New system starting with speakers (preferably white!)

[thewinelake.]

Call me foolish, but I've a feeling that the Tannoy Mercury 7.4's are the ones for me. I have been unable to audition them - they seem as rare as hen's teeth for some strange reason. Furthermore, they're not white (but "light oak" will fit in nicely and match the bookcase). But they're so cheap compared to what I was looking at, that I'm prepared to gamble on them being OK (if not, then it's a return or, worst case, flog on eBay).

 

[Dom]

Good luck, cheaper speaker's can sound amazing too.

 

[thewinelake.]

I guess I'll have to file a review when I get them, although I suppose the challenge is going to be establishing a reference point.

 

[thewinelake.]

...this time at Audio-T. A calmer environment here. Looking around the £500 price-point, I've decided that it needs to be standmounted (yes, less proper bass, but improved dynamics and imaging, etc). I'm hoping to try the much-vaunted Emit M10 (and probably the M20 as well) next week, but until then, we listened to a few possible alternatives. Source was Tidal streaming using a (rather unrepresentative!) Naim Unitilite. But at least the speaker cable wasn't the £1000/pair stuff being used at Superfi....

B&W S685 S2 - Sounded very good to me! Lively, solid image painting, detailed, smooth mid-range. I like the build quality on these.

Monitor Audio Silver 1 - Not so much bass. Really a bit on the gutless side. However, excellent musicality.

Rega RP3 - Very solid bass and the pick of the bunch at rendering Saint-saens Organ concerto - it had a slightly rough, "raunchy" quality that brought that recording to life! However, it gave female vocals a bit of an unpleasant rough-edge that was a bit tiring to listen to.

Focal Aria 905 - So these ones with flax. Very smooth listening - lovely on vocals, pretty good on orchestral stuff. A slight lack of feeling of precision, possibly. A bit of a problem is that they're quite bulky and ugly as hell - only available in black or walnut, they would not blend in to the room very well.

B&W CM1 - much smaller, rather beautifully engineered cabinets and a pleasing airy sound with super imaging, great with orchestra and pop-group alike. I got the impression that they're not so efficient, so may need a beefier amp than I would initially be using. I wonder if the rear-port design is responsible for the extremely wide sound stage (wider than the speakers were apart!) and also wonder if I'd be able to give them enough breathing space when in situ. A bit light in the bass, although it seems to have psychological bass - the very lowest notes are hinted at in ways that "one-note bass" speakers trample all over.

Then back to the S685s. These now seem a little more congested than I remember them, but it's nice to get a bit more bass back. CM1's are very "monitor"-like in character, whereas S685 are more crowd-pleasing.

So next week I'll go back to try the Dynaudios.

 

[Dom]

Good luck, I have found Audio T sales approach great. I bought the Emit 20's and are very happy with them.

 

[thewinelake.]

I popped into a shop where a friend works today and, although I didn't listen to anything, he said that I should consider old kit as giving a bigger bang for the buck at the £500 level.

I was assuming that modern speaker designs give a "modern speaker sound", and that if that's what I like, then I might be disappointed. But it would seem foolish not to give old speakers a whirl.

It would appear to me that there are real bargains available on older speakers via eBay, but auditioning is not likely to be possible - so one can only go on reputation, and there's always a risk that the ones you get will be buggered! Alternatively, these vintage audio shops do allow you to try stuff and will guarantee satisfaction, but at quite a premium.

Any stories here from those that have bought speakers from the 1970s/80s and how have you found them?