Small Cheap Speakers

No I'm not going mad and ditching the Dittons, I'm after a pair of small speakers that can be placed by a wall, preferably on a bookshelf without suffering too much, and purely to be used for TV viewing and video watching (I don't even have a DVD!).
They'll be powered by my trusty Musical Fidelity B200 and I want to spend as little as possible...
I looked at the Richer website - what are those £60 Missions like? (pah spit etc). And I saw a pair of Proac something or others at about £125 recently - Tablettes I think - would they sound appalling next to a wall?
And as for Proper Hifi, I currently have the Plinius M16, Levinson 26 and Pass X1 as top of the list for pre-amp purchasing... Mmmm, decisions, decisions!

 

My ProAc Tablettes are not properly shielded, so keep at a reasonable distance from CRTs.
The Tablettes are rear-ported, but it's a pretty tiny rear port, and a bit of acoustic foam stuck behind should see off any nasties - unless you try playing them loud, which I wouldn't recommended in any case. How good or bad they are will probably depend your listening distance; the closer you are the better they will sound IME.
Caveat: Mine are ancient; newer Tablettes may be very different.
You might add the Accuphase 2800 and the Connoisseur Definitions range to your list of preamps to check out

 

A good while ago I had Tab 50 Sigs which have two little farting orifices on their rear and they truly hated being anywhere remotely near a back wall - they went horribly boomy and mushy if placed anywhere other than the middle of the room! For nice little speakers that work near walls look at Neats and Royds.

Tony.

 

I bet you tried playing the Tablettes loud... The Tablettes sounded completely lost and sad the only time I tried them in an "out in the middle of the room" type experiment.
I like the idea of Neats, can they be had for very little money?

 

These Leonard:

http://custom1.farnell.com/cpc/prod...Sounders+-+Cabinet+Speakers&product_id=260727

Only trouble is they are not mirror pairs -just like ears!
Marvelous

 

If you can find a pair secondhand, Cura CA5s can be had for around £150. Sealed box, about the size of LS3/5as, lovely.

-- Ian

 

Wharfedale 8.1

 

Rega Kytes. Gorgeous if you don't want too much bass

 

Both too wooden and not easy to find I'm afraid!
Shall keep an eye out for cheapish speakers - does it actually work to block the port and stick it next to a wall? Or should I just keep looking for sealed box of some sort?
LS3/5as would be perfect, as I'm not looking for much bass or volume - just a way of telling my ex-colleagues in TV sound how bad their mixing has become since I left

 

the £60 Missions at RS aren't really suitable for wall placement. Aside from a huge rear port, they are phyiscally quite deep speakers- deeper than most shelves i reckon.

Diamond 8.1s are a possibility- i can't see why the comics have got so excited about them personally- sound a bit dull and flat but they are front ported so eminently suitable. Also check out some old Mordaunt Short MS05is and Mission M30s. If you could grab some old Celestion Sl6s off ebay they'd be good too, as they are sealed boxes and sound pretty top

 

The woody bits on the Accuphase can simply be unscrewed. Connoisseur also have some non-woody aluminium cases that you could specify.

I'd look for a sealed cab.

I think you'd need Harbeths to be able to say that with any assurance, Leonard You aren't going to hear the faults, especially at low volume, with much else. Not particularly cheap, though.

 

how much is a pair of jpw sonatas these days? infinite baffle,paper driver and an audax tweeter- can't go wrong there.

ps is that a moto-morini?

 

looks like a CX500 to me...

 

You're havin a giraffe mate!
It's a 1974 Moto Guzzi 850T bored out to 1000cc, with full Raceco bottom end and Astico Moto twin plug heads and 40mm carbs..
Will show a cbr6 a clean pair of heels up to about 70mph, which always freaks them out a bit!

 

what happens to the guzzi after 70mph exactly? :JPS:

 

Takeoff, normally.. Especially if there's even a hint of bumpiness.
I had it up to an indicated speed of somewhere between 90 and 140mph once (those pesky Veglia speedos!) which re-defined the meaning of the word "tank-slapper".. Still, it didn't start properly until the tacho read 7.5krpmwhich is about 125mph (on the autobahn of course)