Which floorstanding speakers should I get?

[Nuisance_Value]

I should add this is a purely hi-fi problem but it is this. I currently have an excellent pair of floorstanding speakers, totally unique and superb performance. I'm more than happy with them and will never sell them. The problem is they are huge, 1300mm high x 450mm wide x 600mm deep (800mm deep with the grille covers on), as they are built on a transmission line design so obviously have to have a huge amount of air behind the 12" Dynaudio bass cones to make them work properly. As I'm now in a much smaller room (10' 6" x 15' 6") than my old hi-fi room where they sang, when wired fully active, they simply do not work well in here, sound strangled and are unable to perform to the best of their ability. They also take up half the room, dominating it from an aesthetics point of view.

So after a chat with a friend he put forth the heinous suggestion of wrapping them up, sticking them in the spare room until I find a new house with a decent room to convert into a hi-fi room again, and get something smaller in the meantime. Thing is I've had these monsters 15+ years now and haven't a clue about current speakers so I'm looking for suggestions as to what to audition or look for, essentially a place to start instead of typing "floorstanding speakers" into eBay.

Criteria are they should be no more than 1m tall and will probably buy something secondhand for around £150 (they're only going to be temporary). They need to be fast paced with good bass extension.

Front end is Roksan Radius 5, Nima arm, Sumiko BPS, through JDI pre-amp and 6 monoblocks (review below, they're quite rare). I've got external passive crossovers for tri-wiring if required and an active crossover (for mono-blocking). I also use itunes through a Airport Express and the occasional CD, mostly vinyl though. Might plug the TV into the hi-fi soon too. Mixture of music, so need to be all rounders.

What do you guys suggest?

JDI amp review from Gramophone (1989)..

"The Skipton company Castle Acoustics have for some time been liaising with a new British amplifier manufacturer, JDI Amplification, also based in Yorkshire at nearby Ilkley. Castle are now handling all UK and overseas marketing for JDI and at Penta were showing for the first time a two-box preamplifier (signal circuitry in one, power supply in the other) and a monoblock power amplifier. Wide bandwidth, high speed (i.e. transient response) and low noise were the design prerequisites and to this end a novel power supply is used for the preamplifier which has a kind of balanced mode operation which apparently does away with the usual reservoir capacitors and maintains a constant source impedance throughout the audio band. A high accuracy moving-coil only phono stage is fitted which has a claimed dynamic range of 107dB. The power amplifier uses Class A circuits up to the output stage, which then reverts to high accuracy Class AB operation. I was by no means alone in admiring the extremely elegant presentation and cabinet design of these new units. The combination of preamplifier and two mono power amplifiers retails for £3,300."

Thanks in advance everyone..

[rednotdead]

Given that Castle were involved in your amps why not seek out a pair of Castles? The Severn MkIIs and Harlechs were particularly rated in their day. I'm still running a pair of Severn MkIIs and have heard nothing that makes me want to change them. They crop up quite cheaply on ebay and the various HiFi forums......

[pikeyboy]

A friend of mine had harlechs years ago, they were awesome. He only had a audiolab 8000s and a 8000p to drive them with, I imagine with your set up it should be amazing.

edited to add they were quite large though, sevens might be better for you.

[Nuisance_Value]

Thanks guys. From reading reviews I'm not sure Castle Harlechs or Severns will have enough bass and am wondering if my amps will help resolve some of that although they fit the rest of the criteria well. Will have a hunt online and see what I can get.

A mate of mine ran the Audiolab pre/power set up for a while and if I remember correctly they were quite meaty, if a tad uncouthed. Would imagine they would be quite cheap now and a bit of a bargain. He was driving SD1's with them.

[liquidken]

How about a set of Monitor Audio Silver 8/8i's?

These can be had for decent money, are small enough in stature to satisfy your needs and they carry a tremendous amount of weight and control to cover all sorts of music - especially with the power available in your system.

They were available in a range of finishes so you should find a pair to suit your decor, too.

Edited by liquidken on Wednesday 30th March 13:32

[RedLeicester]

[liquidken]

If you can get them^^ for £150, I'll take four sets!

[Nuisance_Value]

There's some lovely PMC speakers available with excellent write ups and some fairly deep bass response on the dearer models, unfortunately there all a little expensive for what I'm after which is a shame.

Monitor Audio look quite interesting, and they do quite a range also with a good reputation for a smooth rounded sound and any deficiencies in treble should be overcome with the BPS.

Thanks for the suggestions, I think my next step will be a wander down the local hi-fi shop and see if I can pick their brains and maybe listen to what they have set up.

[poo at Paul's]

I got a set of Wharfdale Xarus 5000 s brand new for £150. For the money they are excellent, a bit imposing, (possibly a bit taller than your brief) but seem very bright and pump out some volume, that is for sure.