Advise please £400 (ish) budget

[oatz]

Hi all,

After 12 years of life with my trusty Mon Short MS30's I decided it was time to upgrade.
I bought some AM 5's last week and after a bit of furniture moving I'm really quite loving the sound although not entirely convinced. I'm running them through a Rotel 971 pre amp/power amp hooked to an EQ

So my question is what would you recommend within my budget (could possible stretch the budget to say £500) with the following attributes:

1) Must be pretty loud and handle bass (I listen to a lot of bass heavy music)
2) I also run Technics turntables through my system
3) Not huge in size and must be aesthetically pleasing
4) I'm trying to step away from anything that looks wooden… love piano/metal/white finishes

Many thanks in advance!

 

[oatz]

 

[jagr]

QUAD 12L2 in Piano black look and sound awesome

 

[BlueWizard]

I think we need a few more details. Are we speaking strickly about 2 speaker 2 channel stereo system. Which implies 2 speakers for £400 to £500 per PAIR?

Next, do you have a preference for bookshelf or floor standing?

What is the power of your power amp? Power should be per channel, 8 ohm, RMS; if not at least give the impedance at the rated power and we can figure it out from their.

In general, the more you can tell us, the more we can tell you.

If you want good bass, that generally implies bigger ported cabinets.

At the price you are specifying, you should be able to get some decent speakers.

Consider these -

ACOUSTIC ENERGY AEGIS NEO 3 SPEAKERS (PAIR) @ £299.95
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/3222

WHARFEDALE EVO2-30 SPEAKERS (PAIR) @ £299.95
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/3392

EPOS ELS303 SPEAKERS (PAIR) @ £319.00
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/2285

WHARFEDALE DIAMOND 9.6 SPEAKERS (PAIR) @ £399.00
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/2202

The last speaker (Diamond 9.6) are 3-way and have TWO 8" (200mm) Kevlar woofers. So the bass response should be pretty good. Wharfedale are generally noted for good bass response.

Wharfedale Diamond 9.6 -
http://www.wharfedale.co.uk/model.php?model_id=16

Warfedale Evo2-30-
http://www.wharfedale.co.uk/model.php?model_id=131

These speaker are just a cross section of speaker I found after a quick look. I recommend them on reputation, ratings, and reviews, I don't have any personal experience with them. Perhaps others have personal experience or other suggestions.

Going to the google.co.uk and checking '(*) Pages from the UK', then searching for 'Audio Equipment dealers' should bring up a long list of on-line sources for audio equipment where you can browse the possibilities.

Also, go to the top of the Speakers forum page and you will find a list of "Today's Offers", selecting any of these links will take you to audio equipment dealers where you can browse available speakers.

I'm sure other here can recommend other on-line dealers where you could browse for possibilities.

If you make specific pick, post them here and I'm use people will give their opinions of your choices.

Steve/BlueWizard

 

[oatz]

Hey many thanks for the replies:

After a bit of googling this is what I have managed to dig up, excuse the ignorance if the following contradicts itself....

Rotel RB971 (power amp)

Two channels, 70 W per channel
Imp.
Stereo 4ohms minimum
Bridged 6ohms minimum

70 W per channel in stereo under 8 ohms with 0.03% distortion

Specifications

Audio Section

Signal/Noise Ratio (dB) : 116
Puissance (Stereo) : 2×60 W / 8 Ohms

I am ideally looking for some kind of bose style setup as my new years resolution is to minimize my life but in saying this I don't want to compromise on quality/bass. Floorstanders sound like an option and I am only looking at buying a pair for £400/£500

Many thanks once again

 

[oatz]

Just popped down to my local hifi shop and they have recommended the following based on the information given:

1) Mon short 908's
2) KEF IQ7SE (not the 5's as they would apparently be too small for my requirements) or QAcoustics 1050's

He tried to steer me in the direction of the 908's as they are on offer at £349 and he believed these to be better suited to a larger room and would be better/louder for extra bass response.... any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated as I'm leaning towards the 908's as they have 10" bass drivers