SPEAKER PACKAGE UPGRADE : CONFUSED.COM !?!?

[admin_exported]

hi there, i am by no means a newbie to the home audio world however...ADVICE PLS!!

After so much deliberation , I am on the verge of changing my home cinema speaker package :

I currently own a KEF KHT2005.3 with a KUBE 2 Subwoofer... it's ok but i'm bored of it and fancy a change

Am running it with an ONKYO NR-807 Receiver...

I am literally tearing my hair out as originally i looked into adding just floorstanders to my current system and maybe 2 additional "eggs" and now I’ve found myself looking at the following and simply cannot make up my mind as I don’t want to make a mistake.

My choices are KEF 3005se with the round subwoofer package which I believe is highly acclaimed and better than what I have currently... I can get this for £899 in Gloss Black

OR

A Vibe Monolith system which was reviewed at Home cinema choice at £1900 for a 5.1 setup with the omicron subwoofer...

http://www.vibehomecinema.co.uk/images/news/HomeCinemaChoice060809.pdf

THE DIFFERENCE being I can get a brand new 9.2 system which includes

2 x Monolith 3 (floorstanding)

6 x Monolith 1 (bookshelfs)

1 x Monolith 2 (centre)

2 x Omicron Subwoofers

ALL FOR £999 !!! (brand new boxed and not B stock)

My main questions are :

[*]is it worthwhile me upgrading to the better Kef package (3005se) ??
[*]or is the Vibe Monolith package a no brainer for the money and does it outperform either kef package ??
[*]Will I lose out on much bass reproduction dropping from 200w to 70w (well 70w x2 essentially) ??
[*]What would you do ??

I never have approached a forum before but it’s driving me crazy and I’m hoping that with your expert advice it will help my decision. My uses for the system is balanced playing both music and films.

style is pretty essential as the wife doesn't care how many speakers i rig up , they just have to look nice

My room is 5.5m x 4.2m so quite a large room with plenty of scope, to one side of this room is an openplan kitchen measuring 3.5 x 3.5 (don't know if that may change anything acoustically)

Please help, and any advice will be greatly appreciated

 

[kinda]

I'd try out the vibe if it got a good review in HCC, which I vaguely remember it did.

Sounds like you're bored with the KEF sound and maybe the egg style speakers. Plus when I demod the 3005SE I didn't find it that great, especially for music, mainly down to the sub. Pretty good for films though, but I wouldn't expect you to be finding it fantastic if you're fed up of what you've got.

There's more to subs than the power, plus you're getting a balanced pair, and front floorstanders which should add some bass. Also an increased number of surrounds. And at half price.

 

[chrisup]

As you appear to be unhappy with a good style speaker system why don't you audition some speakers with your wife? I have an Onkyo 905 and have a black B&W 685 Theatre package but I upgraded the subwoofer to a B&W ASW610. Compared to the KEF style package I heard the B&Ws deliver bags of detail, bass extension and excitement for both movies and music.You need to budget for stands and cables eg I use black Atacama Nexus stands and Chord Company Carnival SilverScreen cables. My wife approves of the looks but loves how they sound when watching moves strange she watches more movies now!

Make sure you find a good dealer who will demonstrate speakers but take a DVD or a Blu - ray you are familiar with and listen for any detail, dynamics and bass you have not heard before. Buy the speakers that give you the most enjoyment for your budget.

Good luck

 

[Anonymous]

kinda:
There's more to subs than the power, plus you're getting a balanced pair, and front floorstanders which should add some bass. Also an increased number of surrounds. And at half price.

Thanks for your replies

This was exactly what i was wondering , whether "Power" is necessarily "Better" i mean the fact that i am considering 2 subs positioned either side of the Plasma and then the floorstanders approximately 9ft apart makes me wonder whether the lower frequencies would essentially be more spread and therefore just as appealing. Seeing the vibe system really put the Cat amongst the pigeons so to speak , and looks to be a very worthy contender.. especially as you say "half price"!

The Kef's don't get me wrong , they are nice, compact and beautiful both in sound and appearance , it's just since the day i purchased them it was always a case of when i would upgrade and not if, the kef 3005 package was originally on my hitlist but just topped out my budget back then so hence the re-interest ... for me now the appeal of having essentially a 9.2 setup whereby 7.2 would be used prodominently most of the time in the obvious setup , and then two further speakers as front wide or front height channels which i could switch to if needed.

As for cabling ...well god only knows how much i would need to wire that little lot up , but fortunately my circumstances have changed so am quite willing to spend a good chunk on the appropriate speaker wire, any ideas what a good cable is for under the carpet ?

But back to my main dilemma , i think it is a case of would i have noticed the difference between the two kef setups or would it be a simple case of " The law of diminishing returns?" Certainly for the outlay the vibes essentially would only set me back £400 as my current Kef's have a buyer , what worries me is that are they going to sound every bit better than my kef's (or worse) and by reducing to two less powerful subs instead of there one larger Kube 2 sub, will that have a damaging effect to the movies i watch in terms of will the really low end explosions etc disappear.

i have tried to find somewhere that could audition the Vibe system but to no avail, the another site online do have a couple of threads that suggest the vibes really kick a*** but there opinions may not be the most honest. i have phoned around some dealers for mere advice and it's almost a 50/50 split some so no brainer, vibes all the way, others say 3005se is untouchable at there given market price point.

i'm hoping an owner of these vibes could shed some light or ideally if the experts at What Hifi could lend a helping hand , mayb e they know more about them despite not being reviewed

either way by Monday i will have made my choice,

Thanks again, glad i joined the forum ))))

 

[Anonymous]

Did you go with the Vibes system, if so, what are your thoughts about it now. I have been looking at this system against the B&W 685 Theatre System.

Dave

 

[Anonymous]

THE DIFFERENCE being I can get a brand new 9.2 system which includes

2 x Monolith 3 (floorstanding)

6 x Monolith 1 (bookshelfs)

1 x Monolith 2 (centre)

2 x Omicron Subwoofers

ALL FOR £999 !!! (brand new boxed and not B stock)

HI there, are there any more of the monolith speaker system's for sale at that price if so where, because i might be intrested in buying one my self. Thank's

 

[Anonymous]

xs1100:
Did you go with the Vibes system, if so, what are your thoughts about it now. I have been looking at this system against the B&W 685 Theatre System.

Dave

Just a repost on this thread , i have now owned the monolith system since may'10 and can't fault it acoustically , i have since upgraded my amp to the onkyo NR-808 (recently 5* winner and highly praised- What Hi-Fi) and that in itself dramatically improved every aspect of the soundstage , i unfortunately can't comment on the B&W 685 Theatre System..

What i can say is what i can compare it too and the pro's and con's of this system..

First off it absolutely blows my Previous KEF2005.3 system out of the park , low end bass is apparent in the subs at all volumes, the clarity and depth of the surrounds and floostanders is quite astonishing , even the floorstanders pack a serious punch when used on there own or coupled with (all Channel stereo) i struggle to get the Onkyo to REF level because it's just so loud , but not loud on a distorted level though , every hi-hat,vocal and punch from the midrange is so accurate and balanced (set at 80hz +, subs deal with anything below) this applies to both music and films , it is such a balanced system.

Even at reference level (0db) which i have taken it too the mid range depth is sublime for essentially what can be purchased for sub £1000 , the build quality is on a level comparable to that of systems much MUCH more expensive, my father owns a Bose Acoustimass 15 system .... it does not even touch the vibes in any way, looks, build quality (which is awful incidentally) and above all sound, out of interest i hooked up my 808 onkyo to his Bose speaker system , the onkyo literally chewed them up and spat them out .. As for comparison to the KEF3005 .. well a friend of mine has this system and out of pure curiousity i asked if he would mind me testing his system with my AMP (808) this for me was my ultimate test as this was the system i so wanted before taking the plunge for the VIBES, i will make this as concise as i can:

The Kef's are clearly a very sound rich system, by that i mean very bright sounding system , for me there just isn't enough mid-range , the system wants you to set the satellites at 100hz and above and that really is because any lower through them and it can't handle the mid-range and consequently they distort at high volume if the crossover is set any lower than that... The Kef systems rely on the sub (and a very good sub at that) to deliver a lot of the low-mid frequencies and to also handle it's designated job which is anything below 60-80hz , don't get me wrong acoustically for films especially the system for that purpose is fantastic , the sats fire effects around as good as the best , vocally the center is great but i still felt there was a certain depth missing (IMO) to lower vocal ranges and certain effects coming through the center soundstage... for music alone i'm sorry it just doesn't hit the same level of depth and clarity that the vibes do , u can listen to the vibes without the subs completely and still get a good enough low end mid to think , actually for music i don't really need the subs.... if you set the Kef's at there recommended crossover settings and take the sub out of the equation u INSTANTLY feel and hear somethings missing ... The Vibes will always be overlooked because there not really an in-house brand like KEF or B&W but if you look at there history in the CAR AUDIO market they are undoubtedly one of the highest rated manufacturers around , thats gotta say they know a thing or 2 about speaker /amp technology Right? If this system was Branded or made by a maunfacturer such as KEF etc , this would be £2000-3000 , without question purely because of the quality of all the components used form the cones to the connections , even the white gloves that get supplied with every speaker just so you don't fingerprint them in handling !

If i wanted a KEF or B&W system i could get the debit card out right now .... but with the kind of sound this system is kicking out i just don't see the point ..like i said in previous posts "it's the law of diminishing returns!!" u can spend another £2000 pound but for such little difference in "improvement" when a system sounds this good ... my comparisons also are based a lot on comparing to "satellite systems" or "lifestyle systems" a balance of looks and great sound ... a true audiophile who has a setup thats using a "bigger" setup incorperating true floorstanders, bookshelfs and bigger subs will have a totally different arguement , but then that wouldn't a fair or like for like comparison of £ 4 £ value or type of system .. as far as a lifestyle system that looks superb goes the MONOLITH system makes you feel like it isnt that ! it's so much more bigger in sound and depth , systems like the KEF's and the BOSE and Missions etc , yeah there great but they are lacking in certain places , and the VIBES make you realise that from the moment you turn them on ..

Incidentally , when testing these other systems i know the cabling was QED silver anniversary XT on the KEF3005 and bose use there own cabling system .. I use QED SA XT also throughout

i think amps also play a major part in all this , but what a whole can of worms that would open up , what i can say is the ONKYO NR808 is absolutely fantastic , and that clearly will impact my systems tonal abilty massively.. thats why i used the amp also on the other speakers.

anyway .. after nearly 1 year of using the Vibes , there fantastic they really are , an absolute steal for the money they don't sound as good as they look , they sound better

 

[Sonic Dreamer]

Hi, I have the Kef KEF3005SE set and I did a deal with Sevenoaks in Holborn (London), where I took the Kef eggs, left out the Kef sub and paired them with a B&W PV1 subwoofer and I am delighted with the combination.

At the Bristol What Hi-Fi show, I attended an enlightening THX demonstration; for that they used a Jamo D500 THX Select 2 surround speaker set-up (5 Star review in the mag), which was simply stunning. They did supplement it with additional subs, but even without them I think it would still have sounded stunning. So, if your budget can stretch to £1700 and the size of the surround speakers isn't an issue (it was with me), then I suggest you try and demo the Jamo set.

Oppsss, just realised reading down you made your choice!

Cheers,
SonicD