I'm trying to establish which would be the best speakers to use with the Onkyo 875. These cannot be bookshelf or floorstanding speakers due to 3 children under 4 years old. I went to the Bristol Show to try and narrow down the range of options but failed miserably!
I went to one of the Dali rooms first. They had a 875 connected to what I think was Dali Icons. Some long-haired bloke and I listened to these for some and they sounded great. I explained my requirements to the assistant who dutifully set up a pair of Dali Motifs (fronts only). We listened to these for an while. The long haired bloke, who had been listening to me talking to the assistant, turned to me and said "It's gonna have to be the floorstanders then." Hhmmm.
I then went to one of the Onkyo rooms. They had the 875 connected up to some floorstanders (don't recall which ones) and it sounded great. They also had a 605 with the KEF 3005SE. I asked the assistant if I could have a listen, so he switched the demo over to the 605. Hhmmm. The centre was working really hard but I couldn't really hear the others speakers. So I borrowed a cd from someone in the audience and he set them up to play in stereo. Hhmmm. Awful! Truely awful! The assistant was all over himself to switch back to the 875!
I had wanted to audition the Tannoy Highline 500s but there didn't seem to be any there.
So, what can I do? I have had a look online and there seems to be a number of on-wall offers from Dali (Phantom with on-wall mount, On-Wall), PMC (wafer1), etc. Are these any good as fronts?
Are the Tannoy's going to be any better than the Motifs? Given my requirements, I cannot have the usual Highline 500 configuration and would need the wall mounted speakers all round, rather than the usual floorstanders at the front (as reviewed by WHFSV). I am guessing that this will significantly impact the quality of the sound produced. Does it?
The other option would be the Kef 5005.2. My boss has these with the 875 and reckoned they were a significant improvement over the 3005SEs, which he also auditioned. I haven't seen any reviews on these or heard them for myself.
The trouble is, with a young family, I am not able to go round auditioning everything. Bristol was a one off. I need to narrow my options....the main reason I subscribe to the mag. Any advice, or better still the promise of a head to head reviews in the mag, would really help.
Thanks
I went to one of the Dali rooms first. They had a 875 connected to what I think was Dali Icons. Some long-haired bloke and I listened to these for some and they sounded great. I explained my requirements to the assistant who dutifully set up a pair of Dali Motifs (fronts only). We listened to these for an while. The long haired bloke, who had been listening to me talking to the assistant, turned to me and said "It's gonna have to be the floorstanders then." Hhmmm.
I then went to one of the Onkyo rooms. They had the 875 connected up to some floorstanders (don't recall which ones) and it sounded great. They also had a 605 with the KEF 3005SE. I asked the assistant if I could have a listen, so he switched the demo over to the 605. Hhmmm. The centre was working really hard but I couldn't really hear the others speakers. So I borrowed a cd from someone in the audience and he set them up to play in stereo. Hhmmm. Awful! Truely awful! The assistant was all over himself to switch back to the 875!
I had wanted to audition the Tannoy Highline 500s but there didn't seem to be any there.
So, what can I do? I have had a look online and there seems to be a number of on-wall offers from Dali (Phantom with on-wall mount, On-Wall), PMC (wafer1), etc. Are these any good as fronts?
Are the Tannoy's going to be any better than the Motifs? Given my requirements, I cannot have the usual Highline 500 configuration and would need the wall mounted speakers all round, rather than the usual floorstanders at the front (as reviewed by WHFSV). I am guessing that this will significantly impact the quality of the sound produced. Does it?
The other option would be the Kef 5005.2. My boss has these with the 875 and reckoned they were a significant improvement over the 3005SEs, which he also auditioned. I haven't seen any reviews on these or heard them for myself.
The trouble is, with a young family, I am not able to go round auditioning everything. Bristol was a one off. I need to narrow my options....the main reason I subscribe to the mag. Any advice, or better still the promise of a head to head reviews in the mag, would really help.
Thanks
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