Good secondhand speakers for £6-700... suggestions?

Firstly, dunkyboy what the hell were you thinking?

"broaden my hifi horizons and give me a good thorough audiophile education."

Oh boy. Soon you'll be shining the balls on your fraim and experimenting with which way up the glass sounds better.. Don't do it man, please we don't need another perosn joining the "tweakers".

Don't bother experimenting, just start saving for a pair of Active 20's!!!

Chances are if you think the 10's are rather "glassy" (or whatever) soon you'll find fault with your next purchase, and the next and the next..

very funny.

Original Linn Kan's would be a better choice. Isobariks were inferior to their sibbling in almost every way, but people bought them because of their "good bass". (What the hell were those two drivers doing on the top of the isobarik anyway?)

Active 10's are better speakers than the Kans and the Isobariks. (I went from Isobariks to Active 10's with a sub and then onto Active 50's).

 

This is completely untrue.

I think active ATC 100s are pretty good, I've no experience of the others in the range. The man has dumped his ATCs and wants secondhand options. The Isobariks are right in his price range and way better than most other speakers past or present regardless of price. The OP may not have adequate sources or amps though...

Paul

 

You cannot believe that. Isobarik's were "designed" (thrown together would be a better description) in 1976 using drivers of that era. That the designed "evolved" could be argued, but the whole thing was flawed from the start. What imbecile put's a mid range driver on the top of a speaker?

The Kan had a better head start in life because of <libel deleted> LS3/5A.

So, it's not really an option then?

What next? are you going to suggest that his CA2 and Classe amp are inferior to a vintage 32/hicap/250...

 

Actually I was thinking the same thing but I didn't post because of the requirement for good imaging. Briks will image more than the clothesline people used to say, but really need a good front end like Ikemi/5103/2250. Even then, they don't image as well as a narrow baffle speaker from the current Linn range, like the Espek or Ninka, but they are better in other respects like tuneful bass. But a pair after when DMS/PMS were merged but before qstone would be hard to beat for VFM all things considered, all IMHO of course.

 

Ooh, more suggestions - excellent.

Just to be clear, I don't intend to become a tweaker - although I tend to get curious about potential tweaks, I usually get tired of messing with them VERY quickly. I'm just hoping to get some idea of what's possible, speaker-wise, before I settle on something to live with for the next good long while.

I'll be going to the Scottish Hifi and Home Cinema Show this weekend here in Edinburgh, so hopefully that should give me a few ideas, and perhaps a chance to have a chat with some fellow enthusiasts. I'm very much looking forward to it. Anyone on here planning on attending?

Dunc

 

Nice quiet entrance there dat19

Welcome to the forum.

 

Yeah well, I needed to nip this Isobarik idea in the bud Although, I expect a few more Isobarik owners will come out of the woodwork and before you know it dunkyboy will be asking whether he should buy a pair with internal/external crossovers and what tweeters would be suitable replacements should the worst happen.

I had Isobariks for years and you get used to their quirks, and as good as they were, they are no match for modern speakers. I assume they are still highly venerated because for such a long time they were at the top of the Linn/naim upgrade path. And with all due disrespect to Paul I'm going to suggest that Isobariks are still sought after by those who were rubbing-out to HiFi porn in the late eighties, but couldn't afford Isobariks then..

The fantasy of owning Linn's high end speaker gets in the way of the reality that they aren't that great (anymore).

Go and listen to some pro-monitors - from Genelec and Mackie (HR 624/824) [pity you've already got an amp ] and check out the Dynaudio. Pro audio dealers piss about a lot less than Hifi dealers, so you can expect a healthy discount if you shop around...

M&K are OK for Home Theatre but don't shape up as well as the ATC's on music IMHO [I owned M&K pro 2510 setup before the ATC's]. (Oh, and M&K are damn pricey in the UK..)

 

dat19,

Welcome to the forum!

I suspect that you and The Devil are going to get along really well Do you use Mana?

 

Ooh now that's entertaining! FWIW, I've yet to hear a Genelec that makes music, even the big 1038 sounds souless and hard, just ask a few studio guys. Mackie ? I think Dat is taking the Micky but then both manufacturers, along with Dynaudio Acoustics are available through Digital Village

And what about the MK2510? I seem to remember a certain character from AV Forums (since banned) was importing these, having fallen out with Gecko (the UK importers on the consumer side). He then went on to spread the word that the consumer range was overpriced. I also understand he has an arrangement with DV when selling pro monitors from Mackie, Genelec and Dynaudio, so maybe he should be your first port of call If only he could introduce himself.

By all means listen to them, the Dyns are actually very good for domestic use, although they too could be accused of having what was described as a sheen.

 

Yes Merlin, seem to be more than a trickle of former disgruntaled home cinema 'Type' users, around at the momement, pity really

 

as the keeper of the twin towers ( JM lab 920 electra's) it's nice to hear someone else uttering positives about the range.

 

On the M&K pro side, I found the smaller MPS1510's to be rather fine in stereo (accompanied by a good sub of course). They undoubtably outperform the larger 2510's in stereo (better imaging etc) and this is most probably due to the latter having that strange 3 stacked tweeter arrangement and THX certification.

Having said that, Dunk wants to move away from the nearfield monitor sound so I would suggest he steers clear of M&K, Genelec etc.

Just on a point of accuracy (and we have to tread carefully here - see sticky about avforums/avtalk) - my understanding is that the person in question was obtaining M&K pro gear through the UK pro distributor (M&K have two different ditributors - one for pro gear, one for domestic) not importing them himself.

Finally, another suggestion for Dunkyboy - Spendor SP2/3E's.

Matt.

 

I will tread carefully here, no names, but I understand said person had his supply stopped by MK themselves and started trying to import from Holland on the grey market. But we mustn't mention anything that might resemble the truth so that's all I will say on the subject.

Good suggestion re the Spendors BTW, I would also add the Harbeth Monitor 30 as BBC voicing might I suspect be what is required here.

 

I've no problem with the pre, I've no idea about the power amp.

Note the budget. Is there another vaguely full range (both dynamic and frequency...) speaker within it? Which can be passed on at little or no cost?

You know it makes sense...

(But to compare them to Kans is just ludicrous.)

Paul

 

Paul,

Just ignore him, I suspect he's just the figment of someones imagination anyway, much like his fanciful recommendations for speakers

His recommendaton for Mackie must be one of the most bizarre ZG has had recently, but to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he's never owned a proper hifi and doesn't have an adequate point of reference.

 

The best speakers in that price range I've heard recently are the Canton Eros 902s. These are well worth a listen if you can find a dealer that stocks them. Heard them driven by Bermesters Rondo CDP and Amp. Sublime, truely musical, detail in spades and had no problem in the volume department. Only problem is that they are floorstanders. They do standmounts, which I'd guess would be similar.

£1000 new, but quite rare 2nd hand. I have seen some Eros 900s (902 has a few revisions) in your price range.

 

Well, I don't want to come across all Freudian here, but the Canton middle range is called Ergo, not Eros.

 

In the OPs place I would be wanting to move up to more serious ATCs. I really like the idea of a pair of active ATC100s, but I'd probably want to use external amps.

Paul

 

It sure is, well spotted Markus. Have you had the chance to listen to any??

 

Nope, sorry.