Speaker recommendation for my set-up

Between now and Christmas, I intend to audition and buy a pair of HiFi speakers to replace, or retire, my trusty Celection Ditton 15s - these have been with me since I bought them new in 1976 for £109.50 - which I estimate is equivalent to just under £500 in 2003 pounds. The Dittons have never sounded better, but that is because over the past 12 months I have replaced everthing further up the chain. I'm therefore enjoying the music (and hence the Dittons) at the same time as I hear voices (in my head) urging me to junk them.

You advice is invited to help me select candidates for auditioning.

Backgound.
Having re-engaged HiFi interest via initial AV purchases, after 12 months of advice and upgrades via s/h bargain hunting, I now have two interconnected systems [*]: one for HiFi and one for AV.

My Hifi set-up, which I am not itching to change, is:

Meridian 602 (CD transport)
AudioSynthesis Dax Decade (dac and pre-amp)
AudioLab 8000S (in power amp mode)

I'm also in the middle of changing things in the living room, which serves as the listening room for the HiFi, facing fireplace with HiFi speakers either side, and the watching room, with back to fireplace, for TV and 501 AV purposes. We now have exposed wooden floors, with central carpet, three big bits of soft sofa/chairs, high ceilings in a 15 x 15 foot room with bay window. When decorating has been done I will re-install HiFi, which incidentally sits on a Mana 4 tier amp rack, and can then start that auditioning of speakers, against my 'reference' Dittons.

So, what speakers might make a good match?

Suggestions please ...

ditton

[* The interconnect, used only when doing the 5.1 AV stuff is from the L/R surround pre-out (from a Denon AVR2802) into the AV power (of AudioLab 8000S) and thence into the HiFi main speakers, which are shifted to act as AV surrounds. Incidentally, the AV front stage is Gallo A'Diva (centre) with Micro balls and Velo VX-10 sub.]

 

Try the Amphion Xenons....http://www.amphion.fi/products/xenon/xenonframe5.htm




Lovely sound.

 

They look very pretty. I'll try to find out how I can hear them, and preferably audition them at home.

I couldn;t see what the pricing is. I'm setting myself a budget of £500 to £900.

 

Well, as the saying goes... its your ears!

Mine would probably tell me to get a second hand/ exdem pair of living voice auditoriums for about £900 (£1500 ish new).

Wadia Meister knows a good source of cheap Shearwaters too, which would be in your budget. If you PM him he will give you the details Im sure.

For cheap LV's Id go straight to the manufacturer (kevin at definitive audio) and ask if he has any in, or perhaps a factory 2nd.

Happy hunting!

NB Audio Salon in glasgow, and Connoisseur audio in Fife have good stock generally if youre looking for something locally.

Cheers
Chris

 

I was going to say....

No shearwaters at the moment, but JJ has got some more kestrel hotrods at £520.

What sort of sound are you going for though? Meadowlarks are very quick, punchy and detailed. I find my kestrel hotrods a little recessed in the mid compared to my old B&W DM602s, but this I hope to sort with a more forward amp and a change of speaker cable.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll check them out. the Living Voice look good.

a local dealer has also proposed a listen to:
1) Monitor Audio Silver S6 (91db, 38Hz - 30kHz, 6 Ohms)
2) Tannoy Sensys DC2 (89 db, 39Hz - 51kHz, 8 Ohms)
3) Mission 782se (89db, 48Hz - 20kHz, 8 Ohms)

Music tastes are wide, but more at the accoustic than the metallic - tho electric blues matters. so too does 'live' jazz and classical (small and large). So punchy is OK, but open is preferred as long as not too laid back: I 'enjoyed' the upgrade from the Meridian 200 to the 602, for example.

 

Ditton, I think you'd be crazy to buy new at that price, look for ex dem or second hand

My vote would be for a pair of ex dem Harbeth HP7's. I think KJ have a demo pair for around 900 quid. They might not look that fashionable, but given your enjoyment of the Dittons, they offer dramatic improvements in transparancy without going all thin like most modern day speakers.

 

interesting suggestion, I'll look out the Harbeths.

 

Hi ditton,

I'd second Merlin's recommendation of a pair of Harbeths.

IMO, they'd be eminently suitable for someone who listens to a lot of acoustic music. That's going on the brief exposure I had to a pair (don't know which) which were being played at yesterday's Heathrow show. A very free, open and out of the box sound with few distractions.

Don't know how they'd fare with more electronically processed or mainly beat driven material music, but I have my doubts as to whether they could be as bad as what certain members of this forum would have you believe, the ones that claim that they hold exclusive and sacrosanct views as to what makes "music" interesting to listen to.

 

I'd go for that 2, after hearing them, the banner said 'netural, warm & Tansparent' yep I'd go with that
However, personaly I don't own any elevators, so my need of them would be some what limited WM

 

I thought the Compact 7s were excellent (not very compact, however). The 30s were warmer and a bit slow, and the baby monitors were good, but a s/h pair of LS3/5As would be cheaper and very similar to those, I would think.

-- Ian

 

I sense a consensus, so seems like a must for a listen. must see whether I could audition. the standmounts look very similar to my Ditton 15s. I was reckonning on moving to floorstanders must perhaps I could only afford the standmounts.

any idea of stockists in London, or even Edinburgh/Glasgow?

 

I thought the small pair were the best of the bunch - more involving than the larger two, based on a brief appraisal. They did a superlative job of vocals and so on, very open/transparent etc. But i wasn't over keen - i thought they were a tad 'warm' for me, if thats the word . But then i am used to metal domes, and a more incisive sound. The violin concerto i put on, just didn't draw me in sufficiently. Maybe the presentation was just too different from what i am used to, i don't know. Are they rolled off a bit these speakers? It just seemed a bit flat and not particularly dynamic. Some female vocals were played on 'em though and they sounded pretty fab - but then that is not particularly difficult. I just thought they were a bit 'safe'. Memory is a fragile thing.....

One of the few companies to employ 'average' kit further up stream though to their credit. Meridian cdp and Arcam amp IIRC.

 

I'm not sure which ones I heard yesterday, but they were largish size standmounts, certainly bigger than LS3/5a and I suspect just a bit fuller and warmer sounding - but not to the point of obvious richness. So might have been the 30's, but don't think missing out on floorstander would be a loss.

 

Stretch your budget to £930 and you could have a pair of Castle Conway 3's. Highly recommended.

 

If you like your Ditton 15s so much why not seek out a pair of the 66s? I've been assured that they're still produced for the Japanese market so spares shouldn't be a problem.. And well within your budget..
They'll do all the 15s can with serious bass as well!