Best stereo speakers for £60?

[Bugblatter]

Hiya. A friend of mine wants to get some stereo speakers for her son, the budget is £60.

I've seen Gale Silver Monitors in Richer Sounds for £60, from the couple of posts I've seen about them they're supposed to be pretty good.

Richer Sounds also have m70's for around the same price. I have the m7-series home cinema speakers myself but with m73's instead of m70's. I love them, but the m73's are obviously very different animals.

So my question is which of these are better, or is there a superior alternative for £60 or less?

Cheers

 

[Dankeech]

Hiya. A friend of mine wants to get some stereo speakers for her son, the budget is £60.

I've seen Gale Silver Monitors in Richer Sounds for £60, from the couple of posts I've seen about them they're supposed to be pretty good.

Richer Sounds also have m70's for around the same price. I have the m7-series home cinema speakers myself but with m73's instead of m70's. I love them, but the m73's are obviously very different animals.

So my question is which of these are better, or is there a superior alternative for £60 or less?

Cheers

Friend of min bought a pair of Acoustic Colutions Floorstanders from Richer Sounds for £60. Bang for buck they were very good value for money, and the sound was impressive for the price.

May be worth asking them if they do these still. Was about 1yr ago. Best off getting an audition of what they have for that price though.

Regards,

Dan.

 

[Knyght_byte]

if the audio quality is of the utmost then best to go with bookshelf speakers (usually) and Missions bookshelfs are usually very good value at the knockdown prices. however if they need to go deep as well then get some floorstanders, but to be honest the quality of the sound will suffer at that price point....

my money would be on the Gales if you like a warm rich sound, or the Missions if you like a livelier brighter sound.....those are generally the way those companies make their speakers, but dont assume thats always the case.......

but face it, your spending £60, you not gonna get a Rolls Royce ;-)

 

[Bugblatter]

Cheers, I can't see them on the site but then the m70's aren't on there either, probably worth asking in-store

 

[Bugblatter]

Thanks knyght. From what I've read, and from what the guy in Richer Sounds said, the Gales are actually brighter than the m70's but lighter on the bass. I think we'll probably try to audition them before making a choice.

To be honest I'm pretty surprised that you can get speakers for £60 that people are very positive about. I don't think a Rolls Royce would handle the low frequencies very well, and it'd be a bugger to get in the room

 

[Andywilliams]

Hi
Try and see if you can find a pair of mission m71i s they should be able to be got for £60 or less and sound excellent given there price.

 

[Londondecca]

The M71's are very very good speakers, put them on some decent stands and they will sing

 

[Badger0-0]

If you can up the dough a bit, Comet are doing Mordaunt short 902s for £100.
Bit of a price difference, I know, but very rounded sound and excellent bass.
I bought mine for £150 from RS and have just been back to price match.
Hence I got them for £90 (£10 price beater)

 

[nsherin]

m70s are lovely speakers! I use them myself with a NAD C320BEE amp. Haven't got them on stands (no space) - I use them on a desk as near field moniitors and they sound great!

 

[DeeeKaaY]

Kef Cresta 2's are cheap and sound good. You should be able to pick some up for around £60ish.

 

[Bugblatter]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The £60 is a pretty hard limit, the kid's going to have to save up a while just to make that.

Not many places seem to have the m71's, but RicherSounds has them for £100. Unfortunately I couldn't find anywhere that sold the Kef's.

It's good to hear good things about the m70's, hopefully we'll get to audition them against the Gale's...as long as the guys in RicherSounds are prepared to do that for £60 speakers

 

[Knyght_byte]

get a copy of What Hifi Magazine, ignore the reviews, go to the back section where they have their listings of hifi equipment they have reviewed in the past, you will see lots of dealers (chain and independent) adverts, their is one with green and white striping around the edges (i think) they often have Mission speakers, some are old models, some are ex-demo but usually sold as new in regards to a warranty.....they may have the Missions cheaper than Richer Sounds.....altho they may not...lol

so long as the speakers are fed from a reasonably good source and amp then its surprising how good they will sound.......obviously not on a par with £400+ speakers but thats why those are £400+.....lol

im surprised he said the gales are brighter, i guess gale have changed their style since i last auditioned any (altho that was a couple years ago now...lol)

 

[Dankeech]

In terms of older Mission speakers, I found the Mission 700 to be a little dull, but still quite good for the money.

Mission 702e floorstanders which you may be able to pick up for this price I found the bass to be too Boomy & undefined which led me to change back to my Sony Floorstanders I had sold a friend and subsequently bought back a few months later.

If the 700 or 702e is purchased, note that IMHO the 'Black Ash' Wood veneer looks and feels very cheap. Much better in a natural wood veneer which seemed to be of a higher manufacturing quality.

Hope this helps.

Dan.

 

[Knyght_byte]

Dankeech, u mighta got ripped off somehow...lol...i own a pair of 700's and i find the sound far from dull, they are nice lively speakers to my mind...and the black ash finish i assume mine are in is quite nicely done, no tacky corners or anything.....

obviously their sound and finish is nowhere near that of my Monitor Audio Silver S2's for instance, but then they are £400.....lol

 

[Dankeech]

Dankeech, u mighta got ripped off somehow...lol...i own a pair of 700's and i find the sound far from dull, they are nice lively speakers to my mind...and the black ash finish i assume mine are in is quite nicely done, no tacky corners or anything.....

obviously their sound and finish is nowhere near that of my Monitor Audio Silver S2's for instance, but then they are £400.....lol

The corners were fine on my speakers, just the black ash veneer did look like cheap veneer. Compared against the 700's my friend bought in Beech veneer, mine seemed a bit cheap in comparison.

The 700's I had (and the 702e's) were all bought new, and I'll rephrase 'Dull' as 'not exciting', such as my Evo 3's which sound lovely and crisp on the mid & treble, while still holding their own on bass.

I suppose that since the Evo Ones cost me £100, I'm probably asking a bit much of the 700's at half the price.

I was still happy with my 700's and bang for buck they were great for the price and looking back as well I suppose, they were a good choice for the money too.

Yep. In retrospect, Mission speakers would be a good choice.

Dan.

 

[craynerd]

I suppose that since the Evo Ones cost me £100

they AE evo3s????? £100 where from?

 

[Dankeech]

they AE evo3s????? £100 where from?

Wow, sorry. Don't know how I missed reply on this. If answer is still wanted, they were from Sevenoaks in Watford. They were ex-display. When I went to collect, the guy picked them off the shelf and they were 100% immaculate and boxed. Not even sure they'd ever been plugged in. Try SSAV.com and check out ex-display and ex-dem items.

Evo One pair I get were 100% perfect, not even the slightest mark on them.

Dan.