Speaker Recommendations (~£200)

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I'm considering upgrading my HiFi gear which i've had for several years (~6+) and it really needs updating!

Current gear is:
- Cambridge Audio A1mk3 Amp
- Gale Sat 10 Speakers

I know, i know, quality kit :D

Anyway, this is connected to my media PC as the source. I think that i'd be best to first change the speakers as these are really surround speakers and have virtually no bass which can be very annoying.

The kit handles everything from TV, videos and movies to music, and has to be capable of performing well for each of these. I'd like to spend around £200 and the speakers need to be of the bookshelf variety, smaller would be good (uni student and so dont have a huge amount of space).

The music that is mainly listened to is rock (eg. Foo Fighters, Audioslave, Pixies, etc...).

I'm just after some suggestions of what i can go and try, however the demo could be a problem as the amp will be different, as will the source!

Any help and suggestions would be great, thanks :)
 
You should try some Kef Q1's or Qcompacts. As they have been replaced you can get them for £170 or £150 respectively.
 
You can pick up a pair of Acoustic Energy Evo 3 floorstanders for £230 from Sevenoaks or evo ones for £140.

Could probably get a demo.

Note that I have NO idea what they're like for rock, so would have to demo a pair. Great for Electronica & dance for the money paid.

Happy with mine, not a huge amount to compare them against tho.
 
AE Aegis Evo 1
Castle Richmond 3i
B&w 601s3
Kef Q1
Wharfedale 9.1

I'd go for one of those, preferably 2nd hand. The Castle's would be my favourite. The AE1's you might pick up for around 100 notes on ebay.

B&W 601s3

AE one

Kef Q1

£200 s/h gets you a lot of speaker. I got my beloved Quad 12L for a bargain £250 off ebay.
 
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you could try the mission v60 £100 or the v61's £150 at superfi

lee
 
Just bought some Kef QCompacts for monitoring my music productions on the PC.... so they needed to be good.
They are the best (very) small speakers I've heard... and I've heared a lot.

I would have prefered the bigger Q1's at the time, but I had very little space to work with.
Now I have the Compacts I do not feel wanting.
They are really small, really nice looking (with curved wooden cabinets) and really great sounding. :thumbsup:
 
My first instinct (usually the best one) says Monitor Audio Bronze B2 (180 quid new). The B2s are, IMO, the best sub 200 quid speakers you can get at the moment, they look and sound as if they should cost twice as much, and with a low end of 43Hz, they'll give you the bass you want.

Team 'em with a NAD C320BEE amp, which'll cost about the same as the speakers. Can't afford that right now? OK, you're a student, right? Well, Christmas is coming, mooch from your parents: Student Economics 101!

Honestly, for my money, I don't think the B2/C320 combo can be beat for around 350 quid total. Don't take my word for it though, check out the Hi-Fi & Separates forum and ask about it there, it's a combo which is very highly rated in general, and I think for your musical tastes, it's just about perfect: the B2s are quite forceful, especially in the mid-range (great for rock), but the NAD is so flat and neutral that it'll never let it become overly sharp (metallic cones on the B2s can have that effect if paired with a brighter sounding partner).
 
cmcg55 said:
Can't afford that right now? OK, you're a student, right? Well, Christmas is coming, mooch from your parents: Student Economics 101!

I'm already getting the 'what do you want for Christmas' thing :( So this is one of my ideas :) So the amp 'may' have the wait a while.

I'm going to try to visit Sevenoaks tomorrow and see what they have. Plymouth seems somewhat lacking in HiFi dealers, but if anyone knows of any other places that are worth a visit then please say, as i like to test things before buying.
 

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