AE EVO 3 vs Yamaha NS200 vs Mission 74i

DownToTheBone

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All,

Narrowed my speaker choice down to these three. I currently have KEF Q35.2 on the front with a Mission 77C1 as the centre channel.
I've got no room for a sub and the front speakers will be up against a wall. I need something that will provide some of the missing bass for movies but which remains highly detailed both in stereo and hc.
Amp will be a Marantz 6300 or NAD T752. CD player is Marantz CD6000 KI Sig. Current amp is Marantz SR5200.

What should I go for ?
 
While you may get marginal improvements in bass extension, I doubt that swapping your 35.2s for any of the above will bring about the level of improvement I suspect you are looking for!

While floorstanding front speakers can get fairly low, they are never going to be able to compete with dedicated subwoofers (at least decent ones anyway).

One option could be to investigate floorstanders with built in subwoofers (usually on the side). Again, probably won't compete head on with a decent dedicated subwoofer, but you do get the convenience/space advantage.
Bear in mind too, that it's not just the speakers which produce the bass - the amp plays it's part as well.
There are few floorstanders of conventional type design which are going to get much lower than around 35Hz (and then only really with suitably powerful amplification), whatever the manufacturer says. Those that can get lower than this, and still maintain high fidelity reproduction are going to cost - unfortunately.

That said, for many people 35Hz may be low enough - don't really want to get involved in an argument about that.
All I'm saying is that if you feel your 35.2s are lacking bass, I don't think you'll get that much mileage from simply swapping them for any of the 3 mentioned.

I'd certainly demo alongside your 35.2s before splashing your cash - and also bear in mind that ideally whatever front speakers you use should at least sound similar in tone to your centre speaker (ideally in fact it should sound exactly the same, but this is often hard to achieve for a variety of reasons).
 
Audition them in your own surroundings. I have the Aegis 3's at the front and they need some space to breath.
In our previous house I had to place them against the wall and they get very boomy, not very nice.
Now we have got a MASSIVE lounch they are in the nice open space away from the walls and they are brilliant...

But as the previous poster, do yourself a favour and get a subwoofer no floorstander is a substitute. Besides if you have this little space why get floorstanders?

Cheers,

Jean-Paul
 
Originally posted by DownToTheBone
remains highly detailed both in stereo and hc......

Has to be the Yamaha's. I heard all four you mention in a small demo room recently and the Yam's were easily the most musical. Worked best against the wall and the integration between tweeter and woofer was streets ahead of the Q35.2's ( a weak point in the Kef's IMO). Mission's are all boom and not enough tune, while the Evo's totally dominated the small area. Pity, 'cos they are great.

The Yam's go low - for a floorstander anyway - but as the others say, you can't beat a good sub for films. Musically I would choose the Yam's anyday....unless I can interest you in the other quality floorstander around £399 these days: Tannoy Revolution R3's - amazing speakers!
 
I used to own a pair of Mission M74 speakers which I used for music alone. They had great bass extension and would sound great with movies and are capable of providing much more bass than the Q35.2, however I suspect that the Kefs would provide a better spread of sound, with better off centre listening due to their UniQ driver. I use a pair of Tannoy 609II in my home cinema which feature Dual Concentric drivers - same principle as UniQ. So adding a subwoofer would make more sense.

If you can't add a sub, then the M74i would be the right way to go for more bass. Just for my music system, I personally moved over to the Aegis Evo 3, as I believe they offer much more insight and a greatly refined sound. Some would prefer the bigger and more forward sound of the M74i for music and in my opinion I would recommend these over the Evo 3s for movies. They're both great speakers - I would recommend a listen before choosing.

So for instant scale and drama choose the M74i, but for more refinement and a more typical hi-fi type of sound choose the Evo 3.

I haven't heard the NS200s, but have heard the Tannoy R2, which whilst extremely refined and well built (real wood), can sound unexciting.
 

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