Hi,
I've just moved house and for a number of reasons need to get new
speakers for my sound system. System was Marantz 63 MK2 KIS CD player, Arcam
Alpha 9 amp and bi-wired Acoustic Energy AE109s in a room approx 22m.

The floorstanders have to go as the new house doesn't lend itself well to
them, and I have 2 kids under the age of 2 so they aren't practical anyway.
The new room is 35m, the walls are 3 foot thick stone, a lot of wood
finishing and carpeted.

I don't really want to spend over 400 quid and am looking for bookshelf
speakers that will be able to make a decent sound in a room this size and
offer punchy bass. I guess this is asking a lot really. I can't go into
shops as I live in Shetland and its not practical.

Under consideration are Quad 11Ls, Dynaudio Audience 42s or B&W DM602 S3s.
Any thoughts on these or alternatives that may be suitable would be
gratefully received.

Cheers
Richard

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I've just moved house and for a number of reasons need to get new
speakers for my sound system. System was Marantz 63 MK2 KIS CD player,
Arcam
Alpha 9 amp and bi-wired Acoustic Energy AE109s in a room approx 22m.

The floorstanders have to go as the new house doesn't lend itself well to
them, and I have 2 kids under the age of 2 so they aren't practical
anyway.
The new room is 35m, the walls are 3 foot thick stone, a lot of wood
finishing and carpeted.

I don't really want to spend over 400 quid and am looking for bookshelf
speakers that will be able to make a decent sound in a room this size and
offer punchy bass. I guess this is asking a lot really. I can't go into
shops as I live in Shetland and its not practical.

Under consideration are Quad 11Ls, Dynaudio Audience 42s or B&W DM602
S3s.
Any thoughts on these or alternatives that may be suitable would be
gratefully received.

Cheers
Richard

I would have to say the Dynaudios - but then I bought some! It really is a
case (I'm afraid) of listening. The Dynaudios are very punchy, fast,
detailed. Finished in (quite nice) vinyl (wood 12% extra), need space, say
20cm from wall, no biwire (not beneficial or therefore optional, they say!).
Bass is always an issue with small speakers, and I can only say it's the
*best* bass I've heard from any speakers I've owned - real slam. I found my
Audiolab 8000a (60w) not ideally suited, and tried with an old 100w power
amp and they came alive. My room is about 4.5m x 3.5m, so a fair bit smaller
than yours.

I auditioned several, including the B&Ws (also AVI, and some small TLs,
can't remember the name) and they were like toys in comparison. Very good,
notably smooth (especially the B&Ws), but a different league. I didn't
audition the Quads - apparently very good and you're likely to get a few
advocates here. In either case - Quad or Dynaudio - it's likely that you can
sell them at small loss on ebay if it goes wrong.

HTH

Rob

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 22:16:52 +0000 (UTC), "Richard"
wrote:

Hi,
I've just moved house and for a number of reasons need to get new
speakers for my sound system. System was Marantz 63 MK2 KIS CD player, Arcam
Alpha 9 amp and bi-wired Acoustic Energy AE109s in a room approx 22m.

The floorstanders have to go as the new house doesn't lend itself well to
them, and I have 2 kids under the age of 2 so they aren't practical anyway.
The new room is 35m, the walls are 3 foot thick stone, a lot of wood
finishing and carpeted.

I don't really want to spend over 400 quid and am looking for bookshelf
speakers that will be able to make a decent sound in a room this size and
offer punchy bass. I guess this is asking a lot really. I can't go into
shops as I live in Shetland and its not practical.

Under consideration are Quad 11Ls, Dynaudio Audience 42s or B&W DM602 S3s.
Any thoughts on these or alternatives that may be suitable would be
gratefully received.

If you really want to mount the speakers on a bookshelf (rather than
stands) then you need to choose a speaker designed for this purpose;
many require a space behind in order to work properly and do not take
kindly to bookshelf mounting.

I have a pair of Quad 11Ls, which would probably not be suitable for
your requirements - although they are excellent speakers - because
they are not designed to be mounted close to a wall. My better half
has a pair of B&W speakers (probably DM602s) mounted on the top of a
bookcase close to a wall, where they work well in a less than ideal
location. (The bass reflex port is on the back of the Quads and on the
front of the B&Ws.)

The best advice of all is to listen to them in your room for a little
while if at all possible and let your ears decide.


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I've just moved house and for a number of reasons need to get new
speakers for my sound system. System was Marantz 63 MK2 KIS CD player,
Arcam
Alpha 9 amp and bi-wired Acoustic Energy AE109s in a room approx 22m.

The floorstanders have to go as the new house doesn't lend itself well to
them, and I have 2 kids under the age of 2 so they aren't practical
anyway.
The new room is 35m, the walls are 3 foot thick stone, a lot of wood
finishing and carpeted.

I don't really want to spend over 400 quid and am looking for bookshelf
speakers that will be able to make a decent sound in a room this size and
offer punchy bass. I guess this is asking a lot really. I can't go into
shops as I live in Shetland and its not practical.

Under consideration are Quad 11Ls, Dynaudio Audience 42s or B&W DM602
S3s.
Any thoughts on these or alternatives that may be suitable would be
gratefully received.

Cheers
Richard



Dynaudio do a wall version of the Audience 42. Might be worth considering
if you really need to mount them on a bookshelf or wall.

Dave

Thanks for the suggestions. Although they'll be going on shelves there is a
decent amount of space behind them if required, so I'm not stuck with
wallmounts per se. Having spoken to a quite a few shops and having read what
you guys are saying I'm thinking to go for the Dynaudios. Whats really
swinging this is 2 of the shops I phoned recommended the Dynaudios (42s or
preferably 52s) despite the fact that they weren't dealers and couldn't sell
me them.

Tempted to spend a few quid extra and go for the 52s though (seen a pair of
ex-demos for 500) as I like fuller bass. Anyone seen any going cheaper? Need
to be black - Wifes instructions.

Cheers
Richard





"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I've just moved house and for a number of reasons need to get new
speakers for my sound system. System was Marantz 63 MK2 KIS CD player,
Arcam
Alpha 9 amp and bi-wired Acoustic Energy AE109s in a room approx 22m.

The floorstanders have to go as the new house doesn't lend itself well to
them, and I have 2 kids under the age of 2 so they aren't practical
anyway.
The new room is 35m, the walls are 3 foot thick stone, a lot of wood
finishing and carpeted.

I don't really want to spend over 400 quid and am looking for bookshelf
speakers that will be able to make a decent sound in a room this size and
offer punchy bass. I guess this is asking a lot really. I can't go into
shops as I live in Shetland and its not practical.

Under consideration are Quad 11Ls, Dynaudio Audience 42s or B&W DM602
S3s.
Any thoughts on these or alternatives that may be suitable would be
gratefully received.

Cheers
Richard