up to the quality of the Q65s. Now the amp seems to have pumped them withÿsteroids!!! 😀