soke
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2010
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Hey there,
I'm currently in the market for building a speaker setup from scratch. I ve been surfing the net reading reviews, browsing audiogon etc trying to find the best setup I can afford and I just went to do some auditions.
Thing is, I'm pretty messed up right now; I don't have a clue which speaker-route to go!
Any advice would be welcome.
I currently have some Focal CMS 65 monitors at my home studio and I'm really fond of them. I do however want to setup a speaker system at my girlfriend's house (where I spend lots of my time the last couple of years
) with more of a "hi-fi", coloured sound. I'm looking for bookshelf speakers (or maybe small floorstanders?) and want to spend around 600-800e. I was thinking about buying speakers and amp with that money but knowing from headphones and monitors, I thought it would be best to skip the "need-to-upgrade-after-a-month" stage so I'll buy some speakers now (hooked up to her vintage kenwood hi-fi) and buy an amp later.
So, these are the deals!
I auditioned some B&W 705s which the guy offers for 1200e. I found their sound great; very nicely coloured mid bass, clear midrange and nice detail in the highs. They outperformed any speaker I audiotoned in that price range (best contender were the Epos m22 floorstanders which had some AMAZING mid/mid-highs. Voices were stunning and image was superb! They were really bad though at electronic and rock music and had a really weak bass/midbass and no punch; the 705s on the other side where pretty good all-rounders).
I also found a deal on some used ATC 20 passive speakers for 900e. Probably I can bargain them for 800-850. This puts me in another speaker-league; I've read the best reviews on ATC speakers and have auditioned some ATC-100s which where breath taking. I would have to buy a much more expensive amp for them though, and I am thinking maybe they re too revealing for a cheap source (kenwood cd or audio from a pc soundcard) and an untreated room.
The third deal are Magnepan speakers: The 1.4s for 400e and the SMGs (with changed crossover) for 250! I heard some Martin Logans (the vista model) which I found really nice. I find the electrostatic route pretty intriguing and at a bargain price!
Final contender would be the small B&W CM1 for 350e including stands. I heard them and found their sound really close to the 705s, but with more recessed mids and less bass.
Anybody want to share thought on this? I really can't make up my mind!
The room in which the speakers will be used is about 20 square meters and the listening will take place in the half of it (rest is kitchen!). We both listen to all kinds of music; from jazz to neofolk and avantguarde electracoustic music to techno and experimental-oriented electronic music.
Sorry for the long post, hope you I didn't bore you to death.
Cheers,
Mark
I'm currently in the market for building a speaker setup from scratch. I ve been surfing the net reading reviews, browsing audiogon etc trying to find the best setup I can afford and I just went to do some auditions.
Thing is, I'm pretty messed up right now; I don't have a clue which speaker-route to go!
Any advice would be welcome.
I currently have some Focal CMS 65 monitors at my home studio and I'm really fond of them. I do however want to setup a speaker system at my girlfriend's house (where I spend lots of my time the last couple of years
) with more of a "hi-fi", coloured sound. I'm looking for bookshelf speakers (or maybe small floorstanders?) and want to spend around 600-800e. I was thinking about buying speakers and amp with that money but knowing from headphones and monitors, I thought it would be best to skip the "need-to-upgrade-after-a-month" stage so I'll buy some speakers now (hooked up to her vintage kenwood hi-fi) and buy an amp later.So, these are the deals!
I auditioned some B&W 705s which the guy offers for 1200e. I found their sound great; very nicely coloured mid bass, clear midrange and nice detail in the highs. They outperformed any speaker I audiotoned in that price range (best contender were the Epos m22 floorstanders which had some AMAZING mid/mid-highs. Voices were stunning and image was superb! They were really bad though at electronic and rock music and had a really weak bass/midbass and no punch; the 705s on the other side where pretty good all-rounders).
I also found a deal on some used ATC 20 passive speakers for 900e. Probably I can bargain them for 800-850. This puts me in another speaker-league; I've read the best reviews on ATC speakers and have auditioned some ATC-100s which where breath taking. I would have to buy a much more expensive amp for them though, and I am thinking maybe they re too revealing for a cheap source (kenwood cd or audio from a pc soundcard) and an untreated room.
The third deal are Magnepan speakers: The 1.4s for 400e and the SMGs (with changed crossover) for 250! I heard some Martin Logans (the vista model) which I found really nice. I find the electrostatic route pretty intriguing and at a bargain price!
Final contender would be the small B&W CM1 for 350e including stands. I heard them and found their sound really close to the 705s, but with more recessed mids and less bass.
Anybody want to share thought on this? I really can't make up my mind!
The room in which the speakers will be used is about 20 square meters and the listening will take place in the half of it (rest is kitchen!). We both listen to all kinds of music; from jazz to neofolk and avantguarde electracoustic music to techno and experimental-oriented electronic music.
Sorry for the long post, hope you I didn't bore you to death.
Cheers,
Mark
