Speakes to go with Denon 1910

[tigetspill]

Hi,

I bought a Denon 1910 receiver yesterday at RS. I now need a set of speakers. The guy at RS was recommending a set of Monitor Audio Vectors. The one thing I would have to change are the rears at they are simply way too big. I am considering the much smaller Monitor Audio R45HDs instead. Total price would be £520. The one thing I didnt check was the sub model (VW8 or R370HD) how much difference will this make?

I know What Hifi reviewed these this month and gave 4 stars against some pretty good competition priced at £900-£1000. Does the price of £520 make these better than say the Q Acoustics 1010 package which is slightly cheaper (again I would have to change the rears due to size).

Would changing the rears as I have mentioned be OK?

They also have the Mordant Short Amumnis at a similar price.

Another option would be a pair of Monitor Audio R90s (£220), a pair of R45s (£150), an R180 centre (£150) and keep my sub (Yamaha SW-P201) for a while.

One point I should mention is that the fronts and centre will be placed on the shelf below my 42" plasma so the L and R will not be far apart unfortunately. There is just enough height for the Vectors. The other point on the Vectors is that they are angled up when sitting on their base.

Speaker choice is driving me nuts. One problem I have is in my areas there are very few dealers and it is difficult to listen to the setups.

Any help gratefully received.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there, just question, what is your bidget and are you willing to go down the road of style speaker packages since they are smaller which may help solve your problem with having to change the rearspeakers. Also i dont know if youve found a good price for the 1010i's but the link below you can get them for £379! cheapest ive seen as im looking for a good deal myself

http://www.audioaffair.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=2588

 

[tigetspill]

Thanks for the heads up on the price of the 1010s. This is by far the best price I have seen.

I suppose on the budget question - i am considering around £500 - though this is not totally fixed.

Also, I would consider "style" type speakers. However, I see that Kef speakers seem to ge great reviews, but I have heard bad reports about them (even from those selling them) and thet are poor value for money.

 

[wireman]

tigetspill: Also, I would consider "style" type speakers. However, I see that Kef speakers seem to ge great reviews, but I have heard bad reports about them (even from those selling them) and thet are poor value for money.

Bit of background as to where I'm coming from: I've a Denon 2310 and KEF 3005SE's for AV, and a seperate hi-fi for music only. A friend uses the KEF 2005's with a Yamaha AV amp, again with a seperate hi-fi for music.

There are some (on this forum) who believe a £500 receiver is adequate to drive a £1000 set of KEF style speakers (lets say the 3005SE's which are about that money), and others (mostly dealers) who believe you'd need to spend nearer £1000 on a receiver to drive the 3005's properly. I'm not a dealer, but I am in the latter camp. It depends what your audio-quality expectations are, but I'd suggest you'd need something better than the Denon 1910 to drive a set of 3005SE's, and, in my view, probably even the £600 2005's.

I think it was Pistol Pete who, after doing a side-by-side comparison, extolled the virtues of the Denon 2310 over the 1910 just in terms of sheer audio quality, and, to me, the 2310 is a minimum for either the KEF 2005's or 3005's - in my view, the KEF's are too revealing for anything less. With hindsight, I sometimes even wish I'd maybe gone for a receiver even higher up Denon's range to get the best from these 3005's. I say that because, with my main hi-fi, I've £9000 of power amplifiers driving a set of £7000 speakers - you appreciate that a well designed speaker needs to be driven correctly, and in my view the 3005's are capable of more than many lower-priced AV amps are capable of delivering - not in absolute power, but in refinement and subtlety. I'm not blindly defending KEF, but I'd suggest that any negative comments from users or 'sellers' offering for sale a speaker of this capability are because the speakers are simply revealing deficiencies in equipment elsewhere in the chain.

On the other hand, on this forum, it'd seem that KEF's are generally seen as better with pure AV applications, whilst the B&W MT25's or 30's are reportedly a better all-round speaker if you're reliant on just the one system for both your music and movies. The 1010's I've never heard, so I can make no comments there.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

I'm with you on this one, wireman.

To get the best out of your speakers, you need the best amplification you can buy. I believe that the Denon AVR2310 now brings out the best from my modestly priced speaker set up. (Although, if i spend over £1000 on a receiver, they would no doubt sound even better!)

In my opinion, the Onkyo 606, I had previously, did not do them justice at all.

Don't forget that the speakers you buy can only protray what signal they have been given. In other words, the source and amp sends the signal, and if that's the best it can be, then you will bring the best out of your speakers.

Therefore with £1000+ speaker pacakages, I would also suggest the Denon AVR2310/Marantz SR6003 as a minimum starting point.

 

[Anonymous]

new wharfedale diamond 10 Range????

 

[Anonymous]

I have a Dennon 1910 and KEF 2005's and I am very happy with my system.

 

[Anonymous]

Are the Dennon 1910 and KEF 2005 a good match for 'music' and 'films'?

I have a Sony DA2400ES with the Kefs and not happy with what they are producing

Does RS offer an exchange? Only had the Sony for 2 weeks - will go for the Denon 1910 or 2310.

 

[Anonymous]

It's all personal opinion I guess but I use mine with a Pioneer 320 Bluray player for films.

The results with Bluray are outstanding whether I'm watching the Dark Knight or Phantom of the Opera. The bank job scene at the start of Dark Night is very impressive for action films and interestingly (for me) the music on the Phantom Bluray was breathtaking (even if it's not my thing) the detail and clarity of the music really stood out. I think Disney's "Cars" is a great disk to get a demo that demonstrates both "Music" and "Films" as the first scene in the film has lots of action, engine noises and a music sountrack all interlaced . I have a Pioneer Kuros Plasma and the picture is always fantastic.

For music I use a Sonos reciever to stream all my music and whilst not as good the sound I have heard on Phantom it is more than adequate for my requirements. This is probably due to the source TBH as I'm mainly streaming from Napster.

If I were you LittleTofu (and if you haven't got them) I'd borrow or rent Dark Night / Phantom of the Opera / Cars and take them for a demo at Richer Sounds. I bought my equipment there after a demo and also invested in some reasonable speaker cable (£5 per metre) and some Van Den Hul Flat HDMI's.

I'm surprised you're not happy with the Sony though as WHF rate it as a good musical reciever.