Speakers for the Mini T?

[Tim]

I now have the Mini T and want a system in my kitchen to replace the current Monitor Audio i-deck. So specifically I am looking for a recommendation for some small bookshelf speakers to go on top of the kitchen cabinets, fed by the T.

I don't mind old or new, so second hand is not a problem and I'm in no hurry, as I have sound there already, so willing to wait and search on eBay if needed, I just need a bit of help on what people think would work? So small and efficient I guess is what I am looking for - I don't have a set budget, but don't really want to spend more than £100.00 . . . and much, much less if at all possible.

Cheers guys :)

[Reid Malenfant]

Mission 780SE would be my suggestion, though I'm sure you'll get plenty more :)

[Roy S]

I was thinking of getting some JBL Control 1s or Wharfedale Diamonds to go with mine (currently using an old Kenwood pair from a dead midi system)

[alan47]

I got some JPW Mini Monitors on fleabay for my Bantam Gold ,sound very good and all for £30.Very underated speakers in my opinion.
They need to go up against the wall to get any bass out of them mind .

[Stratmangler]

These sound really good partnered with the Mini-T http://www.richersounds.com/product/bookshelf-speakers/gale/3010s/gale-3010s-blk

http://www.richersounds.com/showimage.php?image=206327.jpg&max_width=300&max_height=260

[Reid Malenfant]

I wonder if they are the same company that sprang to fame with the 401?

If so they should sound nice :)

[The Grand Wazoo]

Genexxa (or Optimus) Pro LX5's - none on Ebay at the mo', but usually one or two pairs to choose from. Whacky figure-8 ribbony thing tweeter - sound fab as long as you don't need too much bass. Expect to pay about £70.

[Darren]

Wharfedale Diamond 10, award winning, great sounding and shit cheap on EBay.

[Yomanze]

Mission 780SE would be my suggestion, though I'm sure you'll get plenty more :)

Mine too, old style ones or old Mission 760i/760SE. Same drivers, smaller box & often on eBay.

[dantheman91]

Hi

I have a pair Of wharfedale diamond v for £20 :eyebrows:

[spendorman]

I got some JPW Mini Monitors on fleabay for my Bantam Gold ,sound very good and all for £30.Very underated speakers in my opinion.
They need to go up against the wall to get any bass out of them mind .

Agreed, but the JPW Gold Monitor is better, basically, same speaker and cabinet, but a better tweeter. Slightly smoother at the top end than the Mini Monitor.

Also, a little extra damping material in the cabinet helps both the Mini and Gold.

[DSJR]

Wharfedale Diamond "anything" seems to be a good deal, although they're balanced more for stand mounting rather than shelf or top of cabinet use. Heck, they're so bloomin' cheap you could have a very pleasant surprise, as hifi Dave, Alex_UK and I do with the Diamond IV every time we hear them again..

[Tim]

Thanks guys, some great suggestions so far - my shortlist is growing! I used to own Mission 70's and have had some Goodmans Maxim's, which were great. Never heard the W. Diamonds, but have heard/read lots of favourable reports.

[synsei]

Time to throw a curve ball: Eltax Monitor III's.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PUy86FQCmOA/SKQURGNGXhI/AAAAAAAAA88/OLiLmzhKykY/s400/Eltax+Monitor+3+speakers.JPG

These are fabulous sounding little speakers with a downward firing port for the the little bass driver (hence the spiked feet on the base). They look real nice with grills on or off. They come up on ebay quite often too ;)

[Zoidburg]

I've got a pair of mission 760i se, great little speakers and easy / cheap to get hold of too.

[DSJR]

Mission 70's sound like the cardboard boxes they are - ugh! Yes, I know Mission tweaked them during their life, but there's this colouration that never really went away.. 760's? Thin and tinny - no bass so it appears "fast." 780SE's are far better and look better as well, but Mission had a thing of an odd suckout at crossover back then and although not severe, it tended to separate the tweeter out from the rest of it. Placing these inverted models up high means you really ought to put the on their sides, or upside down (tweeter on top in this case) :lol:

[Bluedroog]

The trouble is small speakers often aren’t particularly sensitive.

I’d be interested to hear those Eltax speakers, they look of slightly better finish and build quality than most of their efforts, I have to say in general Eltax are possibly the worst speakers I’ve ever heard!

Gale I find interesting, I’ve heard and owned a few pairs over the years and their value for money is astonishing. Not sure about these days but in the past I’ve picked pairs up new at RS for little more than £30 which were perfectly acceptable.

What about Q-Acoustics, not very familiar with them but they tend to be well spoken of at the budget end.

[synsei]

Hi Christian. The Q Acoustics are very good but have deep cabinets. Don't write off the little Eltax's though, they are well thought of and quite efficient for small speakers.

Some reviews here (http://www.reviewcentre.com/review730225.html)

[Barry]

Time to throw a curve ball: Eltax Monitor III's.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PUy86FQCmOA/SKQURGNGXhI/AAAAAAAAA88/OLiLmzhKykY/s400/Eltax+Monitor+3+speakers.JPG

These are fabulous sounding little speakers with a downward firing port for the the little bass driver (hence the spiked feet on the base). They look real nice with grills on or off. They come up on ebay quite often too ;)

Agreed, though there is great variability in the performance of speakers in the Eltax range.

There is a pair of Liberty III's on ebay at the moment: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eltax-Speakers-Liberty-3-/140745964717?pt=UK_AudioVideoElectronics_HomeAudio HiFi_HiFiSpeakers&hash=item20c51cfcad

These look to be the same design as the Monitor III's, so am unsure why the name change.

[synsei]

They are Monitor III's Barry. I owned a pair of Liberty 3's many years ago and they are a sizeable 2 way standmounter which were also pretty good. Most Eltax speakers are cheap and nasty but there are a few gems if you know what to look for. For anyone tempted to pick up a pair of the 3's bigger brother, the Liberty 5 floorstanders, don't. They have a terribly ponderous bass response.

http://www.hi-fi.com.pl/images/testy/eltax_liberty3.jpg

[Folkboy]

Mission 780SE would be my suggestion, though I'm sure you'll get plenty more :)
I have a pair of these (from new) and they sound very nice paired with my Mini-T (original version) in my second system. They are bi-wirable / bi-ampable so I may have to purchase another Mini-T to use all four of the speaker connectors.

I'll have to try them upside down as well. ;)

[aquapiranha]

Genexxa (or Optimus) Pro LX5's - none on Ebay at the mo', but usually one or two pairs to choose from. Whacky figure-8 ribbony thing tweeter - sound fab as long as you don't need too much bass. Expect to pay about £70.

This is what I am using currently with the Bantam, so I would expect them to sound great with the mini-T too.

[Canetoad]

I was thinking of getting some JBL Control 1s or Wharfedale Diamonds to go with mine (currently using an old Kenwood pair from a dead midi system)

I tried a set of Diamond 9.0s with my Mini-T and they didn't sound very good at all. Too bass heavy and a lack of treble clarity. I put them in my son's room and bought a set of JBL Control 1s. These sound very good but lack a little in the bass department. They are very revealing though and show how good the Mini-T really is. I have this setup in the study playing from the PC through a HRT Streamer II. Sounds quite good!

[dave2010]

What about Q-Acoustics, not very familiar with them but they tend to be well spoken of at the budget end.I got 4 x 2010i when they were really cheap at Richer (were they £40 a pair?) a couple of years ago. Thought I might use them for surround.

I was really surprised at how good they sounded. I can believe that the 2020i models are better, but mine are really small.

I've yet to try these with T amps - that might happen when work dies down - if it ever does.

[Bluedroog]

Hi Christian. The Q Acoustics are very good but have deep cabinets. Don't write off the little Eltax's though, they are well thought of and quite efficient for small speakers.

Some reviews here (http://www.reviewcentre.com/review730225.html)

I wouldn't write them off Dave, as I said by looks alone these looks far better build than any of the examples I’ve heard. I’ve not heard a pair of Eltax bought in the last 10 years and the ones I have heard were floorstanders, floorstanders that cheap tend to have very boomy bass in my experience. I can imagine those ones are a different beast altogether.

[amptastic]

Hi all, excellent suggestions so far. From our perspective you're going to find that the easier to drive speakers will give you more pleasure from the Mini T. Go for something more sensitive - may we recommend KEF Q series too.

Keep the ideas flowing - some of the sensitive Mission Floorstanders (90dB) can be excellent value for money used. Obviously you'd need the space.

[Tim]

Hi all, excellent suggestions so far. From our perspective you're going to find that the easier to drive speakers will give you more pleasure from the Mini T. Go for something more sensitive - may we recommend KEF Q series too.

Keep the ideas flowing - some of the sensitive Mission Floorstanders (90dB) can be excellent value for money used. Obviously you'd need the space.
Thanks Chris, I was hoping you may add something, as I expect you will have tried a number of speakers. I am short of space though, as much as I would love some 763's or something similar in the kitchen ;)

I will check out some KEF's

[RichB]

I'm currently using a pair of Mission 760 SE with my mini t - they sound fab and making a canny racket with the amp at around 1oclock.

[synsei]

A word of warning Tim, until recently I owned a pair of KEF Q35's which were running with a Cambridge Audio A1 SE and it struggled to drive the Q35's. The A1 SE is rated at 30 watts a side into 8ohms and sports a substantial toroidal transformer which is rare in a budget amp, so the Mini-T might struggle to kick 'em into life... :eyebrows:

https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTlLaA9QqW6Ou-p83sJwA7JO10TuR3ky8P-IgxZ_JTnpwocn0Ig

[hoopsontoast]

Rega R1

Although dont be too worried with sensitivity, wont matter a jot in a kitchen, I used the SCM10's with T-Amp and it was fine in a small room, same with the Kolts/Decware Zen.

[jandl100]

From our perspective you're going to find that the easier to drive speakers will give you more pleasure from the Mini T. Go for something more sensitive

Yep, as long as you don't want to flex the walls an easy load is much more important than the speaker's sensitivity rating.
Rob (hoops) says it works well with 80dB/W ATCs and I've had more than satisfactory sounds from my own 83dB/W speakers.
Of course, with more sensitive easy-to-drive speakers you can have it all! The Tannoy Monitor Gold / Lancaster cabs I used at last years Scalford Show were fab!

[RichB]

Rega R1

Although dont be too worried with sensitivity, wont matter a jot in a kitchen, I used the SCM10's with T-Amp and it was fine in a small room, same with the Kolts/Decware Zen.

+1 for the regas, the mini t sounds great with my RS3 floorstanders and I'd imagine would fairly sing with the bookshelfs.

[Tim]

If someone can find me a pair of Rega R1's for under £100 I'll have them ;)

[dantheman91]

Hi

Not bookshelfs but worth a go.

Accoustic Energy AE 120.

Price. £75

[hoopsontoast]

I bought then sold a pair of Rega R1's for £90 iirc, they tend to go around that IME.

[Tim]

I bought then sold a pair of Rega R1's for £90 iirc, they tend to go around that IME.
Thanks Rob, I am scouring eBay at the moment for all sorts of possible candidates - what has amazed me is how badly many people treat their loudspeakers! Every pair I have ever owned were bought either new or in immaculate condition and when they left my hands they were still immaculate, don't folk look after their stuff anymore :scratch:

[Reid Malenfant]

Every pair I have ever owned were bought either new or in immaculate condition and when they left my hands they were still immaculate, don't folk look after their stuff anymore :scratch:
My front speakers are spray painted, I built & sprayed them at least seven years ago now... There isn't a single mark on them :D

So yes, some people do... You try moving a ten stone speaker, they were sprayed in the shed & used to live upstairs. So it's not like they have just been in one place ;)

[howardc1951]

As a matter of interest has anyone tried a mini T with a pair of Kef eggs?