small surround speakers

[braehead]

Trying to find a pair of small (wife friendly) surround speakers for my living room. The only ones that sprung to mind were Kef Eggs and the little Bose one but not sure if I need their sub too? Any others I should be thinking of?

 

[Jaap74]

forget Bose, I've heard nothing good about them

the kef eggs all come with a sub

whats your budget ?

 

[fifa]

Hi braehead I have a pair of M&K K5s for sale on the forums in white these are small and will out perform most other speakers of thier size for surround. http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=607545
Fifa

 

[Jaap74]

Hi braehead I have a pair of M&K K5s for sale on the forums in white these are small and will out perform most other speakers of thier size for surround. http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=607545
Fifa

so where does he get the rest of his speakers from then

nice try

 

[braehead]

I've got everything else I need - see earlier post of my new E83's

 

[fifa]

Erm what did ya say japp74?

 

[badbob]

You could always get inwalls.
Or buy whopping great towers, and ignore the wifes moaning.

 

[Mubz]

personaly i think the B&W M1's are beautifull little sounding speakers, also looks great in black..
defo wife friendly and look amazing on the wall
as they are designed not to have any speaker cable showing

www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=1183&sc=ht

Mubz

 

[Jaap74]

Erm what did ya say japp74?

ooops, my mistake, apologies

 

[braehead]

You could always get inwalls.
Or buy whopping great towers, and ignore the wifes moaning.

The whopping great towers at the front actually got approval - once she heard her favourite songs and watched a couple of movies! The problem at the back is space more than anything. The B&W's look the business.

 

[badbob]

Yeah I know what you mean, in my system floorstanders for sides/rears would be impossible, wall-mounting speakers are far more pratical, especially if room has walk area/doors where the sides/rears would go. You don't need full-range surrounds speakers, just get something at least capable of reaching down to 80hz.

I'm using wall-mount speakers for sides & rears.

 

[braehead]

What about B&W CM7's - found them on that other well known site

 

[badbob]

Why not a proper surround speaker?
B&W DS6? I didn't rate build quality though (thin plastic if I recall correctly) unless B&W have improved it.

 

[braehead]

It's got to fit in with a door surround and radiator on one side (I'm in a Victorian semi so don't want to damage original features). The other side is fine. If I had the space then I'd go for the Mission e80's or e81's to go with what I've got at the front. Unfortunately I don't have that luxury, hence why my 780se's are in the dining room!

 

[badbob]

What about NXT/Mission flat panel? Good sound coverage although lacking in mid-bass/bass.

How large a area do you have on a wall for a wall-mounted speaker? What colour is the surrounding wall?

I have NHP-2 and Definitive Technology BP-2's ftw.

 

[Mubz]

If space and placement is the issue, I don’t think you’d be disappointed with the M1’s
I put them on my old Teac system in my bedroom to break them in and thought they sounded better than my missions….
A very nice sound from such a small speaker, so much so I’ve now got another set for my bedroom
But hey, that’s just my pennies worth,
try and get a demo at a local shop and see what you think yourself…

Mubz

 

[braehead]

I nearly went for the full B&W set up when I moved into this house but held back. I really liked them but had too many other outgoings at the time. Then came the upgrade by stealth. First the centre, then the fronts, now the rear!!

 

[Mubz]

I just seen where you're from braehead, so if you can get over to HiFi Corner in Falkirk, they've nearly finished their demo room and the last time I was in they had the M1's set up
only bit of advice, don't speak to Paul...
really nice guy, But talks for Scotland....


Mubz

 

[braehead]

There's a "roaming" manager called Struan who I've dealt with in the past and thought he was very good. He demoed it for me in the Haddington place branch. I'm going to take a picture of the back of my room so folks can see the problem area.

 

[braehead]

This is the main problem area for the rear speaker. The other side of the sofa is fine.

 

[badbob]

No problem at all, a pair of bipoles would be ideal there, on the back wall.

 

[Mubz]

That's exactly the same set up as mine....
I've just mounted mine about 6' above the door frame,
there are probably better places to put them, but they're well out the of drunken mates, and still sound awesome

Mubz

 

[The Gooner]

I can reccommend the M1s as well, for sats they deliver and looking at your piccy it is similar to mine above door, but the M1s will turn on the supllied wall brackets to sit horizontal, I have my rears horiontal and fronts vertical.

Any good sub will complement them as well. I have a Velo SPL800, sounds awsome, the SVS PB12+ is supposed to be very good as well.

 

[braehead]

Mubz, what did you do on the other side? Is it mounted a the same height? The door surround will hide the cable on that side but I probably would get misses approval for the "good" side.

 

[Mubz]

They are at the exact same height....
I had to turn the bracket upside down so I could point the speakers a little more downwards than they should have, but there was no problems with that at all...
mine are 6" from the wall and mounted vertically, and the cables are run inside the wall in 20 mm conduit
(bit overkill for QED micro silver tho)

and as gooner says you can mount them horizontally or vertically, you can also rotate the mounting plate on the back of the speakers 180 deg so you can either see the bracket or hide it….
Very versatile little things…

if you use it at a lower level on the 'good' side you might just have to set up your amp manualy, or use the auto set up if you have it...

The only negative thing I have found with them is the material they have used for the top and bottom of the speaker, it's a kind of rubber, and is a bit of a pain to clean….
But I'm sure it was used for some fancy assed reason…

Unfortunately I'm totally redoing my living room otherwise you could have came over for a listen
(and when I say unfortunately I mean it, wish I never started now )

Mubz