Hi all,
I'm moving house and will be buying a new audio setup for my living room.
I generally find that i am sensitive to treble and find some speakers fatiguing.
Currently i have a pair of b&w dm303s and the treble irritates my ears; some have suggested this is due to their metal tweeters.
I would like to see your room. B&W are not generally considered bright speakers, and the fact that you find them bright and irritating, makes me think there is something wrong with the Room, not the speakers.
If you can not give us a photo, then describe the room? Carpets? Rugs? Curtains? Soft Furnishings? Lots of clutter? Bare minimalist? Fireplace? Glass walls and/or doors? And so on.
In my new house im looking for floorstanders that will be ok being no more than 20cm from the wall, and that will have as smooth and non-fatiguing treble as possible.
And I want to haul cargo freight in a Mini-Cooper. You can want anything, but that doesn't mean that is is possible. 20cm is about 8", that's going to be marginal. My speakers are about 12" (300mm) forward of the wall, but they are also even with the front of my equipment stand so the whole system presents a uniform face to the room.
In my experience, the excess bass from close placement does not show up as excess bass, rather it shows up as the Midrange become more recessed and muddy. Not a good sound.
You do what you must, but makes sure you REALLY must. With that close placement, you need smaller speakers. Perhaps 2x5". At the absolute most 2x6" to 2x6.5" each. The bigger the speaker, the more room it needs around it.
The reviews of wharfedale dentons appeal but bookshelves are a no-no as i have kids running around so i dont want speaker stands, unless it's bookshelves on a tv unit.
Kid can be trained. If you let them run wild they are going to run wild, and if you put the fear of God in them over going near daddy's stereo, then they will have the fear of God in them. Lots of people have kids and stereo, and the two seem to coexist just fine.
As to Stand Mounts speakers, they are no more fragile or unstable than floor mount speakers. Most people will fasten the speakers to the stands with Blue-Tak which is a variation of Post Putty. While
Bostic Blue-Tack is commonly used, the equivalent comes in many brands. This is a removable glue putty that glues the speaker to the stand, but when necessary, the bond can be broken.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=blu+tack
Also, many people Sand (or other filler) Fill their Speaker Stands to add mass to them. This makes the less resonant, but also more stable and harder to knock over.
Between Sand and Blu-Tack, likely the Stand mount will be more stable than floorstanding.
I will get out to some hifi shops to do some listening in due course but recommendations are appreciated.
Budget is up to eur 1k but ideally less.
If find Wharfedale (9.6) to very laid back and low fatigue. Excellent for music, and for those with hearing that hasn't felt the ravages of time, good for movies.
I would expect the
New Diamond Series and the somewhat
New REVA Series to be very close to what you are looking for.
Steve/bluewizard