Speaker purchase advice please

[sburrell]

Hi all,

First off, let me apologise for my absence. Those of you who frequent the Off-Topic section may link this to suddenly developing an interest in World Of Warcraft :eyebrows: However, the desire has waned for the time-being - for those who care, I'm going to wait until Cataclysm comes out before re-engaging.

If it's not too presumptuous after not contributing for so long, I'd be grateful for help in purchasing new loudspeakers for my parents. Here's the deal:

The room for these is 5m wide, 7m long and 3m high, not including two substantial bay windows on one side. The speakers are to be mounted on speaker brackets in the top corners at one end of the room, and angled downwards. They are to be painted to match the paintwork (unless they have a beech-type colour already - black is definitely out). They should weigh no more than 25kg. Oh, and their raison d'être is to: allow my step-dad to listen to, on the whole, The Rolling Stones, Dido and The Proclaimers in the evenings with a nice :cool:; and provide music for the occasional rowdy party. The reason for mounting them on the wall is to help save surface space which is badly needed for my parents knick-knacks, and to keep them away from the cats, who are adventurous.

The system feeding the proposed speakers (and this will probably not change in the near future, unless really necessary) is:
a Yamaha Stereo Receiver model CR-600, rated 35W (info here (http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/ele/1712544061.html))
a Philips CD713
a TEAC V-390CHX
a Rega Planar 2 (probably the preferred source, but I'm not sure now).

The budget for the speakers is £100-£125. However, I'd also like to include suitable cabling within that if possible. This cabling should be capable of potentially discretely running the length of a picture rail, and able to withstand being painted to match the wall. Oh, and suitable for bare-wire terminals on the amp. Also, the aim is for the speakers and cable to be of a type that they can scale with improvements in the sources.

Thanks for reading so far, and for forgiving me my vanishing act.

All the best,

S.

[DSJR]

What speakers did they have before?

The CR600 used to be a well liked model (yes, I remember this one well too) and speaker cables could be the Chord Leyline (or its modern replacement) which is thin enough and meets custom-install specs. I believe Van Damme do a good one as well - anything to lead you away from QED 79 strand and its variants.........

Isn't there a Richer Sounds brand "5 star" model at around £100? - Q Acoustics 1020i at £99.95 and the Tannoy M1 Custom are fine for new at this price..

As for used, there's hundreds of possibilities, from Celestion DL8's to Tannoy Titan (Mercury's will boom too close to corners) to Wharfedale 505's to Mordaunt Short MS20's. The list of classic cheapies is endless, but the above may be a starting point.

[Haselsh1]

Q Acoustics 1020i have gotta be on the list. I had a pair a few years back and they are as good as you can get for the money. Excellent midrange but mine were spoilt by a bloody Chinese valve amp.

[Butuz]

Dude as you've managed to temporarily become sane again it's time to do what must be done, fist get some food as you probably have not eaten for months, NOW quickly burn world of warcraft before you get sucked back in and ruin your life! :p

Butuz

[sburrell]

@DSJR: Hi there! Thanks for responding. The loudspeakers they had for the longest time was a pair of Wharfedale 3XPs, recently deceased, and replaced with unknown Griffins that I asked about here on this thread (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4389). From what you said in that thread about the 3XPs, anything they can get now will be a step up :)

@DSJR & Haselsh1: always good to have two people recommend the same set of speakers unbidden :) I just have one question: because the Q Acoustic 1020i's only come in black, I'd have to paint them, including the front (though obviously missing the drive assemblies - unless it would be better to spray paint the grilles? Advice welcome). Other than devaluing them, what other damage can this do?

@Butuz: Haha. I deleted WoW off my laptop, but I have it installed on a dedicated gaming rig also. The secret is to include WoW as part of a balanced healthy lifestyle - like chip suppers :) Thanks for the concern though. Were you once a traveller of Azeroth yourself?

[DrMartin]

Your parents should be congratulated for keeping a pair of Linton 3XPs running for this long! I had a pair of those at least 30 years ago and blew them within a matter of months :lol:

[sburrell]

Just to let you know i took the advice and went for the Q Acoustic 1020i's, price matched to £79.95 - I even managed to get them in the Cherry finish :) Now I just have to find a reasonable price for 20m of speaker cable...

@DSJR: Haha, each shop in Edinburgh that I've called (Richer Sounds, HiFi Corner, James Morrow) stock only QED variants. I think the Micro is the one they recommend. Why is it you particularly warned me away from QED?

@DrMartin: Those 3XPs were pushed hard too - numerous parties and late-night Rolling Stones sessions. In the end I heard them and noticed the treble kept cutting out. I guess they got their money's worth! :)

[Stratmangler]

Just to let you know i took the advice and went for the Q Acoustic 1020i's, price matched to £79.95 - I even managed to get them in the Cherry finish :) Now I just have to find a reasonable price for 20m of speaker cable...

B&Q do a range of electrical flex that is cheap and does the job well;)


Well if it's good enough for the likes of Quad.......

[Ali Tait]

Or some CAT5 computer cable will sound very good.

[DSJR]

haven't tried CAT5, but a good 6A twin core mains wire will be fine. Alternatively, if you have a Maplins near you, their 50 strand instrument wire at 90p/m bought in two colours and lightly twisted for neatness as much as anything else should be fine.

Again, DON'T buy micro, which is a modern take on crap bell-wire we all went away from all those years ago. Richer should have some Gale fig 8 cables and Van Damme have some chunky mega-strand fig 8 as well as their eternally popular round twin core cable in different gauges (the 2.5 should be ample).

[Alex_UK]

20 metres = £38 + P&P - I have the other stuff (sold out) - but this could do the trick? I doubt it would significantly better Ali or Dave's suggestions though.

Mark Grant Van Damme Blue Series Speaker Cable (http://markgrantcables.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=46_21&products_id=169)

[DSJR]

That's the stuff and it's been audiophooled recently it seems, with better quality copper.

[sburrell]

Hi,

I've decided to go with the 6A twin core flex. Can someone recommend good banana plugs? Will anything do? I only need two pairs, and Mark Grant is out of stock. Should I just go to HiFi Corner and ask them to bang on whatever they have in stock?

Hope you're all enjoying the long weekend :)

[Stratmangler]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=44115

[sburrell]

Thanks to everyone for the help. My parents have changed their minds and I'm now not sure what they're planning to do. *shrugs* Oh well.

Thanks anyway :)

[goraman]

send pics when your done.

[sburrell]

Absolutely shall! :)