Question Bipole recommendations to suit my current setup?

costeau

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Hi. I currently have a 3.1 setup, which I'm looking to expand over time.
The next part of my plan is taking it up to 5.1 with a pair of bipoles on either side of the sofa.
(If it's bipole/dipole-selectable, that's OK.)

The question, in short:
Can anyone recommend a pair of bipole (or bipole/dipole switchable) speakers that will suit my current equipment? I'm looking to spend between £200 and £500 for a pair.

To give you some background info, here's what I've currently got:
Receiver: Yamaha RX-A860
Front speakers: KEF Q300 bookshelf
Center speaker: KEF Q200c
Subwoofer: 1x SVS PB-1000

So the bipoles I want, should have a reasonably similar tonality to the KEFs I've already got.

The room layout is a rather strange L-shape,
where the kitchen is the short stub (the "foot" of the L),
and the living room is the rest (stem and corner) of the L, measuring about 4 x 13 meters.
It's only one sofa (one seating row), and usually only me watching the telly,
but I'm sat 4 meters away, and have 9 meters of open space behind me, so the acoustics are a bit odd.
 
The obvious choice would be a Kef dipole speaker but they only seem to do the R series and the new price would be out of your budget. Maybe secondhand?
It sounds like you have a bit of space to the side of your listening position which would mean a monopole speaker should work fine for surround duties. So could get a smaller standmount Q series and wall mount that or maybe a pair of T series speakers.
 
Same shape L shaped room as mine. Personally I didn't think the R800s would work, firing off at too many angles and with differing distances to reflecting walls so I opted for R100s as the surrounds. Your obvious choice would be a pair of Q100s. They have a good wide dispersion and are well suited to surround duties. If eventually you decided on Atmos then monopoles would be better suited.

I have my 100s wall mounted.
 
Thanks a lot for to the both of you for your input.

I'm not adamant on the bipole idea, but with only one seating row, I'm not much sold on dipoles either. I'm under the impression that if I'm to place dipoles so the seating isn't in the null area, a lot of sound would go to waste by them being placed too far forward or rearward from the sofa.

If I'm wrong about dipoles, I might actually try to claw my hands on a pair of the now discontinued Q800ds, as some shops still have them in stock. (R800ds would be overkill in my current setup anyway.)

For the monopole option, I was actually looking at the T101 speakers, but I'd get better sound at a cheaper price point by going for Q100 ones. I was considering going for Q100 until I started reading up on bipoles and dipoles. If I was to go 7.1 at some point, I'd try to match the backside speakers in terms of tonality with whatever I end up on the side surrounds, be it Q100 with Q800ds, or a different brand altogether.

And with monpoles, I'd like to avoid the "exit door effect". I understand that the Q100 wouldn't be so noticeable in terms of that?

In short, choice of three speaker types:
Dipole: Q800ds
Monopole: Q100
Bipole: Undecided, as KEF don't make these (at least anywhere near my planned or unplanned budgets), but something that still plays well with my current setup.

I'll take another look at sticking to the Q series.
 
Any sense of how much money you have to spend? Can we assume you need a single Pair?

These are a reasonable price -

Monitor Audio Bronze FX - £280/pair -

Monitor Audio Bronze FX Rosemah Surround Speakers (Pair) - Monitor Audio - AudioVisual Online

Monitor Audio Bronze FX Walnut Surround Speakers (Pair) - Monitor Audio - AudioVisual Online

Monitor Audio Bronze FX Black Oak Surround Speakers (Pair) - Monitor Audio - AudioVisual Online

Monitor Audio Bronze FX White Ash Surround Speakers (Pair) - Monitor Audio - AudioVisual Online

If you want to go Monitor Audio Silver FX ($399/pr) -

Monitor Audio Silver FX Black Oak Surround Speakers (Pair) - Monitor Audio - AudioVisual Online

Focal Aria SR900 - £430/each -

Focal Aria SR 900 Black BiPolar Surround Speakers (Single) - Focal - AudioVisual Online

Relative to price, with Kef Q Series, likely the most reasonably economical while maintaining quality, the Bronze FX are probably the best choice.

Steve/bluewizar
 
I would consider T301’s too. Sevenoaks have these on demo with R Series at one of their branches and I was deeply impressed by their performance in surround role.
 
Thanks guys!

For plain listening to audio content (music, podcasts, radio, etc.) I only use the Q300 pair anyway, so the speakers I end up purchasing will be used for video content, wherever there's a surround track, mainly movies and TV series, as well as video games that use surround audio interactively.

@BlueWizard: Yeah, I've been considering Monitor Audio FX speakers, and dabbled in whether splurging on a pair of Silvers would be overkill or not compared to the Bronze.
The Focals are obviously a fair bit dearer, with the price being per unit, rather than per pair.

@RRRuss: I've seen the T series, and have no doubt they perform well as such, but if I was to go direct-radiating (monopole), I'd probably go for Q100 instead. Mounting and stands aren't a problem. :)


Ah! Decisions, decisions…
If I am to go bipole, I'm leaning more and more towards the Monitor Audio FX speakers, all right.

The difficult part is trying to decide between silver and bronze. Not for the price, because a pair of Silver ones still fit well within my budget, but is Silver or Bronze the pair that best matches the tonality of my existing KEF setup?
 

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