Speakers for Audiolab 8200A/CD combo

[admin_exported]

My room is very approximately 18 feet wide x 12 feet deep so i can spare around a foot behind and plenty of space to the sides. Im prepared to arrange the room around the hifi, but it wont be possible to reverse width and depth. Atm i have a pair of tannoy 637s wired up with soniclink aerospace technology AST 200birwire, which is silver cable and the boxes are connected by a cabletalk broadcast2 interconnect. I wouldnt say it sounds bad overall by any means but i know my speakers are perhaps not the greatest. They seem to need to be very close together to sound right and even then the sweet spot seems tiny, so im looking to upgrade. I like floorstanders, but i seem to have a hifi that begs to be turned up louder and yet the sofa is jumping before the volume is past 9 o clock i love the bass they throw out tho. Music performance is my primary concern, but i also run my blueray thru the amp. My general feeling is that if im going to have to shell out £200ish on stands then i might aswell get floorstanders, however im open to advice. Im looking for speakers that will complement the Audiolab kit and will be happy with a wide range of music. Detail is good, excessive treble is not bearing in mind i have no tone controls. I would probably be prepared to upgrade the cable and/or interconnect if it was really needed, but im not sure that it is. Suggestions?

 

[Anonymous]

forgot to add, would prefer to say in the £750ish range, the ATC SCM11 do seem a good choice but add stands and im looking at £1200 notes which is bothering me

 

[Frank Harvey]

Have you tried another interconnect? I'm suspecting the cable talk - might be worth getting a loan of one or two just to make sure it's not that first. This would be the cheapest option to try before thinking about speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

well my speakers are 20 years old and fairly beaten up so a new set is gonna happen anyway. Is it likely to be the interconnect? i was seriously impressed when i first bought it.

 

[Frank Harvey]

They may be 20 years old, but at doesn't mean they're passed it. A good design lasts. Isn't it worth trying the interconnect before going ahead and toying with speakers?

If you are to change the speakers, I think it'd be tough finding a follow up pair for them in some respects. Only Tannoy and KEF (spring to mind) when thinking of speakers that use coincident drivers, which have their benefits, some of which you'll be very used to after all this time. Also, not that many speakers have the sort of potency in the bass that some of the older Tannoys had. Nothing under £1k is flagging up as a possible replacement in my mind.....

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting. Yes its certainly worth trying a new wire. I seem to remember back in the day the what hifi review of my speakers was either 2 or 3 stars. They were from memory £350 from richer sounds when i bought them. Is there any particular interconnect you would recommend for my kit?

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi imagawa99

By all means have a look at ATC's SCM11 monitors although the SCM11 are flat and honest and are not as obvious in character as your existing speakers. Tannoy's DC4 T/DC6 T, Monitor Audio's Silver RX6's and Dynaudio's DM 3/7 speakers are also worth bearing in mind.

As for cabling i'll recommend standard interconnects and speaker cables of 79-500 strands.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Esra]

Personal experience with MA

If room and money matters you could also consider MA BX2.At this price tag there is really nothing to complain about them.Very wide and deep soundstage and excellent mids and highs.Very involving sound,just missing a little bass.Worth an audition and in my opinion a stellar combo with the audiolabs at this price tag.

As mentioned before the audiolabs work with the MA RX6 well too.In addition to the BX2 here you get sufficient and well controlled bass.The soundstage is not as wide and deep like with the BX2 and the highs more at the bright side but not disturbing.Its an more analytic and precise sound with great dynamics very enjoyable with DAC program 4 turned on with the CD8200.

 

[Anonymous]

There's a reasonable chance that in the next few weeks I will have a 8200A/CD combo myself, but this depends on how the amp stacks up compared to the Creek Evo II which I'll be demo'ing at the same time. Then I'll be able to let you know how it matches with a pair of Epos Epic 2 standmount speakers. In the mean time I'll recommend them anyway.

They seem to complement the open, detailed, sparkly sound of the 8200CD, i.e. they are very revealing, beautifully detailed in the midrange and nice punchy (but not floor-shaking) bass. Vocals are really sweet.

 

[Anonymous]

Thx for the answers guys. The tannoy dc6 t look to be exactly the kind of thing i was looking for at current prices. My only slight concern is "coarse treble" Actually getting a demo of them is going to be a problem i think aswell, are there any dealers around that would let me have a demo pair on loan, or is that unlikely? Any thoughts on B&W 684s?

Philpub i look forward to hearing your opinions.