From Kef Eggs...but to Mission or Monitor Audio?

MacReady

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I am in the process of selling my Kef 2005.2's as we are moving house and they would look out of place with the look we want.

I am wanting to go to a nice dark wood effect 5.1 set up with floorstanders at the front (not really bothered wether it be floorstanders, bookshelf stand mounted or bipole wall mounted at the rear) and have been looking at the Mission M35i for the front.

After a bit of reading up it seems that the Monitor BR5 Audio is a better option though....but at a price. If I were to go with MA kit rather than Mission I would be looking at a minimum price increase of around £300...and that's £300 I dont have at the moment so I would have to wait a while before buying all the speakers.

There is nowhere local to me that has both ranges in for me to demo so, my question is twofold.

One. Does anyone have experience of the Mission M35i and the Monitor Audio BR5 and can give an honest opinion of how much better (if any) the MA is?

Two. Even though I would like the best speakers I can afford, would the Missions still sound as good or even better than the Kefs I am currently using?

Any help in this is, as always, greatly appreciated.
 
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If funds & your room allow, I would go for MA RS8 on close-out at circa £425 & add the RSLCR centre. With this you could probably do without a sub for now & just throw in any old cheap pair of speakers for rears. You can then add the matching rears & a sub as funds permit.

I haven't heard the M35i or BR5 but I have owned the M34i & now the RS6. If you must have 5.1 now & are not overly concerned with music, then the Mission set would probably be OK.
 
The m35is do look excellent in cherry. But then so do the MA speakers. This is a dilemma I also had. In the end I bought a pair of barely used MA s8s and have no regrets. They look and sound great. It's a hard one, but the s8s or the rs8s were £800 speakers and the m35is are £300 speakers so if you can get them now for similar prices it seems to make more sense to go for the MA.
 
The MA speakers will probably not be a good match to your Onkyo amp. This is because both are considered to be bright which could make the overall sound too bright (a lot of treble). You will definately need to demo them together to make sure the sound is OK for you.
 
Thanks for the replies :)

Interesting about the brightness of the MA's. The Onkyo does have a bright sound (something that I have noticed with the Kef's as well) so I suppose that is a concern and all the more reason for a demo.

I do listen to quite a bit of music as well but the primary use is movies and gaming.

I am also more than willing to wait a little while to buy all the speakers in a 5.1 system rather than all at once....but within reason. Dont want top spend all my budget just on the front floorstanders and then have to wait another Year before being able to afford the next speaker in the set up.

If I could get the fronts, centre and possibly rears now and then wait to get a sub for three or four months then I could cope ;)

MA speakers seem to be more expensive than most people are quoting when I look for them....has their been some price increases or is everyone talking about old stock that is now being sold off? (and if so, from where?).

Thanks again for all the help.
 
The KEF system you have is well integrated across all channels. If you are looking for better stereo performance with music then i can see why you want to change but movie wise you are not going to get a mega improvement over what you have with the speakers you list.

Whilst they may be a tad bright i would suggest the RS range as well due to the amazing price drops.
 
The KEF system you have is well integrated across all channels. If you are looking for better stereo performance with music then i can see why you want to change but movie wise you are not going to get a mega improvement over what you have with the speakers you list.

Whilst they may be a tad bright i would suggest the RS range as well due to the amazing price drops.

I am not looking for any real improvement. As long as I get a comparable level of sound quality from the new stuff I will be happy.

It's quite sad, but the change in speakers is purely an aesthetic reason ;)

Where are these RS model price drops??? I cant seem to find them so I must be looking in the wrong places ;)
 
Here's another vote for the Monitor Audio.
I have RS6's, RS8's too boomy for me.
Great floorstanders though.
 
Try here for RS pricing but you need to call I believe. The RS has been replaced by the RX, hence the clearance prices.

If you're intent on a sub anyway then you may as well go for the RS6.
 
Hi MacReady,

I can't see a budget for the speaker system in the thread but then I did rather speed read the thread.


Hifix have " ACOUSTIC ENERGY AEGIS NEO 5.1 CINEMA SYSTEM - AEGIS NEO 5.1 " at a fraction under £700 ...


http://www.hifix.co.uk/sku2.lasso?ACOUSTIC ENERGY-AEGIS NEO 5.1&item=7a754ae6a162e5adb291453b928b0af1412155f63410351f

Post free and they will price match if you can find them cheaper elsewhere.

They should warm to that amplifier of yours. :D


Regarding your forum ID: have you ever read a book by Jack Livingson called " Die Again Macready " ? Its a detective story that features a detective who is totally deaf and who in this book - one of a series of four written back in the 1980s - undertakes an assignment for an actor who has chosen to call himself ' Willaim Macready ' as a respectful reference to a Shakespearean actor who was a legend in the 19th century ... so Good at Death Scenes that the audience would Cry Out " DIE AGAIN MACREADY! "


In haste ... is this a Speaker that I See before me ? .. but must go,


Arnold.
 
Hi,

I have used those Mission speakers. They are lovely, warm sounding and very (very) easy to intergrate.

I have also used Monitor Audio speakers (RS8, not the bronze), and they are VERY bright. I have used them with a Marantz amp (bad combi in my opinion), and the shrillness could be deafening.

Not used Onkyo amps, but if they are bright sounding like Marantz, and you prefer warmness, I'd go for the cheaper Missions. But, that's just me. Build quality of the MA's is stagering though.
 
There are deals on outgoing RS models although they are dwindling now especially for complete AV packages.

What is the budget you have available?
 
Sorry, not mentioned budget have I...doh.

I will have around £650 to play with initially. This could go up a little though depending on how much we spend on other stuff in the new house.

This would be for either 'some' of the 5.1 speakers (definitly front LR and centre and hopefully rear LR) with the rest to be bought in a few months or for all but a sub as I can also wait a while for that.

Arnold, that is not a book I have read....my username is somewhat more boring in it's origin in that it is simply taken from the character in John Carpenter's The Thing. I was a forum member on the original AV Forums way back when but then rejoined under a different name when it changed to it's new format some Years ago.

A very kind admin person who remembred me then offered to change it back to MacReady for me.

Sorry....boring story ;)
 
The MA speaker almost half price deals on the Silver range are available only by ringing the dealers --- the web sites still show the full prices. I would advise caution about pairing them with what you say (and generally acknowledged) to be a bright amp as the speakers are bright, so try to demo first.

As has been said, this clear-out has been going for a while now, so finishes are limited but it was going on the whole of the silver range, including the RSW12 sub.

Here are dealers that I know were doing the deal from MA

Quantum UK

Peter Tyson

HIFIX.
 
I cant say how bright the MAs would be with the onkyo. But in my experience they're not bright at all and I have brand new tweeters in mine. It depends on what you're putting them with I suppose and they're with an old but decent kenwood stereo amp in my system. I was meaning to change the amp for something more up to date, but it sounds so good as it is I can't really see any reason to.
Anyway, you could really do with hearing them yourself I suppose as you're going to get differing opinions on how they sound but shrill is definitely not what I'm experiencing. Plus someone mentioned earlier about the 8s being boomy. Again, that's not what I'm hearing and I'm listening to them right now in a relatively small room. It all depends on your individual room I suppose! I wonder if you could buy a pair and then return them if you don't like them? Definitely something to ask the store.
 
It does sound like I need to have a listen to both the Mission and MA's...preferably paired up with the same amp or similar Onkyo model.


I will also be giving those dealers a ring to see what prices and finishes they have on the MA's at the moment so thanks for that everyone:thumbsup:
 
Just to add another possibility...I have noticed that Richer Sounds are doing the KEF IQ5SE for £399 and I could get the matching bookshelf and centres from them too all for around the same price that I am looking at Missions or MA's.

Any thoughts on the KEF's from anyone?
 
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I auditioned the iQ5SE a few years ago against the Monitor Audio BR6 and Focal 700 series floorstander (all around the same price at that time) and was very underwhelmed with the KEF. Both the MA and Focal were significantly better with imho the Focal being better than the MA. There just seemed to be a lack of detail to the sound and generally sounded a bit lifeless. I would recommend a listen to a pair, preferably back to back with the MA/Missions you are looking at to see which you prefer. But for me I would not buy them.
 

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