Speakers around the £3.5k mark

Hey all,

I've given up DIY speakers for awhile and sold/cleared out what I had built or lying around to get some funds together for some nice commercial designs.

I've managed to scrape together nearly £4k for the speakers but would obviously like to spend a little less than that.

Problem is I've been really out of touch with the whole commercial scene and don't really know where to start. At the moment my tactic is to look at designs using driver units that I regard as high quality - hardly a great acid test of performance.

For the moment I'm using a pair of KEF Reference 201 standmounts and quite like them. My first thought was to hunt around for some ex-demo Reference 205 but after thinking it through large floorstanders tend to do more harm than good in my room.

Demoing designs is a real problem in and around Sheffield where the only dealers are the ones who do the likes of KEF, B&W, Dynaudio and other 'nice' hi-end designs. Fancy something different to what those mainstream brands offer.

I would like to get a listen to the Micro Utopia Be which looks to be one of the better standmounts available, and I do think I'd be better off going for standmounts because of my small listening room.

Any other suggestions chaps?

 

I've also been flicking through the 2nd hand market both on ebay and from reputed dealers. I could certainly get more for my money with that route but again the problem is demoing the stuff. I'm not a big fan of traveling huge distances only to be disappointed and on the other hand I'm even less of a fan when it comes to throwing money away.

Hate looking for new kit as its always a headache.

 

What to happended to the speakers with the ATC mids?

I know, Bubs bought them off you right..

Sorry, I can't be of any more help. I just purchased some large JBL's from the late eighties so I am REALLY out of touch with the new stuff!

 

A pair of Pioneer S1-Ex should be right up your street.

 

Hi Andy

I been flogging all my kit over the last couple months and those DIY ATC designs were the last to go earlier this month. I became a little disillusioned with the whole DIY route. That ATC project dragged out for the better part of a year and a half, I just needed a change. Like a few folks on here I like to swap and change even if happy, half the fun is listening to a new sound.

I bought the KEF Reference 201's as a stand in until I can get something a little more permanent. But they also serve as a good benchmark to judge other designs by.

 

Those the TAD engineered ones?

Edit:

These ones?

http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/s2ex/s2ex.htm
http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/s1ex/s1ex.htm

Coming from TAD I'd expect something special, although the sensitivity looks somewhat anemic compared to what you'd see in their 'proper' stuff.

Have you heard these by any chance?

 

DIY gear must be a nightmare to sell. I know I couldn't hack the DIY route as there's too many design decisions/options. I'm indecisive at the best of times.

 

Same here. Once I get going it all just falls together as a series of mistakes and successes until you finally end up with something your happy with. That's the attractive thing about DIY - you can really tailor to suit but the effort required can be questionable at times and its sometimes nice to just pop in a store, buy a pair of speakers, and be listening to them the same day rather than a year later

 

Sheffield is the home of Wilson-Benesch, so you should be able to get a demo of Arcs and/or Discoveries easily, although they might not be to your taste.

 

The Pioneers aren't horn loaded hence the sensitivity. Yes they were designed by TAD and use the TAD Beryillium tweeter. They are very good and share qualities with ATC and Kef. Not neccessarily my cup of tea but undoubtedly very good. Look at the weight of each cabinet.

 

Thanks. The more I look into them the more I want to hear them. Pioneer loudspeaker have a very low profile here in the UK and although I had seen them before, I simply passed them off.

I bought a single Manger driver to mess around with not long back and whilst its not really my thing I can see(hear?) great things in various elements of the sound. So all this point source ideology has me interest, its actually the thing that attracted me to the Kef's.

I'd imagine the Pioneers are yet further refined and given TAD heritage performance can only be good and the Beryillium HF looks to be pretty special.

Unfortunately those floorstanders are pretty large and weighty! The standmount looks much fitting given my room constraints.

I'll have to see if I can arrange a home demo with AVLand on these and compare directly to the Kef's.

 

Not many Pioneer dealer in the UK but did find HifiBitz selling them for just under £2.7k compared to £3k from AVland.

Anyone know others that maybe willing to offer a home demo?

 

Oh dear. Just found this ebay seller:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pioneer-S-2EX...hZ006QQcategoryZ14991QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

£1.9k seems awfully tempting. I could have bought these from the get-go instead of the Kef's for that sort of money. Typical.

 

Shin,

is this the guy you sold your DIY speakers to...........

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hornet-Hedlun...ryZ14993QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I only ask, 'cos on the 5th picture there appears to be a speaker remarkably similar to your old ones next to the horns.

 

That has to be them. I pass 'Sherlock of the year' award to StickMan.

 

The guy obviously has a penchant for distinctive speakers.

 

What's all the fuss about "TAD" and these Pioneer speakers?

£3k is Micro Utopia Be territory after all....

You really should hear the designs by Coincident (http://www.coincidentspeaker.com). Sensitive, slim floorstanders that sound extremely cohesive and can move serious amounts of air. Bit like my Amphions in that regard! If I were going to upgrade from them, I'd look seriously at the Total Eclipse II.

DT

 

Nice tweeter on the 'total reference'. I was thinking of using that one in a standmount at some point.

What is all the fuss about the Micro Utopia Be? £3.5K is AML1 territory after all!

 

Manger 109 with custom design reference stands.

 

What's all the fuss about Micros as Tenson says? WM tries to tell us they are great but then he liked Meadowlark Oh and he used to tell us they were dull and boring