Recommendations for best £100 speakers old/new recommendations welcome

[Wakefield Turntables]

Lads!

I've been asked by a good chum of mine for recommendations for speakers at around the £100 price bracket. This is his first system so please be gentle, he might be able to stretch to a little more money. All old and new recommendations welcome. His current setup involves a technics 1210 (unmodded until I get hands on it:eyebrows:), NAD 3020 integrated amp, and marantz cd67 cd player.

Thanks

Andrew

[dantheman91]

Hi Andy,


I have a pair of Keesonic kubs for sale in black ash an early pair with din cables. Non original color but they are in full working condition with no solid bass drivers. There are ls3/5a pedigree if that will tept him :D

£65 + delivery

[Alan]

Some really nice speakers available by Royd at that price point, plenty of standmounters around. I'm afraid the days of Minstrels being about £100 seem to be gone, but they would have been my first choice. :( Ruark are most definitely worth a look as well.

There are some very capable vintage speakers around too, but I imagine your mate might not want such big boxes? If he can get away with it, perhaps try Goodmans Magnum (SL version probably will need the least work, a single internal brace really improves these), or maybe some Celestion Ditton 15?

Even cheaper, I love JPW monitors, I use Sonatas and they punch so far above their weight it's funny. They were about £30 delivered.

Going new, aren't the Q acoustics 2010 are about £100 new, and I think sound really good. I believe Gromit used a set at Scalford this year, and thy caused quite a stir.

HTH, best of luck. :)

[Fi-Wi]

Best? Probably not but based on my personal experience Chario Syntar 100's are very good value for money. For 100 euros you can by a good second hand speakers set (http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/audio-tv-en-foto/luidsprekers/m712921681-chario-luidsprekers.html?c=8c285449651fa109c354bbabe740c1 b&previousPage=lr).

However, personal taste of course is crucial in these choices.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, keep em coming.

[walpurgis]

Shane (southall-1998) was selling a pair of Mission 780SE speakers for under £100. They are cracking little units with a punchy presentation and real detail, with good transparency.

[Yomanze]

Shane (southall-1998) was selling a pair of Mission 780SE speakers for under £100. They are cracking little units with a punchy presentation and real detail, with good transparency.

I knew you'd have recommended this (saw the last replied member in this thread), and I would absolutely agree.

[istari_knight]

With that system... NAD 8020, Mordaunt-Short MS20i would be nice.

Little point spending more without upgrading the amp IMO.

[jandl100]

What sort of music does he want to play?

If midrange neutrality and clarity are needed, I'd suggest some vintage UL series Celestions. Lovely things.
But if he wants to boogie, probably not.


Going new, aren't the Q acoustics 2010 are about £100 new, and I think sound really good. I believe Gromit used a set at Scalford this year, and thy caused quite a stir.


:thumbsup: - astonishing little things!

[Reffc]

I would heartily recommend a pair of Tannoy Mercury M1 standmounters. Can be had for 50 notes or so. Lovely midrange and surprising wallop for a speaker of their size. New enough still not to have to worry about dried out caps in crossovers too.

[vinylspinner]

Hi Andrew,

I have a mint pair of Mordaunt Short MS 500 gold speaker with stands, would let them go for £45 plus shipping, they are a nice speaker.

Nigel

[Wakefield Turntables]

Hey pretty much only listens to rock music. He's not bothered for classical, jazz, accoustic, or prog. Im hoping to get him to join the forum. Thanks so far for all the inputs lads!

[DSJR]

Loads of great used classic choices out there. try to find the 10 to 20 litre boxes rather than miniatures - Mission 700's, KEF Celeste/Concord III and IV (body-stocking models), Heybrook HB1's (Missions and HB1's may have foam rot though), Celestion DL 6 & 8, Tannoy m20 Gold (original Mercury may be too boomy?). B&W 601 and 602 SERIES 1 will have mellowed nicely now, the later series 2 and 3 having an acid treble even the NAD may not be able to fully mellow. The previous range of 500 B&W's were good too until the 'I' versions came out.

The MS20 was a milestone at the time, really setting totally new standards for this price and size when it came out - neutral balance but with insight into the mix denied in KEF Coda's of the same period. The Wharfedale 505 was another goodie which was in the MS20 shadow.

Hope this helps a bit. Some of the really funky earlier models like Mission 720's suffer foam rot and decent ones may be too pricey.

[Fi-Wi]

Hey pretty much only listens to rock music. He's not bothered for classical, jazz, accoustic, or prog. Im hoping to get him to join the forum. Thanks so far for all the inputs lads!

That cancels my Chario recommendation because they excell in classical, jazz and instrumental but grant rock to other speakers.

[Macca]

B&W 601 and 602 SERIES 1 will have mellowed nicely now, the later series 2 and 3 having an acid treble even the NAD may not be able to fully mellow. The previous range of 500 B&W's were good too until the 'I' versions came out.

.

The 601 and 602 are good recommedations as he is a rocker - if you can get some 602 for under a ton that would be a real bargain. The treble 'issues' were a bit overhyped, I had the 601 mk1 for a long time and never thought them too bright or coarse in the top and the Kevlar bass-mid is an excellent driver, it has its own sound compared to paper drivers but playing rock music you won't notice. The S2 and s3 have the fancy tweeter, I am not of the opinion that they sound sharp but they do sound a bit 'tinselly' for want of a better word, anyway, again this won't really matter with rock music.

[istari_knight]

If you can find some Neat Critique's they sound very good on a NAD 3020 playing rock... far better than I expected.

[DSJR]

IME, the 601mk1 could sound a bit sloppy in the bass and treble - all modern B&W's seem to have a dip around the crossover point - and the 680's I heard certainly continue this (with a hollow boxy mid to go with it :(). Time certainly tamed and sweetened the 601's up top and if needed, extra wadding in the boxes could be a very cheap way of adding a little damping to the bass drivers. The 602's need 15 to 18" stands, but they're easy to drive and perfect for rock, as said above. Sadly, the 601 and 602V3's I heard had a razor style treble and the KEF Q series of the same period did too, the tweeter set well up on the mid in this series :(

[Macca]

IME, the 601mk1 could sound a bit sloppy in the bass and treble - all modern B&W's seem to have a dip around the crossover point - and the 680's I heard certainly continue this (with a hollow boxy mid to go with it :(). :(

Strange you should think that as I found the 683 to be excellent, particularly in the mids. Especially as they can be bought discounted for about £800. Okay they do have a 'modern' balance with obvious top, but most people expect that from a proper hi-fi speaker. And I was expecting not to like them. A powerful amp is necessary though, so maybe you heard them with something a bit weedy. HFW measured them and there is no crossover suck-out. I wouldn't really expect any modern B&W to be flawed in its design, they do have both the technology and the resources to avoid that, but I can see how they would not be to everyone's taste, especially lovers of old Spendors ;)

[struth]

got a pair of tannoy m1's if you want them....decent condition and just recently taken out of my 2nd system......super speaker.