[Closed] What speakers do you have?

Celestion SL12Si which are still really rather good, but need lots of power. I've had them 20 years, and they were a good few years old when I bought them! Also have a REL Stygian sub, which fills the bass out a little. Well it did until the amp failed, still on the list of things to fix.

Kef IQ10, IQ30 , IQ60c and IQ50 for the surround sound.

Kef IQ90s for the HiFi powered by 4 Rotel RB850s running as mono blocs.

Tannoy Revolution R3's and B&W 601 S3'S.

ATC SCM 40 Actives. I've just got these having traded down from 50s to suit my new, smaller listening room. I would never go back to passives.

Tannoy Eyris 3 🙂

Too many I've been told.

One room has Monitor Audio GR60s for 5.1 these are combined with a B&W CC3 centre, a Tannoy SFX sub, and a couple of Tannoy SFXs for the rear.

Another has some KEF Q55s combined with a Tannoy SFX centre, and a couple of Tannoy SFXs for the rear.

Then on the landing I have a pair of Morduant Short MS904s with nowhere to go.

KEF Q20 fired up by a NAIM Uniti.

In the loft space I've got a pair of lovely bookshelf speakers (I THINK they're Denon branded B+O ones)..nothing to drive them..

Around the house I've 3 amazon echos (sound OK..clearly not audiophile quality, but makes listening to music on the fly SOOOO easy).
In the lounge I've a pair of Q acoustic BT3 speakers connected to an echo dot. Sounds fantastic - really impressed!

DrP

Lots of great kit in this thread.

Quad 22L in the hifi system.

Quad 21l + L series centre and some Mission made Denons as tears in the home cinema.

So got my ps3 to hdmi to TV, and TV to amp using optical. Listening to Spotify "what hifi" playlist. Amp on direct, sub off, kids in bed. Just blown away by the sound of acoustic guitar. I did not expect these cerwins to be quite so great sounding. Almost too good at times as I'm hearing fret buzz and wondering if one of the drivers might be iffy! Lol (they're not, BTW)

Linn Kans ably driven by a Linn LK-280.

Rachel

Celestion Ditton 44 that I utterly love, except the other week on one the blinking metal tweeter shield came off due to the old glue and shorted itself to death so now I'm faced with the virtually impossible task of finding another good hf2000 tweeter or risking a pair of modern replacements that could alter the sound.

I've also just bought a set of quad esl57 that are stunning.

Celestion Ditton 66 I'm trying to find now.

ourmaninthenorth how do you find the quad 22l?

i keep looking at them on ebay and am thinking about trying a pair.

I've also just bought a set of quad esl57 that are stunning.

Spendor A6r's driven by Audiolab 8000a, soon to be replaced but not sure what with yet, possibly Croft series 7 or Rega Elicit R. Front end is Clearaudio Concept and Squeezebox Touch streaming FLAC.

I have a pair of What HiFi's Speaker of the Year from..... 1989... Rogers LS4a, and I love them, Abul Mogard is certainly sounding good on them just now. Have replaced the tweeters mind.

Fostex monitors for music/sound design

Some Mission bookshelf things for the telly because they do overhyped bass better than the Rogers.

If I win the lottery, I will buy some of these, which a friend has in his studio and are superb http://www.munrosonic.com/egg150-monitoring-system/overview/

A pair of 1991 TDL Studio 2's driven by a 1981 Mission 777 power amp and audiolab m-dac.
Thunderous bass but not overwhelming.
In the shed I have one of them Chinese muse mini amp thingies driving a pair of JPW mini monitors.

Celestion Studio Monitor 66, got given them nearly thirty years ago by my dads mate as his wife said they reminded her of children's coffins!
Mid-range was replaced by a similar dyn audio dome midrange as I couldn't find any other MD500's after celestion stopped rebuilding them pre-internet.
Currently waiting on funds to replace the cross over caps, but funds are also needed to replace my Q Acoustics sub (that is faulty again!) and leverage a disc brake winter bike (Holdsworth Elan?)......

Leema Accoustics Xero

Ooh used to have their antecedents the Xens in a 5.1 setup, fabulous, but could never really afford an amp that did them justice. Binned off 5.1 but kept the sub (couldn't sell it) and paired them with some Focal Aria 906s - they're great but I've got a hankering for something else. Possibly active. Possibly PMC. Dunno.

Before the Xens I had some Celestion Ditton 25's which were lovely but I blew them up.

Just bought a Sonos Play 1 for the kitchen - absolutely bobbins - can't believe the amazing reviews they get. I hear they're meant to be pretty good for classical, folk etc but they fail hard with the Metal \m/ Looking for something to replace it with.

+1 for Celestion Dittons

'Proper' Hi-Fi 'speakers - when Hi-Fi used to be all about the music, not about 'soundstage' 'detail' and the rest

Dittons are foot tappers, and 'speakers you can listen to for hours

I had a pair of B&W 802's for a while - while they could do 'Hi-Fi' really well, with the potential for making fireworks, they were boring

Tannoy Revolution XT's

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2x Kef iQ9s
2x Kef iQ5s
1x Kef Q9C
Run by an Arcam AVR350

Bought the lot about 10 years ago and I'm still happy with it all apart from the Arcam's lack of HDMI capability.

In the man-cave/studio I've got some ESI UniK 08 powered monitors.
These were a 'cheap' replacement for some Genelec monitors that went pop, but I actually prefer the sound of them.
Maybe not quite as neutral as the Genelecs, but the ribbon tweeter sounds amazing, and the bass response from the 8" kevlar drivers is great - no need for a sub like the Genelecs.

[img][url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4325/35078527164_349444b229_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4325/35078527164_349444b229_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/VrLC1u ]Man cave[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/toretz/ ]tom harrison[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Monitor Audio Silver 8 with Roksan amp. Currently listening to Vicious Delicious by Infected Mushroom on them post ride.

Snell Acoustics E/ii - 80's American hifi - sounds absolutely fantasic. Powered by a Quad 405 but they deserve better.

Also a pair of Wharfdale Diamonds in the study, plus a Bose Soundlink mini in the kitchen/garage/garden/camping or wherever I take it to which is far better than it has any right to be given it's teeny size.

Systemdek Systym 935 inherited from my dad. Mated to a Cyrus 3 amp, power supply and CD player, we debuted several combinations of speakers, amps and CD players, and decided this was the best out of them. I now have the system, but it's really in a room that's too small and boxy to get the best out of it.

I'm sure it's a nice piece of kit but "ye cannae change the laws of physics, cap'n".

Celestion Ditton 15xr's - owned from new (1979)

Heybrook HB1's - bought off a mate in 1990

Castle Howard S2's - owned from new (1991)

Kef KHT2005's - bought this year for £60 - bargain!

The Castle speakers are 1/4 wave floorstanders. Proper hifi! I don't think there is anything under £2k that would better them.

AE 301's. Stunning little standmounts too hooked up to Audiolab 8200CDQ and 8200 amp
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ATC SCM50 ASL paired with the C4 12" sub.

The Frozen soundtrack never sounded so good 🙄

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the-muffin-man - Member 
An old pair of Mission 700s like these...

Still got my old Missions. 7 series pack. 700s, 70 rear, 70c1 (I think) centre.

Done fine for years. Don't even have a sub, but packs a good rumble in movies.

B&w 685 downstairs powered by Roksan Kandy

B&w 601 s3 powered by denon dab receiver.

Epos ES11 on dedicated stands powered by Naim NAC72, Hi Cap, NAP250 & CD3 😀

I would like some floorstanders for my new house as the lounge is miles bigger than the last house but I'm struggling to find a set at a proper Yorkshire price (i.e. Cheap!).

Would love some older mission speakers as my 731's I used to own years ago are still my favourites.

Neat Acoustic Motive SE2'S, sound amazing to my (admittedly untrained) ears.

Bowers CM5s.
Best sound i've ever had, even when being driven from my modest Marantz PM6006. In fact, I recently sold my 'keepers' (NEAT Mystiques) on the strength of the CM5s being so darned good.

The PM6006 is an amazing little amp for the money. Outshone (on everything except faster baselines where it struggled) some much more expensive kit when I tested amps out.

I was really surprised at how big a difference there was between them.

Forgot to mention they're powered via a Denon AVR amp, not sure which one exactly, but again sounds good (to me!)

Agreed, traded an Elicit R for the PM6006, as I really struggled to difinitively tell you where the extra £1400 was going..

I wanna buy a speaker as well. Apparently I am using the new macbook pro and the sound is legitly good.

Focal Aria 906's

Like these

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Just to add something different to the mix, I've got some Elipson Planet L speakers. Basically bowling balls on a stick but sound gorgeous and get house friendly style points too

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(that's not me by the way!)

Some nice kit on here. Lots of tech and yet the original recordings (of say guitars) were often done with a Shure SM58 a few cms from the cone of a 12" Celestion which costs about 130e. I use Creambacks and Vintage 30s in open and closed back cabs and they are prety crude things. Seems odd to use so much technology to accurately reproduce something so industrial.

But that's to produce the required effect. To reproduce accurately that recorded sound requires a neutral system.

That I appreciate, just bear in mind you're reproducing a recording that had already been coloured before it got onto the CD.

Nice real world set up Oink. Ran the same amplification with CDX and Sondek as sources, thru ES14's. Really nicely balanced, and I think I'm correct in saying Epos developed their early models with Naim amplification so one would expect the synergy to be good.

Kef Q35s I bought about 25 years ago - still going strong - can't comment on any of their audiophile qualities though as they hardly ever get used just for music any more. Still they look quite nice - when I take the covers off (not that I'd dare with my destructive 4 y/o daughter around)

That I appreciate, just bear in mind you're reproducing a recording that had already been coloured before it got onto the CD.

BUT... the best speakers I ever heard for rock were Klipschorns, because basically they are built like PA speakers. I couldn't have coped with them for small scale choral work though, Quad ESL63s work best for that. Those ATC SCM50s mentioned back up there are the best all rounders I've heard.

onlysteel - Member
Nice real world set up Oink. Ran the same amplification with CDX and Sondek as sources, thru ES14's. Really nicely balanced, and I think I'm correct in saying Epos developed their early models with Naim amplification so one would expect the synergy to be good.

Yes - I believe they were developed with Naim amplification in mind. I would describe my system as "neutral' and have been very happy with it since the mid '90's when I took all the gear I had at the time into my local Radford HiFi, part x'ed it all and splurged on my ideal system!! YOLO and you can't take it with you etc. Im just dreading the day I have to get the 250 re-capped! 😯

B&W PM1s ...
Great sounding small speakers ....
The biggies are no longer needed ....

Oink - had my late eighties 250 and Hicap returned for service by Naim after around 20 years of faithful service. Well worth doing, IMHO. 72 was replaced with an 82 shortly before.

You make some good points, Slowoldman. Vocals generally get sung through an SM 58 and a PA with a bit of EQ, chorus and reverb. Some singers use their own effects boxees. The PA units have a tweeter/horn and are closed back so much easier to reproduce with "hi-fi" speakers than the overdriven guitar which often uses an open back design.

I reckon hi-fis do small accoustic instruments and voice pretty well, where they fall down is in the reproduction of sounds made by big instruments or speakers with no damping. You can't make a small closed back driver sound like a big driver in an open cab. It takes the edge and aggression off the sound.

I use a modelling guitar amp with which you can select a speaker emulation to simulate Creamback, Greenback, Vintage 30, Alnico blue or whatever. It's not bad until you compare with a real Creamback and the treble rings in your ears.

I have just inherited via a friend of my mom's a pair of quad esl 63s and a pair of quad 57s. Am looking forward to getting them set up.

Eltax Liberty 5+ floor standers, bought in about '99 along with the Yamaha 'natural sound' amp they're wired to. A budget set up which I didn't imagine I'd still have so many years later!

I have just inherited via a friend of my mom's a pair of quad esl 63s and a pair of quad 57s. Am looking forward to getting them set up.

I have just inherited via a friend of my mom's a pair of quad esl 63s and a pair of quad 57s. Am looking forward to getting them set up.

What a pile of old hat failed technology cr@p.

Tell you what, I'll take them off your hands and not even charge for pickup - or, doing you a huge favour swap for a pair of Wharfdale Diamonds.

<wink>

Welp, picked up the stuff today and all good with a slight misunderstanding on my part. It's a pair of 63s and a single 57. The owner was into early music and had a collection of hundreds of 78s, all mono, and that's what he listened to them on!

KEF Q Series something or others - floor jobs up front and a centre/stand mount rears... the sub expired so needs replacing at some stage. Sound ace and fill the room though, and haven't really missed the sub so may just leave it.

In t'other room there is a pair of KRK Studio Monitors... may add a sub to them at some stage if my mixes need more bass response when recording starts up... but for the moment they are absolutely fantastic!

So I'm done with the Cerwins. They're great "party" speakers but they lack clarity and poise and I regret selling the Tannoy 633

Looking at KEF Q500 vs Pioneer FS SP52 or similar floorstanders. Wharfedale Diamond around the same price too.

Bought my ProAc D15's with me to Spain but I've now got a smaller listening space and there's not enough air for them perform.

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Going to audition some suitable replacements at the "local" dealer in Malaga.

Spendor or Dynavector. Looking for small ported boxes on stands...

^^^ Those are pretty!!!

So tempted with these..

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Audio Physic Tempo 25. Absolutely love 'em.

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We used to have a pair of wilmslow audio prestige speakers which were absolutely fantastic but didn't come with us through house moves. Don't listen to a whole lot of music these days, much more internet radio, and a smaller set of stand speakers is fine.

Wilmslow audio! Blast from the past, used to love pouring over their speaker kit brochures. Exploded a pair of massive ones at a party we threw.

Interesting to see Ruark getting mentions, I'm getting reacquainted with a pair of Icons I have to a pal - I designed them 🙂

Some 1960s Kolster Brandes KS651s.

They look and sound.... pleasant.

Spendor S3/5Se

to a Naim Nait 5e and Linn LP12.

Basically a Rogers Ls3/5A - tight and renders vocals better than anything other than Harberths.

not much bass but then they're in the cottage part of the house which has low ceilings and smaller rooms (I live in an old farmhouse which has a later 19th C part). So, bass is not an issue unlike the Linns they replaced - too boomy for the hobbit hole.

I got them for £300 off EBay, from Austria.

Anyhow, get a decent converter or streamer and run Qobuz 28 bit - the difference in quality is amazing.

Mission 704a run off an Arcam AVR300 in bi-amp mode and a Marantz CD52. Not subtle but it really kicks and was a cheap set up, certainly in hi-fi terms.

Speakers were new 15 years ago. CD player and amp were second hand. Under £400 all in with cables.

Other rig is Tannoy m3, Marantz 2226b, Philips CD104, Dual 505-2. Beautiful, just beautiful. I'm sure some higher end speakers would improve it though.

We Accoustics floor standers in the living room. Great sound and really effortless, but unfortunately bought just after my deaf neighbour moved out.

The kitchen tunes are served by a pair of B&W DM602s that have been demoted from living room duties upon arrival of the floorstandibg Q Accoustics.

Kitchen sound system is as far away from the party wall and my nieghbour and so often gets abused more.

Kef Reference 104/2s.

Got them free about ten years ago but they're from the late 80s. In a Rotel Pre/Power system with two power amps running in mono.

Sound great.

A few years ago I set up a couple of paires of modern speakers alongside the Kefs and I thought they sounded better, initially.

When we switched back to the Kefs there was no comparison.

My mate said " Those other speakers sound like a very good recording is being played but with the Kefs it seems like the band is actually in the room."

Bought these a few weeks ago. Lovely.

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quad esl57. utterly divine.

Soooooo

Got rid of the Cerwin e710's. Just too full on. Harsh highs and overpowering bass. Great party music speakers but not good at all for tv/movies.

So I ended up with some Wharfedale Diamond 9.5. Was looking at a new set for $700 and nearly got them, then found a local woman selling her elderly Dad's AVR and speakers. Ended up with a set of Diamond 9.5, a 10" Tannoy sub, a Jamo centre and a Yamaha RV-x620 amp for $600! All pristine condition. The Wharefedale's, not a mark on them and doubtful if any real volume has been put through them. Kevlar drivers too. Mmmm

Kept my existing amp in place, new speakers on that. New Yammy amp in the kitchen hooked up to some smaller Cerwin XLS-6 bookshelf speakers. Perfect for bit of reggae this arvo ( http://rtrfm.com.au/ on the for next hour and a half if anyone's interested).

Oh, and got given a Sony bluray player for nowt which has wifi, usb and plays SACDs too.

Basically LS/35as, but in thin wall cabinets from Stirling Broadcast, which mimic the original cabinets the prototypes versions used and are suppossed to be more of a 'lossy' cabinet.

Using external crossovers from a company called Cicable, one of the founding members being Derek Hughes who used to run Spendor and whose dad started it.

The combination of those two things makes a huge difference to that speaker with much lower THD - much more like a grade 1 broadcast speaker sans the bass.

And used in combinaton with Stirling Broadcast AB-2 bass extenders.

Driven by mono-block Quad 909s and a Tact 2.2x pre-amp, with a Music First TVC pre-amp in between just acting as a buffer, as it seems to matchthe pre and power amps together much better for some reason.

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Just put up the audio baffles and restacked/cable tidied...

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None currently (well a beat up pair of TDL RTL R40's but they don't really count as they're not hooked to anything).

I did have a pair of Rega RS5's most recently at they were brilliant.

Do all my listening on headphones at the moment and have the very lovely if excruciatingly expensive Hifiman HE1000K MK2.

Detail wise unlike anything I've ever heard...

Mr Woppit, are those specifically left and right speakers? I'd have them the other way round so the curved part of the grilles are by the walls.

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aphex_2k - Member
Mr Woppit, are those specifically left and right speakers? I'd have them the other way round so the curved part of the grilles are by the walls.

Without grilles...

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