Please help me choose speakes

[Davie_GLA]

So I need to get speakers and am losing the will to live trying to choose. So. Help please.

These will be connected to an Onkyo 309 amp and will be used for telly / films mostly but will play music at the same time.


Focal 750v:
http://www.whathifi.com/review/focal-chorus-705v

Wharfedale Diamond 10.1
http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Wharfedale-Diamond-...

Arcadis DM1
http://www.whathifi.com/review/dm1

[Garett]

For around that price I would seriously consider the Dali Zensor 3, RRP £300 but I got £50 off on an offer at Richer Sounds not long ago. I love mine they have a fantastically wide open sound stage and plenty of bass.
They are relatively new so not too many reviews about but there is a review of them in the latest (March 2014) issue of What Hi-Fi, page 14 IIRC!
They are similar to the Zensor 1 (of which there are plenty of reviews) which also sound brilliant but can't quite summon the same richness to the bass as they have a smaller bass driver.

A classy looking unit to boot also.

Edited by Garett on Thursday 2nd January 21:43

[Ved]

what configuration? 2.0, 2.1, 5.1 etc?

I've got a B&W M1 for my centre and rears but they're superb enough to work all corners, even without a sub. They look great, are easy to wall mount or can be bought with their own bespoke stands.

Superfi do them for £150 each but I'm sure you can get them for less
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-10087-bw-m1ii-speaker-s...

[Davie_GLA]

I have a couple of Mission M71's at the moment but believe it or not they're being replaced because they're beech colour! Women!

Config at the moment is 2.1 with a paradigm sub but the dub is huge and i'll need to down size that as well to fit the new unit in. So probably 2.0 to begin with a view to going 2.1 again when suitable sized sub is found.

Think i'll nip into richer sounds at the weekend and ask some questions.

[Crackie]

Davie_GLA said:

I Think i'll nip into richer sounds at the weekend and ask some questions.

Have you seen the Cambridge Aero 2 with the BMR Mid/HF driver ? Great press reviews so might be worth a listen if your visiting.

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/products/aero-2-stan...

[Davie_GLA]

Crackie said:

Have you seen the Cambridge Aero 2 with the BMR Mid/HF driver ? Great press reviews so might be worth a listen if your visiting.

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/products/aero-2-stan...

They look great - the article mentions stand mount though. will these work without stands?

[Garett]

All these speakers are stand mount designs and will down better on dedicated stands. Of course you can place them on a side board or something but they won't sound as good. Where are your current Missions sat?

[telecat]

How About these?

http://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-spe...

JBL do produce some nice speakers with some innovative features. I would listen though as they may be a bit different in presentation.

[garycat]

Q Acoustics concept 20's have got loads of awards last year - worth a listen

http://www.qacoustics.co.uk/about/concept-20-hifi-...

Not sure of the styling though, and once you add the stands your looking at £500 cost.

[Crackie]

Davie_GLA said:

They look great - the article mentions stand mount though. will these work without stands?

The speakers in your original post are all standmount speakers too; this just refers to the fact they have relatively short cabinets and work better when the tweeter is raised roughly to ear height when listening. Stands aren't necessary, the speakers could be used sideboard or bookshelf instead. If you're not able to position the speakers in the optimum place, the Cambridge Aero 2 should work better than most alternatives because it uses a BMR driver for the majority of the frequencies. http://www.cotswoldsoundsystems.com/index.php

The Q concept 20s suggested by Garycat look good too; the cabinets are very advanced for the money. Q call it Gelcore but it looks like plain old constrained layer damping to me; not seen it on a speaker at this price point before though.

Edited by Crackie on Sunday 5th January 09:27

[baptistsan]

Good luck getting hold of a pair of the arcaydis. They're on back order and aren't taking any new orders.

Have heard good things about the dali. What are you running them with garett? Am really tempted by them, my room is pretty small though.

[Garett]

What size room will you be putting them in? I'm in a modest 2 bed terrace and I don't find them over bearing, but if you're worried about that then the Zensor 1 is an excellent speaker also.
The Q Acoustics 2020i are probably comparable to the Zensor 1 and the Q Acoustics Concept 20 to the Zensor 3. Both have glowing reviews also although I've never heard them. From what I understand they are perhaps a little more laid back and refined in their presentation.

Mine are driven by a Rotel RA-02 stereo amplifier and I mainly listen to CDs through my Marantz CD6004. With that combo the Zensors really sing, spin something rhythm driven and the speakers come into there own, they have fantastic drive and a very sure grip on the bass. Equally they are at home watching a Blu-Ray or just watching TV.

Go and demo some at Richer Sounds/Superfi if at all possible as I went in thinking one thing and came out with the Dalis which I hadn't even considered!

garycat said:

Q Acoustics concept 20's have got loads of awards last year - worth a listen

http://www.qacoustics.co.uk/about/concept-20-hifi-...

Not sure of the styling though, and once you add the stands your looking at £500 cost.

The matching stands aren't a neccessity, I saw a post from someone who works for Q Acoustics on the WHF forum and they said they sound best on their own stands but still sound good on other stands. I feel the same about their looks, they just look a bit too 'iSpeaker' for me, especially in white!

Edited by Garett on Sunday 5th January 11:08