Switching from bookshelf+sub to floorstanders - worth it?

interloper

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Hi all - it's been many years since I last posted here. Went through a period of switching to Sonos throughout house but have rediscovered hifi again. Sold the lot and dug out my old gear which sounds so much better - but now I'm facing a dilemma.

We are reconfiguring our living room (approx 15ft x 11ft) and I'm considering switching from my current bookshelf speakers & sub to floorstanders - both for aesthetics/tidiness and potential of better audio. Current setup (which was mainly purchased 15ish years ago!) is:

Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers
Wharfedale SW150 subwoofer
Marantz PM6003 amplifier
Denon DCD-510AE CD player
iFi Zen Blue Bluetooth DAC

I have a hard budget of up to £500 and had been looking at MA Bronze 200 at £449, Mission LX-4 MKII at £399 or Q Acoustics Q3050i at £469; however, Peter Tyson currently have the Monitor Audio 200 Floorstanding Speakers (3G Series) at £229 and 300 at £299. Struggling to find any real info or reviews on these but had been wondering if these are the "old" versions of the 200/300 Bronze or a step down. I have no opportunity to demo and wonder if any would be an improvement over my current setup.

Many thanks for any help.
 
Speakers are so difficult to predict. The room is immensely important!

Try demo some speakers. Return them if you don’t like them.

Simple in theory. In practice not always. But it’s the only advice I can give you.

What sound do you prefer and so on. Could be shy speaker in the background you never heard of wins your heart!
 
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Wow…so many choices. Head is spinning (in a good way!). Thanks for all these suggestions.

Room is 15ft x 11ft (4.5m x 3.4m). Speakers on longest wall, sitting opposite, so roughly 10ft (3m) from them.

Musical tastes - anything and everything except classical, heavy metal. This weeks listening for example - London Grammar, Marvin Gaye, Foo Fighters, Norah Jones, The National. Last night was Radiohead, tonight (as I type this) it’s Gregory Porter.

Doubt any of this helps… o_O
 
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Remember MA has distinct voicing! Very flat sounding.

Little body to vocals, violins. I won’t say they are they poor speakers because this would be arrogant by me.

And I owned the 6 g before. Both 200, 300 speakers. Always have soft spot for MA.

It’s just they lack some musically compared to other speakers. I have the impression they rather emphasize bass dynamics instead of musically and harmony.
The Monitor series only go up to the 3g.. they're not the same as the bronze 6g.

They're a neutral speaker, nothing particularly bad and great value for money. They're half the price of the bronze.

Well your impression is wrong. I have first hand experience. The drivers are quite far apart but surprisingly the.sound blends well as if the vocals come from one point.
 
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Wow…so many choices. Head is spinning (in a good way!). Thanks for all these suggestions.

Room is 15ft x 11ft (4.5m x 3.4m). Speakers on longest wall, sitting opposite, so roughly 10ft (3m) from them.

Musical tastes - anything and everything except classical, heavy metal. This weeks listening for example - London Grammar, Marvin Gaye, Foo Fighters, Norah Jones, The National. Last night was Radiohead, tonight (as I type this) it’s Gregory Porter.

Doubt any of this helps… o_O
Why don't you home demo? If you don't like the Monitors or Missions or whichever speaker you demo you can return them provided that you keep everything in the same condition. Richersounds have a home demo option.

All those floorstanders should have no problems filling your room.
 
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Wow…so many choices. Head is spinning (in a good way!). Thanks for all these suggestions.

Room is 15ft x 11ft (4.5m x 3.4m). Speakers on longest wall, sitting opposite, so roughly 10ft (3m) from them.

Musical tastes - anything and everything except classical, heavy metal. This weeks listening for example - London Grammar, Marvin Gaye, Foo Fighters, Norah Jones, The National. Last night was Radiohead, tonight (as I type this) it’s Gregory Porter.

Doubt any of this helps… o_O
I would try putting the speakers on one of the shorter walls, it's more complicated on a longer wall due to room modes and cancellation. Put them about 12" (30 cm) from the side walls then play with the distance from front wall from 10cm to 30cm from wall to back of speaker with just a touch of toe in.
You said your wall are brick, this could be reflecting particularly if painted, there is effectively nothing absorbing other than shelves and curtains in your room. Try hanging some bed sheets/curtains .... down them (preferably with air space so perhaps from the shelves?).
Do not sit up against the back wall (this is another thing putting the speakers along the short wall helps with). 1.5m between speakers is enough for stereo reproduction though more is better.

I have speakers along a long wall, 11m, there was enormous cancellation when I went over the mid point with 1 speaker. I have ended up with in 1/2 of the room. speakers 2.4m apart I'm about the same distance away with the speakers 10cm from front wall. I can not put the speakers along a short wall as there are window doors at both ends. Otherwise I'd do that as it's much better.

I feel you must find solutions to the problems not due to speakers before looking at replacements. You'll just be wasting your time. Talking of which what are your sources? Do you get any 'buzzing' from your speakers when playing through a DAC for example?
So many questions need answering to elimate many possible problems with sound reproduction. Just indicating amp and speakers says nothing, unfortuneately.
 
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Okay, a quick update - I spoke to Peter Tyson who didn't have any of the Monitor Audio 200/300 instore to demo but assured me I could try at home and return within 30 days without issue. They felt my Marantz PM6003 amp would have no issue driving either so I plumped for the 300 with a view to it also replacing the sub.

Coming tomorrow - will update when I've had a play around with them.
 
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I think the phrase wrong is bit naive. Listing habits changes over time.

Bronze-speakers…? Didn’t we talk about the Silver-speakers.
 
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Bronze-speakers…? Didn’t we talk about the Silver-speakers.
If this thread was considering the silver along with an appropriate amp to go with them, it may have taken a rather different direction. MA silver 300 or 500 and one the more capable amps in the 1k-2k price range is likely to do an excellent job of sub bass with these assuming capable enough to cope with the low impedance zones and an appropriate room setup (which to be fair is often a large part of the problem.) A budget amp and budget floorstanders - not so much. Probably better of sticking with a sub and smaller easier to drive speakers.

My general problem with budget large floorstanders is they just dont seem to work anywhere near their best with the typical budget amps that people tend to use them with. Drive them from a really good (likely costing 1-2k) in a well setup room and it can be quite different, however who spends that money on an amp for speaker that cost <500 unless already planning to replace existing speakers with something more in line with the amp?
 
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If this thread was considering the silver along with an appropriate amp to go with them, it may have taken a rather different direction. MA silver 300 or 500 and one the more capable amps in the 1k-2k price range is likely to do an excellent job of sub bass with these assuming capable enough to cope with the low impedance zones and an appropriate room setup (which to be fair is often a large part of the problem.) A budget amp and budget floorstanders - not so much. Probably better of sticking with a sub and smaller easier to drive speakers.

My general problem with budget large floorstanders is they just dont seem to work anywhere near their best with the typical budget amps that people tend to use them with. Drive them from a really good (likely costing 1-2k) in a well setup room and it can be quite different, however who spends that money on an amp for speaker that cost <500 unless already planning to replace existing speakers with something more in line with the amp?
Fortunately the Monitor range are not budget in sound. They use trickled down and well proven technology so I'm assuming the R&D costs are significantly reduced, therefore lowering the retail price.

They all have the similar Monitor Audio sound significant courtesy of the c cam tweeters.

The Marantz pm600x and pm500x work well with the Monitor series.

I was using a pm5005 with the Monitor 200 and they sound excellent, balanced and plenty of power. I tried the same amp on concept 40s and the concept 40s sounded underpowered and the vocals/mid range was much thinner. Switching to one of my Arcams and the issue was solved. Bi amping with two Arcams sounded even better.. probably overkill as the concept 40 are equivalent to Silvers, not Gold.
 
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Well, I think I've settled on sticking with standmounts and sub. The question is whether it's worth upgrading the 9.1's to, say, Q Acoustics 3030i (£249) or Bowers & Wilkins 607 S2 Anniversary Edition at £439 (most I'd be willing to spend).

Don't think I'll be able to get home demos, but I'll see if I can find somewhere relatively near with stock. I'd have to hear an appreciable difference (especially for £439) from the 9.1's, however. Again, they sound great to me but a few people have described them as muddy. I guess it's tricky when there's nothing to compare them to side-by-side.
Hi, a word of caution fwiw, I demoed the 602 so in my listening room,tried all sorts of different positions and honestly couldn't believe how bad they were!
 
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If you decide that the MA 300 floorstanders are not for you and you decide to go back to bookshelf speakers plus sub, I suggest you try Triangle Borea br02. These are about £250 and will be a significant step up from your Wharfedale 9.1 imo. Oh I see now further up you decided to stick with bookshelf speakers and sub. So I absolutely stand by this recommendation. The Triangle Borea range has pretty good availability now, unlike models higher up. Give them a listen.
 
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Can I just add my two penny's worth about the sub. If you are happy with the level of bass response you have now moving to floorstanders without big improvements elsewhere they might not cut it.
I recently acquired a new Wharfedale SW150 sub from a friend as it would not work with his kit, my plan was to use it for movies only. My speakers are PMC twenty 23 floorstanders which have a book bass response of 29hz, but even with these the sub can make a difference with music. Probably only use the sub for movies as planed but was still surprised by its presence with music.
 
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So...an update. Thanks again to everyone who made comments/suggestions and gave advice.

I decided to go for the Monitor Audio 300 floorstanders (thanks to @password1 for the info), with Peter Tyson assuring me I could return without issue as my nearest store had none to demo.

After running them for a couple of weeks now, I am extremely happy with them. The sound is warm but detailed and is a big step up from the 9.1's alone; however, as I went for the 300 with the extra bass port, they also replaced the SW150 subwoofer.

In addition, I also upgraded my amp due to a left-channel crackling issue with my Marantz. After finding one in stock at a decent price (£399), I bought a Rotel A11 Tribute. Together with the MA 300's, everything really sings and I'm especially impressed at the timing and seperation.

So that's where I'm at - total spend was just under £700 but I was able to return the sub (£140) and sold my old 9.1's for £80, bringing me to a net spend of £480. I'm more than happy with that and am blown away at what quality is available if you look in the right places.
 
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After finding one in stock at a decent price (£399), I bought a Rotel A11 Tribute.
That really is a great deal and I keep mentionning it, I am surprised more don't jump and push to get it at that price. Great value and very good amp.
 
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Wow the Monitor Audio 300 are a lot of speaker for the money, glad things worked out.
 
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Wow the Monitor Audio 300 are a lot of speaker for the money, glad things worked out.
Agree, they're a lot of speaker for the money. If they had real wood veneer or gloss finish and a few extra shiny cosmetic bits such as a nice crafted metal badge and metal binding post caps, shiny stainless steel feet, a posh box for the bungs, none of which affect sound quality, they'd be at least two or three times the price.
 
Upvote 0
Hi all - it's been many years since I last posted here. Went through a period of switching to Sonos throughout house but have rediscovered hifi again. Sold the lot and dug out my old gear which sounds so much better - but now I'm facing a dilemma.

We are reconfiguring our living room (approx 15ft x 11ft) and I'm considering switching from my current bookshelf speakers & sub to floorstanders - both for aesthetics/tidiness and potential of better audio. Current setup (which was mainly purchased 15ish years ago!) is:

Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers
Wharfedale SW150 subwoofer
Marantz PM6003 amplifier
Denon DCD-510AE CD player
iFi Zen Blue Bluetooth DAC

I have a hard budget of up to £500 and had been looking at MA Bronze 200 at £449, Mission LX-4 MKII at £399 or Q Acoustics Q3050i at £469; however, Peter Tyson currently have the Monitor Audio 200 Floorstanding Speakers (3G Series) at £229 and 300 at £299. Struggling to find any real info or reviews on these but had been wondering if these are the "old" versions of the 200/300 Bronze or a step down. I have no opportunity to demo and wonder if any would be an improvement over my current setup.

Many thanks for any help.
A lot of people are gonna shoot me down on this, but try to find a SH set of Rega Elas on eBay . Nice transmission line speakers for their time and still good today.
 
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A lot of people are gonna shoot me down on this, but try to find a SH set of Rega Elas on eBay . Nice transmission line speakers for their time and still good today.
Yep they were very good speakers, early one's were the best. Trying to find a pair in good condition would be a big ask.
 
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