The missus has won..........little speakers here i come.......advice opinions plz....

[admin_exported]

Okay, moved to a new house and the 'better half' has insisted that the B&W 600 and 601's i use as surrounds in my 7.1 set up are way too big (sadly i have to agree though) - so they're sold / being banished to the dining room for my stereo set up, and now i need a new set of surrounds quite small. To add insult to injury my B&W centre has been attacked by both the cats and niece (both should be sent to siberia as a result). That leaves me with a dilema, my wharfedale pacific evo30's are staying as left and right channels - i wasn't giving in that much, so i was thinking of buying a mini 5.1 set up to work alongside then wharfe's, centre as centre but other 4 speakers to make a 7.1 system which gets the other half approval aestheticallywithout losing too much in the all important audio stakes. I don't want to get rid of the wharfe's i really like the sound, and bass they produce, and the whole thing's driven by the Onkyo 605.....any ideas on what i can look at to compliment both them and still give me decent surround? I'm on a limited budget so on the shortlist so far are the Jamos at the £200 price area, and the Kefs (1005.2 maybe 2005). Any advice gratefully received (getting rid of the missus, cats and niece very temting but sadly not an option....)

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone?

 

[John Duncan]

Q Acoustic 1010s if you ask me - closest thing to small and pretty and cheap and decent-sounding you're going to get. Bear in mind they're the rears and don't have to have the last word in insight.

 

[John Duncan]

Although I may have misread. Don't attempt to use a teensy centre from a low-end speaker package with your Wharfs as left and right and use the rest of your spare speakers to make up 7.1 - you'll hate the imbalance it gives you. Don't forget that one little centre is going to carry about 70% of your entire soundtrack.

To my mind, you'd get a more satisfactory experience from adding a stereo pair to your wharfs and having a 4.0 setup (using the phantom centre setting of the receiver) than the 7.1 you propose, or even getting rid and getting a 1010 5.1 pack...........

 

[Anonymous]

I must admit that is my concern, the B&W centre has done a fantastic job and going down to a smaller one made me wonder, will have to try the phantom centre out and see how it sounds. Many thanks mate

 

[John Duncan]

I tried it with Tannoy Revolution R2s as fronts and a little yamaha centre from a 200 quid 5.1 pack, and it lasted about five minutes.

 

[Anonymous]

Well what dya know just tried that out and the wharfe's more than make up for it; i'm a little worried that the lack of a dedicated centre may be a little lost in the longer scheme of things but in the short term is a great idea and one i honestly hadn't considered. So that just leaves me having to find 4 small surrounds.....cheers fella for that

 

[John Duncan]

Cool. Works fine if the front pair are close to the telly so the voices can remain 'locked' to the centre.

So just add a couple of pairs of 1010i's for 200 quid and you're away (or one pair and a suitable centre)

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah the wharfe's are sat either side of the chimney breats upon which my samsung plasma sits, so thankfully the dialogue has stayed central, going to have to audtion thosesurrounds methinks as one make i've never really listened to, but sounds very very promising!!