Speaker advice please help!

[admin_exported]

I have the upgrade bug and looking for a new pair of speakers for my system

Michell Gyro se, rb300,Ortofon 2m red cartridge | Pioneer pd-d6mk2 |Nordost red dawn interconnect |Pioneer a-a9mk2 | Pair of Kef q15| Chord carnival silver screen cable.

looking at spending aroound £1000-1500 mark might be able to push to £2000.

Any advice would be much appreciated
.

 

[Crossie]

How about Spendor A5 if you are looking for a floorstander.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick reply the spendors didnt even cross my mind but after reading the review will definitely try and give them an audition thanks very much

 

[plastic penguin]

Worth while looking at PMC DB1is http://www.ssav.com/products/category/Speakers/1765.0.4.3.1002779.40360.0.0.0

 

[MUSICRAFT]

I have the upgrade bug and looking for a new pair of speakers for my system

Michell Gyro se, rb300,Ortofon 2m red cartridge | Pioneer pd-d6mk2 |Nordost red dawn interconnect |Pioneer a-a9mk2 | Pair of Kef q15| Chord carnival silver screen cable.

looking at spending aroound £1000-1500 mark might be able to push to £2000.

Any advice would be much appreciated
.

Hi dazza987

How would you describe the performance of your existing system?

What genre of music do you generally listen to?

The size of your room?

Is the room lightly or heavily furnished?

Are your current speakers stand, shelf or wall mounted?

Room positioning of the new speakers (distance to walls, corners, will there be anything between the speakers such as a cabinet, windows etc.)?

Distance between the speakers?

Listening distance?

Will anything be in the way of the speakers?

Your general listening level?

Do you use the bass/treble controls on the amp?

Is your preference for bookshelf or floortanding speakers?

With a change of speakers what areas of improvement and the kind of presentation are you looking for the system to reproduce?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Anonymous]

How would you describe the performance of your existing system? Has a wide soundstage but can come across as a little congested at times,slightly lacking in bass and the treble uneasy at times.

What genre of music do you generally listen to? I listen to many diferent genres from jazz - blues to hard rock - metal and everything in between.

The size of your room? Is approx 2.9m x 4mtr

Is the room lightly or heavily furnished? Lighly furnished.

Are your current speakers stand, shelf or wall mounted? As annoying as it is they are on a shelf.

Room positioning of the new speakers (distance to walls, corners, will there be anything between the speakers such as a cabinet, windows etc.)? Distance from rear wall will be approx 45cm-50cm distance from corners left 1.26mtr and right 1.55mtrs nothing will be directly between them.

Distance between the speakers? Approx 85cm measured from the inside of speakers

Listening distance? 1.8mtrs approx.

Will anything be in the way of the speakers? No.

Your general listening level? medium listening level (volume control reads -40).

Do you use the bass/treble controls on the amp? Yes to try and counter act the lack of bass.

Is your preference for bookshelf or floortanding speakers? i have no preference.

With a change of speakers what areas of improvement and the kind of presentation are you looking for the system to reproduce? tight punchy bass ,greater detail, even treble im after neutral unbiased and truthfull presentation i know i wont get this out of my system by just changing the speakers but it will hopefully be a start.

hopefully what i have written makes sense havent been in the hifi game overly long

 

[MUSICRAFT]

How would you describe the performance of your existing system? Has a wide soundstage but can come across as a little congested at times,slightly lacking in bass and the treble uneasy at times.

What genre of music do you generally listen to? I listen to many diferent genres from jazz - blues to hard rock - metal and everything in between.

The size of your room? Is approx 2.9m x 4mtr

Is the room lightly or heavily furnished? Lighly furnished.

Are your current speakers stand, shelf or wall mounted? As annoying as it is they are on a shelf.

Room positioning of the new speakers (distance to walls, corners, will there be anything between the speakers such as a cabinet, windows etc.)? Distance from rear wall will be approx 45cm-50cm distance from corners left 1.26mtr and right 1.55mtrs nothing will be directly between them.

Distance between the speakers? Approx 85cm measured from the inside of speakers

Listening distance? 1.8mtrs approx.

Will anything be in the way of the speakers? No.

Your general listening level? medium listening level (volume control reads -40).

Do you use the bass/treble controls on the amp? Yes to try and counter act the lack of bass.

Is your preference for bookshelf or floortanding speakers? i have no preference.

With a change of speakers what areas of improvement and the kind of presentation are you looking for the system to reproduce? tight punchy bass ,greater detail, even treble im after neutral unbiased and truthfull presentation i know i wont get this out of my system by just changing the speakers but it will hopefully be a start.

hopefully what i have written makes sense havent been in the hifi game overly long

Hi dazza987

Thanks for your reply.

ATC's SCM11 or SCM19 monitors with their low distortion, flat and honest designs and (amongst their other qualities) uncoloured and natural presentation should do the trick 🙂

http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/scm11.php

http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/scm19.php

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Anonymous]

thanks Rick given the price difference between the scm11's and the scm19's in your opinion do the scm19's justify the extra £900

many thank Daryl

 

[alchemist 1]

B&W PM1'S worth a listen. 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, I think you should consider Rega RS3 floorstanders.

Great detail, good bass (tight, controlled and ample), excellent soundstage, very good with all types of music in my opinion.

Would work well in your room as described I think and are pretty flexible and forgiving in positioning.

Only £780 so you may think too much under your budget but try them, I suspect many other floorstanders may not suit as well as these given what you have said.

They were given a very good review in the July WHF magazine if you want to take a look.

Other comment would be that it could be worth experimenting with placing your speakers further apart (if you can of course)so that you have more of an equilateral triangle with your listening position at the point of it.

Have fun

 

[Anonymous]

From what you describing about the congestion it actually sounds like a weakness in the Turntable and I'd bet it's coming from the RB 300. As good as it is its not top flight so I'd actually spend money upgrading the arm to at least a hot rodded Audiomods/ Rega. The rules of system heirachy have not changed for turntables as far as I'm concerned, spending money here will reap more significant sonic rewards.

Also if you can get the speakers off the shelves and onto proper stands, there are few things that will stifle the performance of speakers more than sitting on shelves, don't underestimate the difference this will make. I'd try this path of improvements over replacing the speakers, a more revealing pair will only emphasize front end and room placement problems, believe me I've been down that road.

Michell Orbe owner.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

thanks Rick given the price difference between the scm11's and the scm19's in your opinion do the scm19's justify the extra £900

many thank Daryl

Hi Daryl

Your welcome.

I posted some of the following earlier on in the year -

With SCM7 and SCM11 monitors ATC give an exceedingly good taste of what they are capable of however starting with SCM19's ATC well and truly push the button and significantly raise the game of their monitors. Even though SCM19 monitors use the same dimension (150mm) Mid/LF drive unit as SCM11's however this Mid/LF drive unit (the first in ATC's range of monitors) incorporates ATC's state of the art ultra low distortion SLMT (Super Linear Magnet Technology) in a massively engineered and built assembly (which is also used in SCM20ASL Professional monitors). To put this into perpective the SLMT drive unit weighs more then a complete SCM11! There is no difference in HF performance between any Entry Series monitors as all use the same HF unit. However in practically every area below HF SCM19's more or less show SCM11's a clean pair of heels.

Using a Naim's DAC, NAC 202, NAPSC, HiCap DR and NAP 250, some of the tracks which i've used to differentiate the reproduction between SCM11 and SCM19 monitors include Tere Bina Zindagi Se (Lata Mangeshkar) and Oror Burik (Arto Tuncboyaciyan). Even with these simple recordings as good as SCM11's are however the SCM11's don't have the same scale, depth, weight, dynamics, resolution, precision, focus etc. and overall sound veiled in comparision to SCM19's. After hearing SCM19's there is no going back to SCM11's. Simple

Fwiw, i feel SCM19 monitors are probably the finest VFM bookshelf speakers currently available on the market regardless of price.

http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/downloads/CompanyProfile.pdf (page 10 for SLMT)

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[hoopsontoast]

Considering that you are listening relative near field (1.8m from the speakers, with them 85cm apart) I would look at some decent mini-monitors. Something like the ATC SCM7 (My Fav and best of the ATC Entry range IMO) Spendor SA1, Harbeth P3ESR, Kef R100 or R300, Kef Ref 201/2 (Used or B-Grade) and Tannoy Autograph Mini.

I would have thought that the SCM19 would be a bit too big for that room, and not work at their best in such nearfield listening space. I found however good the SCM19 were, they did not integrate in the mid-range as well as the SCM7, which is a particular feature of theirs compared to their peers. As Rick mentions, I would agree that the SCM7, 11 and 19 are very similar in their performance, you get SPL and Bass Depth as you go up the range.

Anything with coaxial driver arrangments like the Tannoy Dual Concentric and KEF Uni-Q should be very good in nearfield, and seem an obvious choice from your current speakers.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Considering that you are listening relative near field (1.8m from the speakers, with them 85cm apart) I would look at some decent mini-monitors.

I would have thought that the SCM19 would be a bit too big for that room, and not work at their best in such nearfield listening space. I found however good the SCM19 were, they did not integrate in the mid-range as well as the SCM7, which is a particular feature of theirs compared to their peers. As Rick mentions, I would agree that the SCM7, 11 and 19 are very similar in their performance, you get SPL and Bass Depth as you go up the range.

Anything with coaxial driver arrangments like the Tannoy Dual Concentric and KEF Uni-Q should be very good in nearfield, and seem an obvious choice from your current speakers.

Hi hoopsontoast

Since your post i've been listening to SL spec mid/bass drivers (less than a meter apart) at a listening distance of 1.8m and more and also at different positions. The reproduction aided by the SL spec drive units excellent dispersion has mostly been perfectly stable with a slight narrowing at the primary listening distance. In my experience there is nothing new here as i've also noticed similar trait with some other drive unit configurations.

Anyway, in addition to higher SPL and greater LF extension each progressive step from SCM7 monitors though to SCM40 monitors in the Entry Series also offers better mid range reproduction. Btw, i've yet to hear SCM19 monitors to have a disjointed mid range :?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[atticus]

I have the upgrade bug and looking for a new pair of speakers for my system

Michell Gyro se, rb300,Ortofon 2m red cartridge | Pioneer pd-d6mk2 |Nordost red dawn interconnect |Pioneer a-a9mk2 | Pair of Kef q15| Chord carnival silver screen cable.

looking at spending aroound £1000-1500 mark might be able to push to £2000.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Hello dazza987,

I would strongly recommend auditioning the ADM 9T's from AVi HiFi. I heard these in November 2011, before the latest driver/crossover upgrade was done and they were super, so the tweaked models should sound even better.

www.avihifi.co.uk/adm9.html

Very neutral and went as loud as you like with no distortion. Clean, un-boomy bass from the sub, too. Speakers and sub will set you back £2050.00, but since they are Active, you can sell your amp to more than cover the shortfall. I went for their big brothers, the ADM 40's and am very happy indeed.

If you read around you'll find a lot of heated discussions about AVi. The brand seems to court controversy and this is largely down to the MD, who is very outspoken and does not mince his words about what he feels to be inferior kit. He is, however, extremely personable and there is no doubt in my mind that his stuff is jolly good - I would not have sold my Cyrus/Tannoy kit to fund the purchase otherwise.

I suggest you ignore the hype as well as the anti-hype and listen to the things before making any firm decisions. Trust your ears when listening to the music, since the music and your ears are all not only all that matter, but also all that remain once you have paid your money and everyone else has gone home.