Advice Needed Speaker upgrade

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I have just upgraded my hi-fi system to a quad elete pre-amp and 2x quad elete mono blocs.

My current speakers are a pair of monitor audio silver rx2's.

But I find the rx2's are a little bass heavy and the mid range is muddy, the c-cam tweeter is very harsh at high volume.

I am looking for a pair of more accurate and detailed speakers, with quicker timing and a more natural top-end.

I have been recommended:

Kef LS50
Kef R500/R300
B&W CM6 S2
B&W CM8 S2

I am looking upto £1500.00
As a price guide, I could stretch a little on this.

Most of the stuff I listen to is easy listening, Classical, jazz, aqustic & occasionally light rock.

I listen in my large carpeted front room, I am sat about 2meters/8foot away from them.

Has anyone got any good suggestions on a pairing with my quad?
 

Riverblue

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I can't give you any help with your setup, but maybe some advice. What I'm about to say you probably are already aware of. :)

When it comes to speakers/audio setup, one man's food is another's poison, it can be very personal. So someone's recommendation may not be what you are looking for. I would suggest finding a few good audio outlets in your areat, the type that have a demo room, and see if they will let you demo various speakers, preferably with some of your separates or maybe even in your home (unlikely). It won't be acoustically the same as your home, but should give you a better idea. I don't know what's available in your area, I did that with my local Sevenoaks Hi-Fi a few years ago when I got some new speakers and found them to be very accommodating, I find that if you don't ask, you don't get! :D
 
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Yes it was sevenoaks I went to, they have me the list of speakers.

I understand where you are coming from.

Thanks anyways.
 

battenfan

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If I had that kind of money I would search for studio monitors
I'm a sucker for ribbon tweeters - at least the few I've heard. It's the transient response of them that I love. Just reading up on them I've learned that they are not all good as many have high distortion. It's a jungle out there. My dream speakers for now are Stage Accompany but those are far too expensive. I've also tried out (non-ribbon) Genelec that were great but lacked low end bass in my opinion. I can't imagine any speaker with less than a 12" woofer would provide close to full-range. But that's me.
I would also try to return those mono blocks and go for active speakers. It's much easier to make crossover filters when you don't have to worry about power. You could even make digital filters. And it might be easier to make power amps too. You could have pwm amps for the low end for power efficiency and others in high end for fidelity.

To get you started check out these if you can.
http://www.amazon.com/ADAM-Audio-A8X-Powered-Monitor/dp/B003USF0AE/
Though I've never listened to them myself. I'm keepeing my 70s 10" woofer JBL until I... win the lottery.
Oh, one warning about ribbon tweeters, they have bad dispersion vertically.
 
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sonic1

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Got to be the Bowers and Wilkins for me and my preference are the stand mount CM6 S2 but as always its worth a demo first.
 
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Went for a demo and came out with,

B&W 683 S2 and saved some money, that way I got to upgrade my sacd/cd player.
 

Waveguide

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If you can find speakers that suits your personal taste and musical preferences in the mid and
high frequency range it's a good start. The bass region is very much influenced by room acoustics
and can be just like antenna adjustments, trial and error without end. My own solution to a
L-shaped living-room with resonances was a digital equalizer (Behringer DEQ2496) and a subwoofer.

The low bass region (like double-bass in jazz) now comes from a sweet spot that does not excite
too many ugly resonances. Those that still can't be avoided are "tamed" by the equalizer
(20-150 Hz). In other parts of the house there are horrible resonances, certain kinds of
music make toothbrushes dance on the second floor. As long as the "sweet spot" really is
just that I don't care really.

I like the shape that our speakers share, placed on both sides of a flat screen TV they make live
concerts something to really enjoy. Having tweeters and midrange at the right height makes the
illusion better. A digital link between satellite receiver and audio system is the icing on the cake.
 
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