Monitor Audio or Kef Centre - what do you think?

elmroad

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Newbie and need some help ...

Ordered a BK xls200 sub (gloss black), Onkyo 606 and will be using Kef Q55.2 front and Q35.2 rears (dark apple) and need to know what centre to go for.

Whilst I'd ordinarily stick with Kef to match my other speakers, because my TV is wall mounted they'd stick out quite far (wall to front of TV = 165 mm).

The Radius 225 or 250 are much slimmer and gloss black would match the TV. One dealer says it'd sound fine another suggested sticking with Kef (they both stock both ranges). Another suggested the Bronze series centre because it's just the right depth and would sound much better than the 225/ 250 and the IQ2c; though the colour wouldn't match the TV or my Kefs.

Also, I was told a 225 and 250 is pretty much the same thing only the 250 is wider and they'd sound the same. Is this true?

What would you do in my shoes?

Thanks
 
Yeah, thought about the Bronze in black but it's more of a black ash which would look very odd and reminds me of 1980's cheap looking (but probably expensive) furniture.
 
Yeah, thought about the Bronze in black but it's more of a black ash which would look very odd and reminds me of 1980's cheap looking (but probably expensive) furniture.

:) Same with me. Some years ago, I had some cheapish Magnat speakers in black ash-like finish. Now I associate the finish with the speakers :rolleyes:, so I don't like it.

You should ask for a test at your home, just bring the Radius and the Kef. Listen at the tonality. If you think the Radiuses match the fronts, then you'll be fine. Listen also at dialog. Does it sound realistic? Can you understand the speech without effort? That's also important.
 
I personally thought the Radius R250 is a much better speaker than the Bronze centre. Wider soundstage and just generally better, the silver center is a massive step up though.

How far apart do you have your front left and right, if there quite close don't bother with a center at all, take a listen.
 
How far apart do you have your front left and right, if there quite close don't bother with a center at all, take a listen.

Good point, mendd3.
Elmroad, there are many posts here discussing about the need or not of a center speaker. It depends on your particular situation, so search around here and read as much as you can. If you still have questions, do not hesitate to ask :thumbsup:
 
It's a decent sized room, approx 5.5m by 5.5m and high - single story barn conversion with an opened up roof; so there's a reasonable amount of space to fill.

The fronts can be anything from .5m either side of the TV to 2m and I will probably settle on approx 1-1.5m because I suspect that if they're too close the sound stage won't be great for stereo music.

Think I'll have to demo the Radius 250 as this will look best in the room and the sound will definitely be better than the inbuilt TV speaker or sharing the front channel with the left and right speakers.

Silver range would be great but I'm sure my wife would have many things she'd rather spend money on and also the colour / size would make it a hard sell to convince her otherwise.
 
The fronts can be anything from .5m either side of the TV to 2m and I will probably settle on approx 1-1.5m because I suspect that if they're too close the sound stage won't be great for stereo music.

Think I'll have to demo the Radius 250 as this will look best in the room and the sound will definitely be better than the inbuilt TV speaker or sharing the front channel with the left and right speakers.
Try to make an equilateral triangle with both speakers and your listening position. Place the speakers well off the walls (0.8m works good for me, but you have to experiment) and as separated as possible (while respecting the rule of the triangle.
:thumbsup:
 
The Radius have should have better mid to hf sound than the bronze - which has better lower-mid to lf sound. This is normally not an issue with a decent sub (even more so for movies).

Still - IMO if you have Kef fronts, I would stick to that - why not try a KEF HTC5001 (from the KHT 5000 series) ? It has a quasi-matching uni-q driver, and comes in gloss black (thou' it's not wood)!?

Cheers.
 
Think I'll have to demo the Radius 250 as this will look best in the room and the sound will definitely be better than the inbuilt TV speaker or sharing the front channel with the left and right speakers.

I forgot to say that sharing the front with left and right is not necessarily worse than having a center. Try it and see if you like it.
 

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