[pastieman]

I have never purchased speakers other than for my car, I'd like some recommendations for speakers in the £100-160 price range,  thats about $250 according to the exchange right now.
 
A bit of background, I very recently got into headphones and have a gamma y2 DAC, little dot mkIII headphone amp and beyer 880dt 2003 headphones.
 
Digging around in the attic I have uncovered a technics 8022 amplifer and my dads broken mission 700-2's (100W according to google) the tweeter is broken on 1 speaker, while I like the headphones I also enjoy the speakers and would like to get some decent ones, I will at some point get a better amp but would like to start with some working speakers.
 
I use the amp at about 10% volume connected to the gamma y2 so I dont imagine I'd need particulary powerful speakers.
 
Since I have a very limited reference, If any suggestions could be related to what I currently have that would be even more useful but all suggestions are very welcome, so far from my quick research I like the idea of Wharfedale diamond 9.1's but dont have them available locally.

 

[JerryLove]

Don't know what's available to you where you are. In that price range the first two speakers that come to my mind are the Behringer 2030p and (higher WAF) Infinity Primus 162.

 

[mark2410]

google what hi fi and techradar and start reading reviews
 
ive been looking into speakers recently and there is a horrifyingly huge selection out there

 

[pastieman]

thanks for the suggestions, I cant find Infinity Primus' anywhere, the Behringer's look pretty good for WAF to me, not that its a problem, got a logitech 5.1 system for the front room, these will be for the mancave while I hide from the soaps.

Your right, the choice of speakers is bewildering, unfortunatly without a reference point I find it hard to compare reviews.
 
I will read up some more and look out for places to audition some speakers, at the moment though it all sounds great as Im used to 15W speakers that come with hifi's.

 

[mark2410]

well the only way to do that is go demo stuff, even if its just at  Richer Sounds. there are just so many out there, i could regurgitate what ive read and say the Tannoy Mercury V1 seem popular but ive never heard them. 
 
actually you may want to try asking on avfourum which is quite UK centric (you priced in £ so guessing your in the UK)

 

[Lenni]

check out the Wharfedale’s Diamond 10.1 you shouldn't find difficult to find a local dealer
Stereophile (Feb., 11) has a two-page article titled "The Entry Level" by Sthephen Mejias. he replaces his familiar hi-fi system (costing around $8000), with a much less expensive one (around $1500), and he seems rather content with it:
"
There should be a law against speakers this affordable
being so pretty.
 
...The system played no favorites, but seemed
to enjoy each recording as much as I,
showing its versatility and impressing
me with its ability to reveal the music’s
emotional substance, leaving me with
nothing to do but look into the sunshine,
and with nothing to worry about
but what to play next.
"
 
marketing hype? can't really say. to be honest I was a bit surprised to see them featuring in the magazine, but I haven't heard them, so can't say. nevertheless, they're probably one of the best speakers you can find in your price range.
 
associated equipment:
Rega’s RP-1 turntable
NAD’s PP3 USB phono preamplifier
Cambridge Audio Azur 340A integrated amplifier
RadioShack’s speaker cables & I/C's

 

 

[Bones13]

Why don't you just look for a new tweeter?  If you do, be sure to check on the caps in the crossover, as they might be too old.  Ask over in the AudioKarma.org forum for info about your vintage speakers, you might be able to end up with much better speakers than your current budget is.
 
On the other hand... they did not have much good to say about them, and at least one of them mentioned having "non-original" tweeters in his, so the tweeters might be a regular problem for those.
 
I would stick with your search, and you have been given some great suggestions.

 

[pastieman]

Well I've had the speaker apart and had a go at repairing the tweeter, its back up and running but sounds awful compared to the other speaker so not happy with that, now its open the foam on the woofer has had its day too.
 
Seems like the cost of repairing them is going to add up if I want to make sure the two speakers are matching.
Other forums seem to say the enclosure is fairly poor and rattly anyway.
 
Reading around, the diamond 9.1's/10.1's, tannoy mercury V1 and mission MX1 seem to be recommended.
 
I've read that wharfedale diamond 10.1's are not as good as the 9.1's but richer sounds do have the 10.1's so I will arrange a demo against the tannoy mercury V1's and missions and see what sounds good.
 
Thanks for the suggestions
 

 

[mark2410]

yeah i think those are the top 3 reputation wise for the money, actually id appreciate it if you came back and gave your impressions of them after you have heard them.

 

[pastieman]

I went with the Wharfdale Diamond 10.1's and am very pleased!
 
I auditioned the Tannoy's and Wharfdales (I didnt like the missions when I saw them for some reason so I didnt listen to those).
The guy in the store reccomended some Mordaunt Short Aviano 1's for the same price and said they were much clearer and brighter than the wharfdales which suited him.
 
Unfortunatly I have no experience of what sounds 'good', just what I liked and most audio terms evade me but here I go...
 
The tannoys and wharfdales sounded very similiar to me, the wharfdales did sound clearer and seemed to cope with differing genres better than the Tannoy's.
Although for costing about 30% less than the wharfdales I think most people of my experience would be happy with the tannoys.
 
The Mordaunts sounded clearer and more defined than the others, but the higher frequencies began to annoy me very quickly on certain tracks, if your not too sensitive to high frequencies as I seem to be they could perhaps be the better speaker, by comparison the wharfdales are much warmer and not so sharp sounding, I'd compare the mordaunts to the sound of my beyerdynamic dt880 2005's.
 
I think if I was more sure of not listening to any particulary bright songs I would have chosen the Mordaunts, especially If a subwoofer was an option.
 
I chose the wharfdales because they felt easier to listen to over a variety of genres and since I have the 880dt's for especially detailed music these are more for general relaxed listening.
 
Instore the speakers were hooked up to a cambridge audio amplifier / cd player, I dont remember the models, but they were apparently fairly bright sounding themselves and I was reccomended silver speaker wire to try and avoid the wharfedales sounding wooly, the sales guy seemed particulary keen on very bright music though.
 
I was also advised against using my 20 year old technics amp as it was far too warm...
 
So now at home with about 2 hours warming up I am very impressed with the wharfdales, I have them standing on cardboard boxes so they will improve again when I make some stands.
 
The highs sound perfect for me and female vocals sound excellent, the only thing that stands out to me is the bass response, classical, electronic, hiphop, metal all sound spot on and nice and punchy but they are not capable of reaching low enough for d&b or dubstep, I didnt expect them to be without a sub but just mentioning it.
 
If your thinking of buying any of these im afraid you really will need to go listen to them yourself, I cant really say one is better than the other, rather they just have a different sound to them, I do think the tannoys being slightly cheaper does reflect them performing very slightly below the others but otherwise it depends on what you like.
If it was practical I would love to have them all and switch as I change songs.

 

[mark2410]

thanks for coming back with your impressions of them, its good to see real peoples comments on them all

 

[googleborg]

mission m32i are also top bookshelfs...though they are actually standmounts cos they are way too large for a bookshelf and rear-ported.  I use tannoy DC4 now though, incredibly small and great quality.

 

[Phoenyx1]

Audioengines?

 

[mark2410]

Quote:

mission m32i are also top bookshelfs...though they are actually standmounts cos they are way too large for a bookshelf and rear-ported.  I use tannoy DC4 now though, incredibly small and great quality.

erm "bookshelf" speakers is just a term (technically an american term but i call them it too half the time) speakers of any kind should never be placed on a bookshelf

 

[googleborg]

indeedly doodly, i've never actually put them on a bookshelf but i know people do this, lots, and the m32i would just never fit, the DC4 would easily however