Which Speakers for £300 to £400?

[admin_exported]

These are going to be linked (short term) to the Zone 2 Outputs of my Denon 2807 AV Amp and later to a Sonos wireless system.

A local dealer gave me a demo of the Totem Dreamcatcher - which I loved until he told me they were £500 at which point I left - pissed off that he had made me want something at double the stated budget!! Now I've raised the bar to include Dynaudio Audience 42's (best price £350), Monitor Audio Silver RS1's (best price £350) or EPOS M5i (£424). So do think these give me a reasonable choice for the money or am I putting "Ferrari wheels on a Corsa"?

The other alternative is to drop in price to the Focal 705V (£250) or B&W686 (£280) which were rather closer to where I started and both sound very good (if not a patch on the Totems)!!!

 

[JoelSim]

Well there are some very nice speakers there, and I've never heard of the Totem Dreamcatcher so I suspect that Dyns especially would at least match them, if not be significantly better.

 

[Clare Newsome]

I think £300/£400 speakers are a tad wasted as a zone two pair on that AV amp plus the Sonos. I'd save some of your cash and look at Monitor Audio Bronze BR2s (£200; they beat the B&W 686s in a Group Test in our current, April issue) or Wharfedale Diamond 9.1s (£150) or Mordaunt Short Avant 902is (£150). And don't forget to budget for stands!

 

[Anonymous]

I've changed my post after realising your looking for a AV system

Apologies

But what I would say is listen to Clare.

Even though I find the BR2's VERY Dull or is that what you call WARM ??

Good Luck

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Clare - Funnily enough - I thought you might say that!

Horror of horrors - they are going to have to sit on bookshelves - albeit imensely stable and dense .....

Have you heard the MA BR1's? They look a better size than the BR2's - especially as the wife has given me a height limit of approx 300mm ..... to prevent them dominating the room (she made me sell my Kef Q55.2's as they were "too big") .....

 

[JoelSim]

Stick your wife on the bookshelf until her behavior improves

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="JoelSim"]Stick your wife on the bookshelf until her behavior improves[/quote]

I've tried - she makes an unpleasant noise .......

Compromise is the best solution - especially as she doesn't restrict my budget!

 

[gregory]

rega r1 are nice, waf too.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the thoughts / advice. In the end I sort of followed Clare's advice on the reduced budget and ended up liking the Mission M32i's - which I've managed to pick up for £125! Bargain ....

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="MadMark"]

[quote user="JoelSim"]Stick your wife on the bookshelf until her behavior improves[/quote]

I've tried - she makes an unpleasant noise .......

[/quote]

Plug her in out of phase....that helps......

 

[gpi]

[quote user="MadMark"]
Thanks for all the thoughts / advice. In the end I sort of followed Clare's advice on the reduced budget and ended up liking the Mission M32i's - which I've managed to pick up for £125! Bargain ....

[/quote]

Good choice on the Missions. I may have gone for the Wharfdale 9.1s for about the same price but not sure without looking what height they are. If you want to upgrade at a later date, the Revolver RW16 are cracking little bookshelves with a good sensitivity for low powered amps.

 

[MRB]

I'd probably go for the Dynaudio's. It might be worth listening to the 52's if your budget can stretch that far.