Unobtrusive Speakers to please both the management and me!

[admin_exported]

I currently have a pair of lovely old Mission 753s that make a very nice sound, but need a bit of space and are quite large anyway.

As part of the goal of getting the hi-fi out of storage (post attempted house move) a deal is being struck to get new speakers that are less obtrusive, and that will be an upgrade for me. They need to be able to go quite close to rear and side walls to be as out of the way as possible.

Rest of system is:

Linn Sondek with Ortofon MC15FL (I think), Syrinx arm
Marantz CD63 Sig
Audiolab 8000A integrated
VdH Teatrack(?) bi-wire cable

Plus the elephant (not) in the room:
A pair of MF Supercharger's that are still in the boxes for the moving house reason - intend to use these as line-level monoblocks.

Room is approx 4m x 6m with the speakers on the 4m wall. Or possibly on the other wall, with one in the corner and one half way along.

Initial suggestion from the local shop is for PMC GB1i's.

PMC Wafers could be an option but would seem to be a high premium for the extra discretion and I'm concerned that when we do move house, I'll always look at them and think - I could have spent 500quid less and got a better speaker...

Would the FB1's - at the same price as the wafers - still sit comfortably close to the wall?

Neat Motive 2 would seem an option too but not stocked by the local shop.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

cheers,
Jim

 

[Anonymous]

have seen a few homes that have those small bose cube speakers (or tannoys) mounted in the corners of the ceilings ... have heard the bose setup which had a sub aswell and was impressed at the sound/clarity from such small speakers

... not sure if that would suit your needs but audition them if you can

 

[Frank Harvey]

PMC's generally like a bit of room to breathe to get the best from them. The KEF XQ30's will fair much better against a wall.

I wouldn't put one speaker in a corner and one haf way along the wall, they'l end up sounding different. Make their placement as symmetrical as possible.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, agreed about the assymetrical set-up - but might be necessary :-(

The small bose speakers probably won't be up to scratch for my needs - I've a set of Kef Eggs that don't do it for me for music tbh. Great for the AV though!

Will look into the Kefs. Same shop should sell them too. The PMC GB1i's claim (according to PMC) to be comfortable near a wall - need to audition to be happy when spending 1500 quid however! No such claim made for the bigger models however, just wandered if worth the extra money - but still has to do the job.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, and thanks both 🙂

 

[Craig M.]

i've found sealed box designs to be the easiest to position with regard to walls near by.

not heard gb1i's but the db1i's seemed happiest with a bit of room round them when i demoed them, would've thought the floor standers would require at least as much.