Which floor standers to compliment Kef surrounds?!?

[lordguffington]

Hey everyone

I'm about to move to a bigger place and I'd like to upgrade my home cinema to 7.1 Dolby True HD. My reciever already supports this and I have 5.1 already, but wondered if you could recommend floor standers that would compliment what I have already. My Budget is about £750. Ideally less.

Receiver: Yamaha RXA2020

Current Speaker Package: KEF 3005SE. 4 surrounds, 1 centre and the circular subwoofer

I'm using a BENQ W1080ST short throw projector and currently throwing to a 300cm wide screen, but I'm likely to upgrade to at least 475cm wide since I have a large wall to use.

Its a double height open space (Barn conversion) and I really want to replicate the fully immersive audio I get at the IMAX. But obviously, the real thing is a few years away (fingers crossed).

Thanks in anticipation of your replies

 

[his dudeness]

its probably best to stick with the same brand but kef are not cheap and in truth you would have to get the matching centre,cheapest option would be the kef q series ie,q100 and q 200c,the q100 are standmount but its as close to your budget as possible,second hand would be worth a look.

 

[Leeps]

+1

You really do need the main front 3 speakers to have matching drivers. The centre speaker is equally as important as it's a very busy channel in most surround mixes.

I wouldn't discount standmount speakers. If you're used to the sound that satellites make, you might actually be surprisingly disappointed with floorstanders for movies. One of the benefits of smaller speakers in a surround set-up is their ability to steer effects around th room sharply and with precision. I'm not saying that floorstanders are inherantly inferior, just that they will produce a sound that has a very different balance to the one you're used to. Yes, there will be a much more fullsome midrange, but you might lose some of that speed, attack and excitement in the process. Also if you have floorstanders in your main left & right speakers and comparatively small satellites, it may not be easy to get the crossover right.

If you listened to a lot of 2-channel music too (so would be using the main left and right channels on their own a lot), then fair enough, but if you're determined to keep the KEFs you currently have, I'd agree with the suggestion made by dudeness.