Question Help me choose my speakers

[Fletch1985]

Hi Guys, hopefully you can help me make my choice.

I'm looking to purchase a 5.1 setup for my home, I have an approximate budget of £1100, I already own a decent AVR (Marantz 5011) now I just need to decide what to go for. I've pretty much decided I'll purchase second hand as I think I'll get more bang for my buck. I've been in touch with a couple of people who are selling speakers. My current two options are

Dali Zensor 7's with Vokal centre and 2 Zensor 1's as rears - £700

or

Monitor audio Silver 6 package, with RX-C, 2 x RX-FX and an RXW-12 Subwoofer - £900

Obviously with the Dali package I'd also need to buy a sub, i was thinking maybe a BK XXLS400-DF.

My gut is telling me that the MA package is the better deal as when new the MA set was more expensive. I'd love your thoughts? or if anyone can point me towards alternative options, the setup would be used for an equal split of Film and Music.

 

[gibbsy]

Condition is everything in buying used. If possible I would go and see both packages. My preference would be the MAs, more than adequate for the Marantz.

 

[purextc69]

I found the silvers + a marantz avr demo incredibly bright... to the point it made my ears hurt. Have you listened to them before or got somewhere where you can try them out if not?

 

[Panos Danas]

Hi friend, If I was you, I will visit a decent store you can trust and get some sound expirience of listening various speakers and this iit is so joyfull. With your money , you would get the greatest

 

[davidf]

Unless you have some sort of preference (or pressure from the other half), you really don't need to go as far as floorstanders for AV. Floorstanders just eat into the available budget. A good quality pair of standmounts is all that's needed, and in many cases can sound better.

Also, you don't want to go too far up the speaker chain. Once you get so far, speakers start to become more demanding on the amplifier, and most AV receivers aren't as good at driving five or more speakers than hi-fi amplifiers are at driving two. I'd usually recommend with AV receivers under £1000 to stick to speaker manufacturer's entry level ranges, like Monitor Audio Bronze, KEF Q, Bowers & Wilkins 600 series etc. If your 5011 can't drive and control the Silver Series properly, you'll not be hearing them sounding anywhere near as good as they should sound.