The sign-off is near, but what speakers?

[admin_exported]

So, I think I can get (be allowed ) ~£600 to spend on new speakers. I'd welcome input on what to go for, given the rest of my system and some very specific limitations (other than budget!).

System:

Fanless PC[1] pushing S/PDIF optical out to

Cambridge Audio DACMagic to

Rotel RA04 bi-amp driving

Mordaunt Short Avant 902i

There's some other hardware bits but I barely use them any more! Half-decent interconnects (Chord somethings), reasonable speaker cable.

Specific limitations on new speakers:

They have to be wall-mounted (my wall-mounts were rated for 15kg, are mounted straight to brickwork with some big rawl plugs and screws) because of the woodstove between them. And large dogs.

So the new speakers have to be happy playing real close to the back wall and not mind getting warmed a lot in winter.

Desire to change has been brought on by the introduction of the fanless PC source which, along with the high quality source files, has brought out a lot of detail and expanse, but is pushing the speakers outside of their comfort zone. Treble is sounding a little tinny at times and tracks with a lot of bass or a lot of treble seem to drown the midrange a bit.

What to go for? I was considering the EB2s, but can't tell whether they are going to cope with being that close to a wall nor whether they would be driven by the RA04. I hear the DynAudios are ok being that close (with bung in port) but the veneers might not stand up to the warming of the fire. Any suggestions?

Cheers

Chris

[1] For those interested, works like a piece of hifi gear, just a power button to turn it off and on. Runs Ubuntu low latency kernel, OSS and MPD; controlled from laptops or mobiles or (shortly) tablet. Only fed FLAC, can of course play most any format if you must. Music fed from storage box in loft over network dLAN (DeVolo AV200) which also serves UPnP for other playback devices.

 

[AEJim]

The EB's would probably be best being a sealed box and coming in on budget - the 1's may possibly be better than the 2's in that location but have a port like the Dyn's so will be affected if bunged, I'm sure Ricky will have some advice at some point...

*just checked specs, the amp should be ok driving the EB2's on paper, may have to watch the 12kg per speaker weight though.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks James. Anyone else with some advice to share?

 

[drummerman]

I somehow can't imagine many speaker manufacturers recommending their products being warmed by a logfire ...

... but this forum never seizes to surprise me.

 

[drummerman]

But you perhaps touched on an interesting subject. I can't remember ever having seen an article about the effects of heat or cold on loudspeakers.

Metal cones should, in theory, change their characteristics with ambient temperature variations whilst paper may be affected by humidity ...?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Dynaudios need room to work well, and using bungs changes their characteristics too much. Ideally, bungs should only be used as a last resort.

You could try KEF's new Q300. A front ported design, they're more than easy enough to be driven by the RA04. If you want something a little smaller, try their XQ10.

To find out how speakers can be affected by heat, you'd probably neeed to get in touch with the manufacturers to find out.

 

[Anonymous]

Warmed, but gently! The speakers are mounted quite high (~1.5m or 5') and angled down towards the listening position, and the nearest horizontally is more than a metre (3') away. The wood-burner is a sealed stove so it is radiated heat - the speakers never get what anyone would describe as hot; although maybe enough to affect a large metal cone's characteristics, I'd imagine hi-fi owners in warm countries have speakers that are warmer!

I was more concerned about the heat cycle helping cheaper veneers to peel off...

I'll have a look at the Kefs - size isn't really an issue so long as they are not too heavy for the wallmounts.

Chris