Page 1 of Speaker advice pleaswe

I have been told in no uncertain terms by "she who must be obeyed" that she no longer wants to live in a batchelor pad :( . Therefore I need to replace my speakers with some that can be discreetly tucked away. Can`t see her problem really :)

They need to be good for both music and dvds (so will need to hook up to my 5.1 amp). I have looked at the BOSE Acoustimass 15 series, but have noticed some very mixed reviews on t`internet, and when coupled with the asscoated price tag, have made me wary.

I am not a serious audiophile, but I know what I like in terms of sound quality, but more importantly I know what I don`t.

As I have not upgraded my speakers for a while, I am a little out of touch with what is good and what is not. Does anyone have any comments on these BOSE speakers (good or bad), or indeed does anyone know of any speaker systems that are better (but still staying with the "small" theme)

Thanks for any help you can give.

1. BOSE = Better off with something else
2. Whats your budget?
3. What amp/setup do you have right now? Are you in the market just for the speakers or for a full setup?

T¦M3CH4S3R

"I am worst at what I do the best, for this gift I feel blessed. I found it hard... it was hard to find. Oh well, Whatever! NEVERMIND"

I currently have a Sony DTS DD5.1 amp, which although I would like to upgrade as well, I can live with for now. I am just looking for speakers at the mo.

I can probably go up to £1,000 if necessary.

Having said that I would also like to get a DVD HDD Recorder as well, but that`s another story :)

Cheers

Ok - what I had in mind, and what I know about is all around £2000 as thats the range I was looking for when I bought my system.

I am sure the good doc will be along in a moment to sort this out!

Sorry I wasnt of much help.

T¦M3CH4S3R

"I am worst at what I do the best, for this gift I feel blessed. I found it hard... it was hard to find. Oh well, Whatever! NEVERMIND"

No problems whatsoever, thanks for taking the time to help.......

Are you after satellites or can you go for `proper` miniature bookshelf speakers?

I have a normal stereo setup and so I need a descreet 5.1 for my dvd`s so I`m looking at going for this:
http://www.audica.co.uk/en/cs_series.php?view=system1

http://www.audica.co.uk/en/cs_series.php?accessories&type=stand_v1
As the speaker bar houses the front stereo pair and the centre. This got a good review from What HiFi if you believe what they say. Hopefully I`ll go for a demo soon.

But this might be better for music at just over a grand:
http://www.audica.co.uk/en/cs_series.php?view=system3

Review here:
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/equipment/1698/audica-cs-system-3-speakers.html

I might be completely off the mark here but hey it`s food for thought.
Cheers

This item was edited on Thursday, 7th September 2006, 17:14

I`m not sure what this years reccomendations are, but both the Kef (Eggs + sub) and the B&W 5.1 systems allways seem to get glowing reports in Wghat Hi-Fi, and are around £700 leaving you £300 for a HDD DVD recorder.

I have a mix of Kef `eggs` for the rears, Kef Q1s for fronts, Q9 for the center and a PSW1000 sub woofer. Small discrete and sounds superb. The sub and the fronts are all in the dark apple colour and look great. A complete set of "eggs" would be very discrete.

Since you say you are not *too* bothered by audiophile quality, the KEF 2000 might be more to your liking. This package combines a Denon 1906 receiver, and at £750, still leaves you with £250 for an HDD receiver.

T¦M3CH4S3R

"I am worst at what I do the best, for this gift I feel blessed. I found it hard... it was hard to find. Oh well, Whatever! NEVERMIND"

Thanks very much for all the replies that have been given, it has certainly given me food for thought.........I quite like the look of the KEF KHT 2005AV setup, as it ticks all boxes in terms of size and has a pretty good review, and is cheaper that the BOSE system. Thanks again......

Not just cheaper, it`ll perform much better.

Spend time reading through bose horror stories and you will know they are not worth £100, much less £4000 which is charged for them. Small they are, but when you rip them apart, apart from a neodomynium (high strength) magnet, the cones are just paper! Bog standard treated paper! How can a paper cone ever make better sound than kevlar or aluminium which is being used by major manufacturers.

Bose is expensive because of the money they spend on advertising. "Better Sound Through Research" - absolute trash.

For fun, go to a place which sells Bose, and compare it side by side with any other major brand (Mission, KEF, Bowers and Wilkins, Miller Kreisel) - or even the high end sony HT things. You will be amazed by the difference. I had this demo happen to me. In a store, which had Bose Lifestyle 45 (the top end thingy) hooked up to the same source as a B&W MT-1 system (running off a Pioneer Amp). He put on some classical thingy, runs on bose for a couple of minutes, and then flicks a switch to run it on B&W. The sounds changes - the soundfield changes, the imaging changes - this is pure music! 5 minutes, and me and the wife swore that we will never buy bose again!

Good luck with the Kef eggs! you will NOT be disappointed...

BTW - just for fun google for "bose $ucks" - $ replaced with S of course, and you can have a day of merriment with horror stories etc.

T¦M3CH4S3R

"I am worst at what I do the best, for this gift I feel blessed. I found it hard... it was hard to find. Oh well, Whatever! NEVERMIND"

This item was edited on Monday, 11th September 2006, 13:27