Help me shortlist some new/old speakers please!

[andybee33]

Hi everyone,

In case you missed my 'intro' post, I'm starting to upgrade/rebalance my recently 'rediscovered' system starting with the speakers. Currently, I have Arcam CD72, Planar 3, Cyrus 5 and Monitor Audio Silver 5is (oh and a Bereford Caiman en route to help with digital music from the computer! :))

Some forum folks have already suggested that the MAs (and the QED Silver Anniversary Biwire which binds them) are the main reason that the whole ensemble sounds bright and tiring and generally uninvolving. A suggestion made for a warmer vintage pair (LS7s or B&W DM2s or 4s) from Dave sounds worth looking into and I also wonder whether some Spendor BC1s might fit the bill?

An issue is of course that none of these models are even remotely current so I'll need to buy on spec (probably off fleabay). To help me have a bigger choice and so widen my net a little, I wonder if someone had suggestions for warm, involving speakers from (a) the 90s onward - likely to be more of them around or (b) models that are still current or have close relatives that are still current.

Thanks and best wishes,

Andy

[John]

Can you give us a idea of your budget

[andybee33]

Can you give us a idea of your budget

Hi yes, sorry - up to about £600 max - but less if possible (e.g. a good used buy).

Cheers,

Andy

[DSJR]

Go back in time a bit more for summat really good, even though the cabs may need some work to refresh them.

B&W DM4's, DM2's are great fun, as are KEF Chorale, Corelli (much better), Cadenza's and Concerto's (huge, but still good). The Ref 104ab's all need foam grilles (which may be got from Wilmslow Audio and cut to size), but they're neat enough in dimensions and sound more "modern" in balance, the ABR bass reinforcement working a treat on digital sources especially.

I love the old 1970's AR speakers, but I understand that many used foam surrounds to the cones and this will need attending to.

A bit more up to date, some of the Tannoys are worth looking at. The DC1000, 2000 and 3000's are HUGE funky fun and until recently were very cheap 'cos they're a big handful to accommodate. The Mercury II's are cheap and good, the Venus better. i don't know the ex-record-shop Oxfords (with external "bullet style" tweeter), and these may be too raw for refined listening at home.

Wharfedale 505's and Mordaunt Short MS20's were well loved small ones and sold in thousands, HB1's aren't as good with better equipment as these other two, despite being very popular back then.

There will also be floor standers to consider, but i'd express caution here. I LOVED the fugly TDL RTL2's with bubbly vinyl wrap in a horrid rosewood or black ash "effect," but the sonics worked well and I can easily tell you how to refine the crossovers, which won't cost much at all (one cap and one resistor each box). The bass and mid were splendid though and used ones are very inexpensive. Avoid the mk2 "SE" jobbies though, as although these have better boxes, I remember the tweeter being slugged down in level too much to match the then popular (why) AE109, and I'd need a reference to compare before I could recommend tweaks to correct this.

Loads more, but hopefully we can help you...

[Macca]

There seems to be a bit of a rush lately towards vintage loudspeakers from the '70s, somehow they are better than modern equivilents and that nothing has moved on in 30 odd years, I'm not sure I'm totally convinced. Not to say that you cannot pick up a used bargain that will outperform a brand new modern equivilent, but that is a value for money thing. Older does not have to equal better and not all moderrn 'speakers are voiced to be bright and tiring on the ears, despite what you might read.

Listening just the other night to a pal's B&W 683, a modern 3 way floorstander from a range that has been criticised in soem quarters as too bright sounding and fatiguing. Well these sounded anything but - they are a couple of years old and well run in and sounded big, warm, detailed and smooth - checking all the boxes, in fact.

Any competent speaker will just deliver what it is fed, (albeit putting it's own slant on the reproduction) but if there is a mismatched component or a duffer further up the chain you could swap speakers until judgement day and not be happy. So you have to look at that side too. Personally I have always found it is easier to tame a bright speaker rather than liven up a dull one, but that is just me.

From the '90s you could look at the Quad floorstanders models 21 & 22 I think, they don't often come up on fleabay though. Ruark Templar or Talisman, Celestion A series and the Wharfedale Pacific series or the series they did with the pod tweeters (don't remember what they were called, sorry) all of which are warm & smooth and not over bright or 'jangly'.

Regards

[andybee33]

Hi - Just a quickie to thank you for the ideas and suggestions. As it goes, I have taken some forum advice and gone for a nice pair of used Harbeths - so in quite in keeping with the original Rogers/Spendor suggestion. I'll post my initial impressions up when they arrive!

Best, Andy :)

[Tim]

http://www.yourtomtom.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/clapping.gif

Yo, nice one Andy.

[DSJR]

Which ones? I saw some HL3's for sale and these were lovely, with a looser feel than the modern ones - I DON'T mean boomy and shrill, by the way. The HL3's just boogied in a chilled kind of way and the occasional QC glitches in the 1 and 2 versions were cured...

The baby P3 series were ALL excellent IMO.

[Neil McCauley]

In alphabetical order:

All based on direct personal experience rather than hearsay!

Acoustic Research AR3a
Chartwell PM400
Gale 401/a
Harbeth HL1 Mk3
IMF TLS80
IMF Pro Monitors
JBL 4311
JBL L150
KEF 104ab
Lecson HLI
Lecson SP1
Lentek Monitors
Lentek S4
Magneplanar MG1
Monitor Audio MA3
QUAD 57
Spendor BC3
TDL Monitor 2's

If you love hi-fi then buy Linn speakers
If you love music then avoid all and any Linn speakers

[tannoy man]

Acoustic Research AR3a
Chartwell PM400
Gale 401/a
Harbeth HL1 Mk3
IMF TLS80
IMF Pro Monitors
JBL 4311
JBL L150
KEF 104ab
Lecson HLI
Lecson SP1
Lentek Monitors
Lentek S4
Magneplanar MG1
Monitor Audio MA3
QUAD 57
Spendor BC3
TDL Monitor

With a Cyrus 5 ?

[Neil McCauley]

Acoustic Research AR3a
Chartwell PM400
Gale 401/a
Harbeth HL1 Mk3
IMF TLS80
IMF Pro Monitors
JBL 4311
JBL L150
KEF 104ab
Lecson HLI
Lecson SP1
Lentek Monitors
Lentek S4
Magneplanar MG1
Monitor Audio MA3
QUAD 57
Spendor BC3
TDL Monitor

With a Cyrus 5 ?

Why not?

[chelsea]

Gale 401a chrome jobbies where one of the reasons that got me into hifi.

Would love to hear a pair 30 years later.

[andybee33]

Which ones? I saw some HL3's for sale and these were lovely, with a looser feel than the modern ones - I DON'T mean boomy and shrill, by the way. The HL3's just boogied in a chilled kind of way and the occasional QC glitches in the 1 and 2 versions were cured...

The baby P3 series were ALL excellent IMO.

It was the maple HLP-3ES 2s advertised on this very forum lately! :)

[Effem]

Some forum folks have already suggested that the MAs (and the QED Silver Anniversary Biwire which binds them) are the main reason that the whole ensemble sounds bright and tiring and generally uninvolving. A suggestion made for a warmer vintage pair (LS7s or B&W DM2s or 4s) from Dave sounds worth looking into and I also wonder whether some Spendor BC1s might fit the bill?

Andy

If I were in your shoes, the very first step would be take the QED SA speaker cables and throw them into a a very deep swamp. I have never heard any speaker cables that can completely screw up the sound of a hi-fi system more than QED SA can do. I had only 3 inches of the wretched stuff as biwire links and that was horrendous, so goodness knows what several metres of it might do.

You might be very pleasantly surprised at what another set of inexpensive speaker cables can do for sound quality :eyebrows: