Stereo Speakers - best wall mount solution under 600 EUR

[chrisr34000]

Hello everybody!

I'm looking for new speakers to use mainly (85%) for movies, but also sometimes for music. The source will be a Desktop with a X-Fi Music.

Because I don't have much free space in my room, I'd be happy with a 2.0 solution, where I don't need a subwoofer or a center. My room looks like this:

The TV is drawn black, white and brown are some desks. To the left there is a window. As you can see, the geometry of the room is special and the only free space for standing speakers would be in the corners (the red dots - they would be 5 m apart, as the room is around 14 m^2 big).

So, perhaps a better route to go, would be with wall mounted speakers.

Therefore I am looking for

- active speakers or

- passive speakers+amp

for max. 600 EUR. Something with a great price/performance ratio would be awesome .

What would you suggest? I'd prefer active monitors which work very well, even when they are placed 5 cm next to a wall. This way, I'd be able to skip the amp, but I'm not sure if passive bookshelf speakers would not sound better when placed near a wall. Is there any difference between active and passive (in this price range) in this regard?

Also, should I upgrade my X-Fi Music to an Asus Xonar? Would this bring any noticeable performance difference?

Thank you for your time and help, I appreciate it alot!

Chris

 

[DocG]

:bump:

Hi Chris and welcome to the forum.

Frankly, I'm not an expert in these matters (but at least I got your post on top of page 1 again ).

With a 600 EUR budget, I'm sure actives will give you more bang for the buck. I hope the more knowledgeable peeps pop in to give you some suggestions.

One more thing: where are you based? Do you have some hifi- and pro-shops around?

Good luck! I hope your thread is running now... :cheers:

 

[Pistol Pete1]

KEF X300A? Have you seen them?

 

[altruistic.lemon]

I'd definitely go active. The Nubert A-10, A-20, and A-200 speakers (www.nubert.de) get good reviews and come in on budget, but you'd have to check with them about wall mounting .

 

[davedotco]

Hello everybody!

I'm looking for new speakers to use mainly (85%) for movies, but also sometimes for music. The source will be a Desktop with a X-Fi Music.

Because I don't have much free space in my room, I'd be happy with a 2.0 solution, where I don't need a subwoofer or a center. My room looks like this:

The TV is drawn black, white and brown are some desks. To the left there is a window. As you can see, the geometry of the room is special and the only free space for standing speakers would be in the corners (the red dots - they would be 5 m apart, as the room is around 14 m^2 big).

So, perhaps a better route to go, would be with wall mounted speakers.

Therefore I am looking for

- active speakers or

- passive speakers+amp

for max. 600 EUR. Something with a great price/performance ratio would be awesome .

What would you suggest? I'd prefer active monitors which work very well, even when they are placed 5 cm next to a wall. This way, I'd be able to skip the amp, but I'm not sure if passive bookshelf speakers would not sound better when placed near a wall. Is there any difference between active and passive (in this price range) in this regard?

Also, should I upgrade my X-Fi Music to an Asus Xonar? Would this bring any noticeable performance difference?

Thank you for your time and help, I appreciate it alot!

Chris

Are you based in europe?

If so I suggest you browse here, a reliable, profesional company that will ship all over, usually for free at this price level.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/active_nearfield_monitors.html?sid=d8e4dc744b3ed5b41d0196fd41e5e79c

Lots of very good solutions though with unfamiliar names, if you are going to use stands I suggest the Presonus Eris 8 as huge value for money, if you are going to sit them on furniture think about a smaller bass driver to avoid boom, Adam Artist 3 for example.

You will need to upgrade your dac though, the Xonar Essence sound card is very good though you might prefer the flexibility of an outboard usb dac, the Behringer at just £25 is far better than you might think and you need to spend £100 on the Ephiphany EDac to do better.

Edit. just reread you post, if you are going to wall mount then look out for models that offer bass shelving (acoustic space) eq, will help a lot given you positioning.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

I'm guessing Germany. Bereich=area.

 

[drummerman]

AVI have just launched a new active mini monitor. Perhaps worth heading over there to get some info.

regards

 

[davedotco]

I'm guessing Germany. Bereich=area.

You speak english, after a fashion but don't live in England...... :doh:

Unless you are telling us porkies of coures......

 

[altruistic.lemon]

What??

 

[davedotco]

What??

You speak English but do not live in England.

Chris may well be a native German speaker but not live in Germany.

Not difficult....... :doh:

 

[chrisr34000]

Hello!

First of all thank you for all the replies, I appreciate the time you took to answer me.

I am based in Germany, altruistic.lemon is correct .

It seems that going with active speakers, would be the best route to go. I plan on buying wall holders and mount them next to the wall, leaving 10 cm or so space for the speakers. What do you think?

Many recommend that they should be front ported and have a bass shelving filter. Can I recognize this from looking at the speakers? Or do I have to check the specifications?

I wonder if listening to the speakers in a store makes a difference, because they could sound entirely different in my room. Are there still reasons to do this?

And now on choosing the right speakers... there are many suggestions:

- KEF X300A

- Nubert Line

- Presonus Eris 8

- Adam Artist 3

- Cinema 400 + AVR

- Behringer Truth B3031A

- Adam F7

- ESI Unik 08

- M-Audio BX8 D2

- KRK

- Samson Rubicon

- JBL SLR

- Dali Lektor + AVR

- Focal CMS65

- Adam A3X

- KEF Q300

All these were recommended to me on different forums. Every person suggested a different brand and now I am utterly confused. Isn't there a typical choice which works well and offers a good price/performance ratio?

I just want a nice 2.0 or 2.1 setup which fits my room and budget well...

Can you help shed some light on this matter?

Thank you very much,

Chris

 

[davedotco]

Hello!

First of all thank you for all the replies, I appreciate the time you took to answer me.

I am based in Germany, altruistic.lemon is correct .

It seems that going with active speakers, would be the best route to go. I plan on buying wall holders and mount them next to the wall, leaving 10 cm or so space for the speakers. What do you think?

Many recommend that they should be front ported and have a bass shelving filter. Can I recognize this from looking at the speakers? Or do I have to check the specifications?

I wonder if listening to the speakers in a store makes a difference, because they could sound entirely different in my room. Are there still reasons to do this?

And now on choosing the right speakers... there are many suggestions:

- KEF X300A

- Nubert Line

- Presonus Eris 8

- Adam Artist 3

- Cinema 400 + AVR

- Behringer Truth B3031A

- Adam F7

- ESI Unik 08

- M-Audio BX8 D2

- KRK

- Samson Rubicon

- JBL SLR

- Dali Lektor + AVR

- Focal CMS65

- Adam A3X

- KEF Q300

All these were recommended to me on different forums. Every person suggested a different brand and now I am utterly confused. Isn't there a typical choice which works well and offers a good price/performance ratio?

I just want a nice 2.0 or 2.1 setup which fits my room and budget well...

Can you help shed some light on this matter?

Thank you very much,

Chris

They are all, well nearly, very good speakers but at this price level they will all have their strengths and weaknesses, hence the recomendation that you try them for yourself, but you need to narrow it down.

For example, if you need something to sit on a desk or maybe a shelf, the diminutive A3x might be the answer, if you have decent stands I like the Eris 8, for a complete system, with built in dac/pre-amp and remote contol you have the Nupert A Series.

Work our where the speakers will go, how you want to drive them and whether you want an 'all in one' active solution or separates. That should narrow the field somewhat and then get to hear a few things that suit.

Edit. The first rule of the forum is that Al Lemon is never right, it's like a law of nature.....

 

[EvPa]

Dear Chris,

Just letting you know that both Nubert and Thomann offer a moneyback guarantee (4-week for Nubert and 30-day for Thomann); both also offer free return shipping as long as you are within Germany.

This could be a great way to test a few different possibilities right in your home.

I can vouch for most of ADAM's stuff (I am currently waiting for ARTist 6s from Thomann), you should be able to get B-Stock A5X within your budget.

 

[chrisr34000]

Hi EvPa,

thank you for your answer.

Yes, I know that I can send the speakers back within 30 days. However, I need to narrow it down to 2-3 models, because I don't want to order 10 models and than send 9 back...

So, the question is: which ones to select for further testing?

Edit: davedotco, I've overlooked your last post, sorry

 

[davedotco]

Hi EvPa,

thank you for your answer.

Yes, I know that I can send the speakers back within 30 days. However, I need to narrow it down to 2-3 models, because I don't want to order 10 models and than send 9 back...

So, the question is: which ones to select for further testing?

Edit: davedotco, I've overlooked your last post, sorry

No Problem.

Use a bit of common sense and logic and you should be able to focus on one or two specific models. If you remain intent on mounting on or close to a wall, look out for those models that offer bass shelving or 'acoustic space' controls, in my experience these can help immensly.

 

[steve_1979]

Edit. The first rule of the forum is that Al Lemon is never right, it's like a law of nature.....

Newton's third law.

Every action by dave has an equal and opposite reaction from AL.

 

[chrisr34000]

Use a bit of common sense and logic and you should be able to focus on one or two specific models. If you remain intent on mounting on or close to a wall, look out for those models that offer bass shelving or 'acoustic space' controls, in my experience these can help immensly.

Thanks. I had following question:

Many recommend that they should be front ported and have a bass shelving filter. Can I recognize this from looking at the speakers? Or do I have to check the specifications?

 

[davedotco]

Edit. The first rule of the forum is that Al Lemon is never right, it's like a law of nature.....

Newton's third law.

Every action by dave has an equal and opposite reaction from AL.

As Al is, apparantly, on the other side of the world I put that down to the opposite polarity of the coriolis component.

Which reminds me of the advice I recieved from a fellow expat when I arrived (to live) in Sydney in the 80s. He said......

"You can always tell an Australian, but you can't tell him much".

Actually, respect to Al for taking my constant 'ribbing' in good heart, rather better than my responses to him on occasion...... :clap:

 

[davedotco]

Use a bit of common sense and logic and you should be able to focus on one or two specific models. If you remain intent on mounting on or close to a wall, look out for those models that offer bass shelving or 'acoustic space' controls, in my experience these can help immensly.

Thanks. I had following question:

Many recommend that they should be front ported and have a bass shelving filter. Can I recognize this from looking at the speakers? Or do I have to check the specifications?

OK.

The port is an opening on the speaker, usually round but sometimes a 'slot'. In theory it can be anywhere on the cabinet but is usually on the front or back panel, it is usually pretty obvious. Rear ported (ie on the back panel) does not work well close to a wall.

Bass shelving controls, often called 'acoustic space' controls reduce the whole bass region, below about 500hz by a uniform amount. It is designed to compensate for the boost in these frequencies that occurs when a speaker is placed close to a wall. A slide or rotary switch is usually found on the reap panel, see below.

This is not the same as the bass cut or rolloff switches that are designed to remove the very lowest bass only.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Edit. The first rule of the forum is that Al Lemon is never right, it's like a law of nature.....

Newton's third law.

Every action by dave has an equal and opposite reaction from AL.

As Al is, apparantly, on the other side of the world I put that down to the opposite polarity of the coriolis component.

Which reminds me of the advice I recieved from a fellow expat when I arrived (to live) in Sydney in the 80s. He said......

"You can always tell an Australian, but you can't tell him much".

Actually, respect to Al for taking my constant 'ribbing' in good heart, rather better than my responses to him on occasion...... :clap:

You're lucky to be where you are, mate. Whether atrocious here, she's blowing up a storm, p*ssing down, cold, and the daylight only for a handful of hours. To think I got bored with heading down to Bronte for a surf....

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Edit. The first rule of the forum is that Al Lemon is never right, it's like a law of nature.....

Newton's third law.

Every action by dave has an equal and opposite reaction from AL.

As Al is, apparantly, on the other side of the world I put that down to the opposite polarity of the coriolis component.

Which reminds me of the advice I recieved from a fellow expat when I arrived (to live) in Sydney in the 80s. He said......

"You can always tell an Australian, but you can't tell him much".

Actually, respect to Al for taking my constant 'ribbing' in good heart, rather better than my responses to him on occasion...... :clap:

You're lucky to be where you are, mate. Whether atrocious here, she's blowing up a storm, p*ssing down, cold, and the daylight only for a handful of hours. To think I got bored with heading down to Bronte for a surf....

 

[davedotco]

Edit. The first rule of the forum is that Al Lemon is never right, it's like a law of nature.....

Newton's third law.

Every action by dave has an equal and opposite reaction from AL.

As Al is, apparantly, on the other side of the world I put that down to the opposite polarity of the coriolis component.

Which reminds me of the advice I recieved from a fellow expat when I arrived (to live) in Sydney in the 80s. He said......

"You can always tell an Australian, but you can't tell him much".

Actually, respect to Al for taking my constant 'ribbing' in good heart, rather better than my responses to him on occasion...... :clap:

You're lucky to be where you are, mate. Whether atrocious here, she's blowing up a storm, p*ssing down, cold, and the daylight only for a handful of hours. To think I got bored with heading down to Bronte for a surf....

You are a lucky barsteward Al though you could do with getting out of the water and brushing up on your english, "whether" indeed.

Growing up in the uk I never had a chance to learn to surf, (diving used to be my thing) but if you recall previous conversations I used to live a brisk 20 minutes walk from Bronte, up near Bondi Junction.

 

[chrisr34000]

Is somebody familiar with Paradigm Cinema products?

I wonder how the Cinema 400 would perform against more "normal" nearfield monitors:

http://www.paradigm.com/products/model=cinema-400/page=gallery

What can I expect out of a 5 driver speaker like this?

 

[DocG]

Is somebody familiar with Paradigm Cinema products?

I wonder how the Cinema 400 would perform against more "normal" nearfield monitors:

http://www.paradigm.com/products/model=cinema-400/page=gallery

What can I expect out of a 5 driver speaker like this?

I haven't heard these, so I'm not sure what you can expect. What you cannot expect is bass: it cuts off at 115 Hz.

 

[skippy]

Focal CMS40 are pretty much on budget and front ported.

Stated on another post that I recently heard the CMS50 & 65 along with a few others from Yamaha to Genelec. The Focals stood out to my ears.

Limitations are the bass at 60hz and power at 2 x 25w