Front and surround options in a 4.1 setup

mr.black79

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I have been running my current setup in 4.1 during the past couple of weeks and it has worked very well so far. Had me thinking once more about replacing FL and FR with better quality compact bookshelves. Distance from MLP to TV is 2.770mm, distance between FL and FR about 1.620mm. They would need to be compact as the gap between the wall and TV on the left hand side is 445mm and current speaker stands are both equal distance away from the TV stand at 207mm. They can't go any further apart or the FR would get in the way. Speakers less than 200mm wide would fit in the same space, but just be closer to the TV on their inside edge. I had missed out on MA Silver 6g last year but have seen a pair of black silver on eBay. There is also MA Bronze 50 at Sevenoaks that look interesting. The Apex A10 look very smart but ideally max spend to replace FL and FR would be £500.

If they are going to be replaced then I could possibly upgrade my surrounds too. Distance from MLP to rear wall is 1.500mm, surrounds are wall mounted a foot away from side walls and a foot above head height. Speakers are toed in to face either side of me and I am experimenting with angling them down or facing straight out. Because MLP is on the right hand side of the couch parallel with TV screen I'm closer to the LS. So far this has not been a problem, panning between surrounds seems fine and the LS rarely distracts. As you will see from the photos, surrounds could not be side mounted as door brickwork possibly gets in the way on the right and there are curtains running down the left in front of the conservatory windows. From what I've read mono surrounds would be best on this back wall, hopefully with a wide dispersion. MA Radius look interesting as well as brands such as Dali and KEF, with some luck I could add overheads such as CA Minx. The trouble with deep surrounds in this room is that the RS would be close to our faces when using the doorway.


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Silver 50 are best of those you mentioned and luckily cheapest too atm. You would need new stands, roughly 60£/pair at lowest. Gloss black to match speakers and the top plate is spot on size wise:


Dali`s have wide dispersion, but something like Oberon On-Wall costs 500£/pair. Perhaps better would be Oberon 1 and using the port bungs. They come with keyholes so you can mount them flush against wall. 23,4cm depth. They don´t require toe in, Dali always recommends them shooting straight.

 
Silver 50 are best of those you mentioned and luckily cheapest too atm. You would need new stands, roughly 60£/pair at lowest. Gloss black to match speakers and the top plate is spot on size wise:


Dali`s have wide dispersion, but something like Oberon On-Wall costs 500£/pair. Perhaps better would be Oberon 1 and using the port bungs. They come with keyholes so you can mount them flush against wall. 23,4cm depth. They don´t require toe in, Dali always recommends them shooting straight.

Thank you very much for the reply, the Silver are definitely in the shortlist, I don't mind gloss but black Oak would be nicer. The Dali Oberon 1 with their wide dispersion sound promising and are the same price as the Silvers. I wonder if the Dali Oberon 1 would be suitable as fronts in my room?
 
Thank you very much for the reply, the Silver are definitely in the shortlist, I don't mind gloss but black Oak would be nicer. The Dali Oberon 1 with their wide dispersion sound promising and are the same price as the Silvers. I wonder if the Dali Oberon 1 would be suitable as fronts in my room?

Silver 50s are at the level of Dali Opticon 1 mk2 so they are step up from the Oberons.

Would you consider white Silvers, forum advertiser has those still and i believe they could price match these for the PT price?!

Also matte/gloss white stands to match em.


Here is close up how they look:

 
Silver 50s are at the level of Dali Opticon 1 mk2 so they are step up from the Oberons.

Would you consider white Silvers, forum advertiser has those still and i believe they could price match these for the PT price?!

Also matte/gloss white stands to match em.


Here is close up how they look:


Although they look smart in white, I'd prefer dark speakers as they disappear into the room with the lights off. I've bookmarked the Oberon on-wall surrounds, expensive but a very interesting option to cover the back of the room.
 
Although they look smart in white, I'd prefer dark speakers as they disappear into the room with the lights off. I've bookmarked the Oberon on-wall surrounds, expensive but a very interesting option to cover the back of the room.

Ok. Call this dealer tomorrow and ask is the black oak still in stock. The Dynami Duo stands are available as matte black too.
 
That's a brilliant find Gasp, I'd be fortunate to get Silvers for that price and can spend the savings on the Duo stands. I've had gloss speakers before but my SVS sub looks great with it's subtle black ash finish.
 
That’s a great price for silvers , there fantastic speakers
 
That's a brilliant find Gasp, I'd be fortunate to get Silvers for that price and can spend the savings on the Duo stands. I've had gloss speakers before but my SVS sub looks great with it's subtle black ash finish.

Fingers crossed they would still have em. Some dealers sadly keep products on site even after sold out months ago. :(

I found also one pair of Opticon 2s in black oak. These would be slightly larger and more capable than the Silver 50s. Not sure could your budget handle these if you are looking to spend 500£ for the surround channels. The latest Opticon 2 mk2 goes for 899£/pair so 489£ is quite good price for "older" model.

 
Fingers crossed they would still have em. Some dealers sadly keep products on site even after sold out months ago. :(

I found also one pair of Opticon 2s in black oak. These would be slightly larger and more capable than the Silver 50s. Not sure could your budget handle these if you are looking to spend 500£ for the surround channels. The latest Opticon 2 mk2 goes for 899£/pair so 489£ is quite good price for "older" model.

I'll give them a call in the morning, I couldn't go much larger in size but if I strike out the Opticon 2 are an interesting option.
 
I'll give them a call in the morning, I couldn't go much larger in size but if I strike out the Opticon 2 are an interesting option.

Keep us posted what they say. Themovierooms has old prices for Dalis, including the on-wall oberons so you save little bit if going with those.
 
Keep us posted what they say. Themovierooms has old prices for Dalis, including the on-wall oberons so you save little bit if going with those.
Will do, fingers crossed they still have them. I like the design of Dali speakers, the wide dispersion would help a lot.
 
You could also look at the QA concept 20 at £229 and the Mission QX1 mk2 at £299. These are a higher level than MA bronze and Dali Oberon.
 
You could also look at the QA concept 20 at £229 and the Mission QX1 mk2 at £299. These are a higher level than MA bronze and Dali Oberon.
That's helpful thank you, reminds me I looked at QA concept 20 in the past, good to know recommendations in case the MA Silver don't work out.
 
Unfortunately Exceptional AV no longer have the silver 6G in stock, they say to check with Sevenoaks and if I'm interested in future they could give a price on the 7G. I'll look back at the shortlist
 
Unfortunately Exceptional AV no longer have the silver 6G in stock, they say to check with Sevenoaks and if I'm interested in future they could give a price on the 7G. I'll look back at the shortlist

Ah shame. The Concept 20s only gloss black same as Silver 50 and for me the latter would be better. QA has better cab, but uses cheap budget serie drivers and is lot older. QAs often were bit directional, i believe the new Silvers with new waweguide throws wider soundstage and members have praised how big they sound for their size.

But if the gloss annoys you there is also the Kef Q150 in satin black. It should fit width wise and Kefs with UniQ coaxial drivers has certain benefits with the soundstage and as you doing 4.1 it could work very nicely. I wish you could fit the Q350 as the prices are so low and you would get bit more weight/depth/scale with the larger speakers, but you do what you can.

Width:
Q150 - 180mm
Q350 - 210mm

 
Ah shame. The Concept 20s only gloss black same as Silver 50 and for me the latter would be better. QA has better cab, but uses cheap budget serie drivers and is lot older. QAs often were bit directional, i believe the new Silvers with new waweguide throws wider soundstage and members have praised how big they sound for their size.

But if the gloss annoys you there is also the Kef Q150 in satin black. It should fit width wise and Kefs with UniQ coaxial drivers has certain benefits with the soundstage and as you doing 4.1 it could work very nicely. I wish you could fit the Q350 as the prices are so low and you would get bit more weight/depth/scale with the larger speakers, but you do what you can.

Width:
Q150 - 180mm
Q350 - 210mm

The Kef look smart and I seem to remember mention of the brand having wider dispersion. Looking at the measurements a Q150 would fit, it's width leaving a little space either side, the height around the top of the TV and the depth taking it from the subwoofer to a little further forward than the TV. Hopefully putting a compact bookshelf near the wall would not impact sound too negatively. I've spotted a pair of MA Apex A10 on eBay as well as some stands. They don't seem to come up often.
 

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The Kef look smart and I seem to remember mention of the brand having wider dispersion. Looking at the measurements a Q150 would fit, it's width leaving a little space either side, the height around the top of the TV and the depth taking it from the subwoofer to a little further forward than the TV. Hopefully putting a compact bookshelf near the wall would not impact sound too negatively. I've spotted a pair of MA Apex A10 on eBay as well as some stands. They don't seem to come up often.

Ok it´s very tight then and looks Q150 would work better. They come with two different port bungs (half and full) so you can tweak the bass further if it becomes issue. You have decent space behind them which helps too.

Silver 50 is still better speaker over Apex A10 which came 2010. Silver 50 (6G) was introduced 2017! I believe they used the Silver RX (2010-2014 = 4G) technology for the Apex serie and after that also came Silver 5G range at 2014 and the 6G model you looking at 2017 so again new technology and some things brought from higher ranges making it bit better. Buying used speakers you never know what you get how they have been handled etc. The S50 price is very low now and both are gloss black so personally i don´t see much point with the Apex, but your call. :)
 
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Ok it´s very tight then and looks Q150 would work better. They come with two different port bungs (half and full) so you can tweak the bass further if it becomes issue. You have decent space behind them which helps too.

Silver 50 is still better speaker over Apex A10 which came 2010. Silver 50 (6G) was introduced 2017! I believe they used the Silver RX (2010-2014 = 4G) technology for the Apex serie and after that also came Silver 5G range at 2014 and the 6G model you looking at 2017 so again new technology and some things brought from higher ranges making it bit better. Buying used speakers you never know what you get how they have been handled etc. The S50 price is very low now and both are gloss black so personally i don´t see much point with the Apex, but your call. :)
Agreed, that's true, thank you for the background info on the Silver series. I've put the Kef Q150 on the shortlist.
 
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There doesn't seem to be black oak MA Silver 50 out there, tempted to go for the Kef Q150 and Fisual stands, but I'm not certain if they will be tall enough. The 600mm stands plus 307mm Kef places the top of the speaker level with the tweeters of my current QA Q7000i which are roughly ear level. I know it's important to have tweeters at ear level, yet the Kef have theirs at the centre of it's speaker, so it may be a little lower than ear level unless I find something taller.
 
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There doesn't seem to be black oak MA Silver 50 out there, tempted to go for the Kef Q150 and Fisual stands, but I'm not certain if they will be tall enough. The 600mm stands plus 307mm Kef places the top of the speaker level with the tweeters of my current QA Q7000i which are roughly ear level. I know it's important to have tweeters at ear level, yet the Kef have theirs at the centre of it's speaker, so it may be a little lower than ear level unless I prop them up.

Buy 70cm stands. Google what is available. These came to mind first. Won`t be as cheap though. The stock top plate is bit on the small side, but you can buy larger one.

 
Buy 70cm stands. Google what is available. These came to mind first. Won`t be as cheap though. The stock top plate is bit on the small side, but you can buy larger one.

I have ordered the Kef Q150 from Sevenoaks for £229. Thank you for the link, I have seen this Kanto set on Amazon. They are 80cm with a spare top plate, it is wide enough but their would be 10cm of overhang. I shall compare to the Nexxus and continue searching online.
 
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