Floorstanders-£500 max

my wife doesn't like the black CDM1SEs on stands,she wants something less "ugly",some wood (wood effect) floorstanders instead

I have an Analogue Puccini SE and Rotel 1070

anyone got any suggestions? anyone used Monitor Studio Silver5i?

 

Saab,

I have a absolutely mint pair of JM labs chours 710's floor standers, virtually new, in JM labs orangey wood finsh grain, neat tidy great sounding package, have boxes and garantee, 2 ways new £350 £140 firm, very little hours, just sat in the office. Wm

 

hmmm,i might make you an offer,but i am not sure they will compete with the CDMs,which i like a lot (thats a a guess,i have no experience of them)

i know i may have to compromise because the CDms are such good speakers

 

If you really look, you might possibly find a pair of Meadowlark Kestrels for your budget or a little over. Compromise? They'll grind the CDMs into the dirt...

 

There's a pair of mint condition (rosenut finished) KEF Ref 1-2's on http://www.adverts.hififorsale.com for £550 o.n.o. - lovely speakers and a very good price (rrp was £1350).

Matt.

 

How about my Audio Physic Sparks?? 1750 speaker for 550 Great speaker in cherry wood finish. Only 1m high, 7" wide ??. I used to drive them with bellini/ donizetti combo.

 

I don't suppose she want's a footprint of 14" wide x 19" deep? You could make a rumbling pair of beasts for £450 using the larger of these:

http://www.falcon-acoustics.co.uk/NightingalCabinets.pdf

A kitchen fitter needs to cut/route 4 bits of board [2medium+2small], or if you diy, the missuss will probably diss the finish. Everything else is diy.

Very nice real teak veneered plywood. Backbreaking weight, forget stands-n-kak, just put the buggers on the carpet.

 

Wow,


KEF ref 2s (the old ones) and Sparks - thats a lot of quality speaker in both cases.

A lot more for 550 than you should expect really, IMHO.

Just a word of warning, I think they are both reasonably sensitive, but you might want to be careful of that.

From memory, the Kefs are isobarik and have great bass. The Sparks (again from hazy memory) do the detailed/air/space thing very well.

They may be suitable to different rooms better than others. How big is your room? How powerful is that amp?

NB Badchamp - what are you getting/what have you got instead mate?

Chris

 

Oh - and attached is a picture of Ref 1-2's in rosenut:

 

If you're looking for Monitor Audio, you should be able to pick up Silver S8s second-hand for around £500-ish - or if you're lucky maybe a pair of Quad 21Ls, probably the highest WAF floorstander I've seen and sounds magnificent to boot. Not quite the same as KEF Reference though to be fair...

 

Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3's deserve a listen.

 

Matt, they are 92db arent they? I remember them having five drivers in total too, if thats right? ..... 2 isobaric bass drivers in the port... the mid range and central tweeter..... what was the fifth.. a downward firing one?

 

Graham, I am not a woman (well I wasn't last time I looked) but I know that those DIY speakers look hideous, and if made with my skills will look even worse.

What were you thinking man?

A woman would tear you to bits for that suggestion

 

lol,Graham,i think she would prefer the standmounts,but thanks all the same

there are 2 pairs of ref 1-2s available,one for £400

what are the 104 mrk 2s like?

 

Well, I know where you're coming from. Woodworking is not a strength of mine either. Maybe you can see them 'in the raw' one day..?

As a wise man once said:
'Horrible - like a King cone with eyes'

Funny that, I wondered why she wanted to keep the old ones, after she had kicked up such a fuss when they arrived..

 

The Ref 1-2's only have one bass driver hidden down in the cavity so they are 3 ways. Sensitivity is 89dB and they are a 4 ohm load so not mega difficult to drive but they do need a bit of oomph - specs here: http://www.kef.com/history/1990_2/reference/Refone2.htm

The 2-2's have 2 bass drivers in the cavity joined by a big 'force cancelling rod' - used to own a pair of these - really nice and great imaging plus they seemed to sound great wherever you plonked them down.

The 3-2 is a 4 way, 5 driver and the 4-2 a 4 way, 6 driver.

Matt.

 

Floorstanders, I would go for b/ws if you like the sound, got to be proper veneer, vinyl no good for aesthetics, though some do look good, still not the same, perhaps mission or if you can stretch, proac studio 125s, hifi for sale circa £600, worth it. check ebay these come up quite often, too.
My bro has these for sale, very nice...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14991&item=3094312844&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

or maybe...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14993&item=3094328391&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

I have jsut heard a falcon kit, i think, focal drive units, superb, great bass, great brass. shame about the colour, painted grey. If you can get them made....still pricy for someone to do, circa £1k for veneered cabinet, makes sense to buy commercial for that reason.

 

bit more than i want to spend

anyone have any experience of some old Ruark Talisman,and how they will compare to my CDM1ses?

 

I used to have some Ruark Talisman II's

Happy days !

They sound great when used in freestanding areas with decent amplification. They come in some really nice veneers too. They are reasonably full range (if thats not a misnomer) and make music sound 'right' to these ears. On the downside despite reasonable sensitivity they were underpowered with the 80w MF amp I had at the time. They need valve power or more mighty solid state thwack.

Great bargain at the 250-300 you get them for used IMHO. You would I feel find them rather more relaxed sounding than the upfront B&W standmounts you have.

Im more familiar with the Ruarks than I am the Kefs or the Audio Physics - but on the reputation of the later 2 models, I would think they may have something different to offer.

This is kind of mad though really, you need to hear them all of course

 

thanks for the advice

its difficult if not impossible to try before you buy when trying to blag a sh bargain

the Puccini i have is 50w,so maybe on the light side for the Talismans?