Auditioning Speakers and Choosing What To Buy

i recently decided to look into upgrading my speakers.

Last week, a salesman brought some Monitor Audio silver 300 speakers to my home and set them up so I could A/B them with my current floorstanders.

They were good, but I decided I wanted to hear alternatives, so today I visited the demo room in store. I’m total, I was there about 3 hours comparing various speakers.

It’s the first time I’ve done this, and for the most part I found the differences subtle, but of the speakers I tested the Tannoy Revolution XT8F and the Dali Opticon 6 were my favourites, with a preference towards the Tannoys, though I fear they would be too big for my room.

How do you ultimately decide which speakers to buy? As I will be spending probably just over £2000 because i’ll need to buy matching surround speakers, I want to make sure i’m 100% happy with my choice.

I’m not even certain yet what i’m looking for - just ‘better’. However, this afternoon I was listening to my current system, enjoying it and wondering whether it’s even worth the search.

 

. . . then you’re not ready for an upgrade. Consider that sometimes, making some minor changes to your listening room, cleaning your speaker cable connectors, cleaning your interconnect connectors, ensuring your turntable and phono preamp (if you have them) are operating silently (i.e., hum-free), and that your existing speakers are optimally positioned is collectively most often better than changing speakers. And it’s far less costly.

If you’ve had your existing speakers for some significant period of time (anything beyond six months, IMO), every time you sit down to listen to music played at home, in a shop or at a friend’s place, your brain is expecting to hear your speakers. That’s what you’re used to hearing. I think that it takes a long time (at least weeks) for your brain to fully shed what you’re used to hearing and start to embrace the best of what a new pair of speakers has to offer. Maybe, until you get fully used to the new speakers, your brain is going to simply pick out of the new speakers as much as it can of what your previous speakers sounded like, gradually accepting more and more of what the new speakers are actually doing. Change takes place gradually.

I think the Monitor Audio Silver 300 speakers are excellent floorstanders. Your existing Mordaunt-Short 906i speakers are competent enough, no doubt about it, but they’re a bit tubby in the bass, they do not have the gorgeous midrange accuracy of the Monitor Audio units, and they don’t have overall balance and accuracy of the Monitor Audio units. I think you have to give yourself a chance to get used to some great speakers, and that requires a lot of audition time.

After a few auditions using music you know well, the superior designs from Monitor Audio’s Silver series, and other makers too, will reveal the shortcomings of your Mordaunt-Short towers. Bring money. Unfortunately.

Forget about all that. If you’re genuinely enjoying the 906i towers, maybe you’re also really not ready to spend on the order of four or five times more than what you originally paid for the 906i?

 

Your ears and brain are used to your current setup. What I do is look for reviews of the speakers I am interested in and see if the reviewer calls out stuff I am looking for. More bass, refined bass, warm sound or livelier sound. Voiced for acoustic instruments, vocals or more for electronic.....so on. In general I think you should be looking for more of what you already have, can the new speakers do what you have better......
The Rega RX5 I have are not known for huge big boomy bass, but they give more than enough depending on placement due to the side firing woofer a highly detailed bass which I like, but what they do very well is create a magical midrange and lovely highs.

Looking for something better is a good start, then just refine the list as you demo speakers. Also, associated gear makes a huge difference, my Rega's really did not sound good in the dealers showroom. They were paired with an Ayre integrated amp which really was not a good match, the Ayre was struggling to make them sound good. Both my NAD and especially the Halo make the Rega's sound brilliant, I took a chance but I knew they would sound better, plus I could have returned them.

Have fun in your search

 

I’m very much at the research / demo stage at the moment, and won’t purchase anything until i’m certain it’s a product i’m happy with.

I spent about two hours demoing the Monitor Audios, and they were better than the Mordaunt Shorts, no question, but for me i’m not sure the improvement equals the cost.

It was interesting A/B ing the Monitor Audios with the Dali’s yesterday, because the sound of the Dalis stood out to me. I was in the demo room for about 3 hours yesterday!

The next step may be to try and get a demo of the Dalis and Tannoys at my home.

 

Thanks for your advice.

I do find it difficult when using a demo room in store, to remember how speakers sounded compared to my own when i’m back home. The one upside is they were able to partner the speakers for the demo with an amp and CD player pretty close to my own.

 

did you try the Tannoy XT6F? they sound great, punchy, dynamic and well balanced. much preferred over the XT8F which had some etch to the treble and overbearing loose bass. Be careful with the Dali if you have neutral to bright source, amplification or room acoustics.

 

I think you’re going about it the best way. The Tannoy XT8F, Monitor Audio Silver 300 and the Dali Opticon 6 are all terrific speakers. The more you listen to them, the more you’ll hear the detail and musical accuracy they provide, and the more you’ll hear each speaker clearly distance themselves from your Mordaunt-Short 906i.

 

I did try the XT6Fs. I A/B’d them with the Dali’s, but the Dalis stood out to me over the Tannoys.

I then A/B’d the Dali’s with the XT8Fs, and slightly preferred the Tabnoys. They are big beasts though! Too big for my room, I think.

 

Ideally I feel I need to spend an evening with either the Dali’s or Tannoys at home so I can compare with my Mordaunt Shorts and hear what they sound like in my room.

I may ask if I can do that.

 

Id recommend trying different approaches. If all you've tried are box speakers firing straight at you, there are a myriad of other approaches. Stats, Ribbons, Open Baffles, Seni Omnis etc etc etc. I personally love both ribbons, sloped baffle/upward firing and semi omnis. The different approaches may take a bit more seeking out, but you may discover greater differences and are more likely to find your own version of bliss if you try more varied designs.

 

Ultimately it's what you like the sound of best if the quality is much the same. The new Monitor Audio Silver's are supposed to be the best in their long history so far (my MA Silver RS8's are still going strong after 15 years or so), and I doubt you will go wrong with them. I think you are right to try and audition at home if you can. The Monitor Audio Silver's also come in other variations - the home cinema package at £2875 just won What HI Fi's best of the year, as did the Silver 200's in its price band. I recently had the French Focal's (available at Richer's, like the Dali's and the MA's) recommended to me, and I would try to hear some ATC's (maybe the 11's), which a lot of professionals tend to like. I would also try to audition the MA Silver 200s vs the 300s to see if you think the price differential is worth it. BTW try haggling...Richer's said they would do me some £1000 Silver 200's for £925 so I suspect a 10% discount or close to may be achievable. Design-wise the latest MA's seem a bit smaller now, and come in colours like white and black, as well as wood finishes. They seem to have thought hard about putting a variety of speaker cones/ports in a relatively slim design (one is in the rear), and they are now supposed to work just as well next to walls, rather than a bit away from them. Tannoy's have a big sound and can seem physically large too. This may or may not be important to you. Hope this helps. BTW2...don't forget cabling - e.g.one of the Chord range like the Clearway. And try to use that for the auditions too. Some salesmen use very high quality cables to make the speakers sound better than "normal/reasonable" cost cables would, so you get a false impression.

 

The Monitor Audio’s were what the Richer sales guy originally recommended to me, following a home consultation, but after the demo session yesterday (the second time i’ve heard them), i’ve kind of discounted them. The Dali’s sounded better overall to me when A/B testing them.

I also heard the Focal’s yesterday. I A/B’d them with the Tannoy XT8Fs and the Tannoys sounded better, IMO.

The guy from Richer originally gave me a quote for the Monitor Audios (with matching rear and centre) and quoted a £200 discount, which I thought was pretty good.

 

Did you listen in your room, though? You'd be surprised how different sound in your environment.

 

So far i’ve only heard the Monitor Audios in my room.

I agree I need to hear the others in my room to make a final decision, but it’s difficult when it requires the sales guy to bring them round ( i’m unable to do it myself for various reasons).

 

Have the salesman bring those to your house. That's probably the only way you'll know for sure!

 

Why? Not being contrary, just wondering what leaves you unsatisfied...which might prove to not be the speakers at all.

Do you mean physically? Or sound-wise? (I don't really believe any speakers sound too big for a room, rather that some smaller speakers have less bass which happens to coincide with a room boost serendipitously.)

The ones I listen to the least. That is, the ones I stop "evaluating" and start putting on different tracks and really getting into the music.
Also, speakers will sound quite different when you get them home, especially the bass. So most of all I want the CLEAREST sounding speaker, since that quality does tend to persist even when you get them home.
I also like to put on some metal and hard rock tracks, and CRANK IT UP. Many many speakers can sound lovely with classical or jazz or solo voice, even at high volumes. But many of those fall apart into intermodulation and other distortions when faces with massed sustained guitars, bass, and drums (think Motorhead: "Ace Of Spades" or Ted Nugent "Free For All"

Eh, nah. Center, yes, upgrade. And if you upgrade your mains you definitely need to add another of your sub, or possibly a totally new sub, to keep up. Surround channels are not nearly as critical, so unless you think yours suck leave that alone for now and concentrate the money on the front and sub.

By the way, is there any highpass crossover taking low bass strain off the main amp and speakers? Your profile lists Cambridge Audio Azur 740 (A?) but that is not a surround amp so I'm wondering what is driving all this.

 

I auditioned those MS 906i secondhand many moons ago and they sounded great apart from the bloated upper bass/lower mid-range, which affects male vocals. At that time they lost out and I eventually bought some MA Silver S8 speakers, which I kept for five years. Both were auditioned at home.

Home auditions are essential. Also, there must be more than one dealer in Bristol. If you’re not in a huge hurry then sample the wares of more than one dealer.

My recent auditioning ended up with me doing home auditions of products from three dealers. Initially, it was Monitor Audio versus Dynaudio versus Proac versus Russell K. It proved stressful at times but worthwhile.

First to go were my own MA GS60s, which were less musical than the opposition. (I seem to recall that the MS 906is were nicely musical, however.) Next to go were the Proac SM100s, which were great in the dealer’s listening room but less so at home. They’re probably better suited to all-valve gear. Then the Dynaudio Contour 20s went. Lovely speakers but in need of more power than my 90W Croft Series 7 could muster, and also lacking in bass weight compared to the 3-way floorstanders that I was used to. That left the Russell K Red 150s, which are playing right now as I type. What they did was to keep calling to me to drop everything and listen to them. They’re doing it right now. They’re not perfect but they keep demanding my attention. Eric Burdon and The Animals are sounding hugely musical as they perform “Sky Pilot”.

Oh, and as a final blast I auditioned some Spendor D7s, but after a few minutes the Russell Ks were demanding to be reinstated.

So please take your time, have some fun and find the speakers that touch your soul.

To this end, the diminutive and cheap as chips Q Acoustics 2010i speakers attached to our conservatory system do this. Great speakers that leave me listening to the music and not to the speakers. They did this while we chilled out in there this afternoon. Their equally cheap as chips and nearly as diminutive 2020i big brothers are also superb in this respect. I have a pair of these as well. £100 from Richer Sounds and a first step towards choosing new speakers for my main system. I used them to reboot my ears. Size isn’t everything and it depends upon what you want from loudspeakers and also what you expect to hear when you listen.

 

I got the KEF LS50 wireless a year ago. I’m so happy with my choice. I was concerned of not getting enough bass but for the size of my listening room (11x10) I get enough low end.

I’d encourage to auditon them. Before the KEF’s, I combined my PSB Imagine 2xt with NAD, Arcam and Rega amplifiers. While results were satisfying with Arcam and Rega (different flavors but both great) I think I’m enjoying the LS50w way more.

 

The Tannoy XT8f I think would be better suited for a 2 channel setup. I do agree you should consider their size vs the size of your room. When considering a serious upgrade, forget multi-channel.. too many speakers, and degradation of sound via comb filter distortion and complex room modes.

 

Well, to be perfectly honest I'm not unsatisfied, but I have always wondered how much better my music could sound if I upgraded the speakers.

The store I'm dealing with offer a free service where they come to your home, look at your system and offer recommendations. The sales guy recommended to me that upgrading the speakers could make the biggest difference.

I'm no hi fi buff or audiophile but, probably naively, I kind of hanker after some speakers that blow me away. However, that's also why I'm in no hurry. I won't buy anything until I find something that to me is worth paying for the upgrade and if I don't find it, so be it.

Both - I think they are physically too big for the space I have, and I suspect the sound could overpower the room.

I'm not going for a sub. I live in a flat / apartment so it's not practical. I did actually buy one that matches my current system, but have never used it!

I have a surround set up and stereo set up together. I have the Cambridge Audio 740 A and 740 C CD player for stereo listening. For Surround, I have a Cambridge Audio 540 R V2, but use the pre outs so the stereo amp runs the front speakers, while the surround amp runs the centre and rears.

 

I have a 2 channel set up in addition to a surround set up, together in one system. I have a stereo amp and CD player for CD listening, while for surround the stereo amp runs the front speakers and my surround amp runs the centre and rears.

I'm not willing to abandon multi channel music. I love it.

 

The latest update from the store is that they can't get Tannoy stand mount speakers to use for the rears, as they have been discontinued.

Still considering my next steps, but basically I want to keep demoing speakers!

 

I'm going back for a second demo of the opticon 6's on Monday, and will also take a listen to the opticon 8's.

 

I'm going to take a trip to a Sevenoaks store over the weekend to look at some KEF's. Thanks.

 

If you’re interested in the KEF LS50 wireless, check out the Nocturne limited edition release. Looks neat.