Very happy man..

georges

georges

georges

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5 Apr 2006
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Problem: Terrible Speakers.
Solution: replace with KEF Cresta 2.

Some specs:
365 x 205 x 240 mm.
Frequency response ± 3 dB 48Hz - 20kHz
Sensitivity 90dB
Amplifier requirements 10 – 100W

WOW, is all I can say. These speakers have some serious bass. They're even near a wall; despite being rear ported, and on a flimsy shelf (till I'm back at uni), and the bass is very deep and powerful.
They're also insanely loud compared to the others, 1/4 volume is roughly equivalent to 2/3rds on the old speakers.
They sound absolutely beautiful to me.

Cost? £50 on ebay. They sound so full, and are absolutely perfect for my listening taste.


I think I've unearthed a bit of a gem here. Not much about them on the web, save for:
http://www.kef.com/history/1990_2/cresta_1999-02/cresta2.asp
http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2001/0201.html - review

Image006.jpg



I'd definitely recommend them for people looking for bassy bookshelf speakers on a budget. With Loudness on there's not much less bass - if any, than the sub that came with my old 5.1 system. However, it's much more "there", and blends with the music much better.



Now I'm just tempted to get something like a NAD C320bee to treat them a bit. Would you guys recommend this amp, and what kinda price should I expect to pay on ebay? I heard they sound similar to the NAD 3020, which my mate has, so I can try them out with that to guage the sound, but wouldn't mind the extra power now and then of the 320 and the remote wouldn't go amiss either. Are they reliable etc though?

Thanks :)
 
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They are nice speakers, good choice.

What amp do you have at the moment? Looks like an old Pioneer reciever. I personally would not bother switching it over for something else as they are pretty damn good.

Oh and turn the loudness off! And leave the tone controls on flat :p.
 
Tone controls and Winamp EQ are on flat. ;) I just turn loudness on as I rarely crank them up properly, so it sounds better with it on. When I turn it up I turn the loudness off :p

It's a Trio (Kenwood) KR 5010, so 45W/channel. Sounds pretty good and I don't know if I'd get a better sound with a NAD, but I might as well give my mates a try to see, as even a 3020 might be an improvement; I know it sounds pretty nice with his pretty terrible speakers, so with these I imagine it'll be rather lovely.

I'm kinda worried about turning it up too loud in case the amp clips and damages the tweeters, so the NAD soft clipping feature could be useful.

Cheers :)

Excuse the terrible photo - rubbish phone camera, and I only use film apart from that which isn't too convenient :p
 
Those Kenwood amps are pretty damn good, I personally wouldn't be looking at upgrading it. 45watts is plenty, you would have to have it playing extremely loud before it would start clipping. Still, borrow your friends amp and see how it sounds :).

I wouldn't turn the loudness switch on at all if I were you, it just boosts the bass and treble. 'Sup to you though :p.
 
Yeah, to be honest, if the sound is better, it's gonna be incredibly marginal as this is so impressive as-is.

The amp is my dad's old one, so I'd quite like one that is absolutely mine though. However, I doubt it would be worth it. I suspect it's "I WANT!" syndrome at play here.. :p
 
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loudness is for night time when you have the amp turned down so low you can't even hear the bass - flip the switch and you get bass back but without the extra volume...
 
To the OP. £50 for these is cracking. It can be addictive scouring the bay and boot sales for likewise bargains and just seeing what you can find. You don't need to go out spending hundreds of pounds, or deliberating over which speaker to buy to get a bit of fun and education in your hi fi hobby. Speakers will make the biggest difference to the sound of a hifi system.
 
Yeah, I can't quite believe that I paid £50 for these speakers, inherited an amp and paid about £10 on 6m of cabling (The speakers came with 2x 3m Gale Cables but they're banana plugs, which don't fit into the amp). It's less than the cost of my 5.1 system, sound much better and has more bass.

No idea how these are such good value. Apparently they retailed for $7/800 (can't remember which).

The bass keeps surprising me. I thought they wouldn't reach that low compared to my sub, but for music they haven't missed a single bass line. Songs like Dustin O Halloran - Runner have properly impressive sounding bass from it from the classical instruments, and then electro like The Proxy - Decoy sound absolutely pumping.


I'm properly over the moon! :D
 
were they new old stock or 2nd hand?

New they cost around £120 -£150, so personally if you paid £50 thats quite a lot for a set of 6-8 year old speakers, a quick look on eBay shows they tend to go from between £25 - £60

But if your happy with them that the main thing, they were cracking budget speakers in their day. sticking them on stands will do wonders for them as well.

Some great old classic speakers available second hand, iv seen a pair of Mission 751 go for £40!, they were over £300 new and will show a clean pair of heals to most sub £400 speakers around today.
 
2nd Hand.

Sounds that way, the review I saw made them seem more expensive. Oh well, to me they're worth the money I paid. Was looking at Mission 751s, but I heard they weren't to great for bass.
 
georges said:
. It's less than the cost of my 5.1 system, sound much better and has more bass.
Click to expand...

A lot of people don't realise that even an £20 old stereo hifi will knock spots of many of the '5.1' systems sold today. For 'computer speakers' it takes a lot to beat a good quality stereo amp and some chep second hand speakers.

The bass keeps surprising me. I thought they wouldn't reach that low compared to my sub,
Click to expand...

I don't know what sub you have but if it's part of the '5.1.' package above this isn;t surprising, as I said above. It may 'shake' the floor more, but for quality sound it'll lose every time.
 
I've got a pair of KEF Cresta 10's which look to be their newer brothers. I can't say I'm that blown away by the sound myself? The bass is plentiful, but it seems loose and uncontrolled.

Interesting how the older versions are getting rave reviews.
 
kidloco said:
Some great old classic speakers available second hand, iv seen a pair of Mission 751 go for £40!, they were over £300 new and will show a clean pair of heals to most sub £400 speakers around today.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it, paid about £100 for mine inc some heavy duty floor stands... Gorgeous speakers though, sound better than the quad lite speakers (however the overall quad l-ite setup I have is equal, if not better overall and 5.1). Keep getting tempted to integrate them into the 5.1 as fronts, or making the setup 7.1 but remember them being larger and my space issues.

Love them as speakers though, with a good sub in tow they really wouldn't put a foot wrong, great speakers. RIP original mission Mission.

Would love to get a set of 753 Mission floorstanders, and a tonally matching set center speaker and run these as 5.1, bet that would sound gobsmacking with the pretty decent Quad Lite sub (which seems to be of similar quality to the BK XLS200/300). Remember there was a guy on AV forums who reckoned if he could piece together a 7.1 using all mission 753 floorstanders + 75c center for under a grand, as a speaker system it'd rival any modern shop bought for over £5k.

There are some awesome second hand speakers available, have seen Mission 752s available for £30 + pickup! These were £500 mini floorstanders.
 
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M3G4UK said:
I've got a pair of KEF Cresta 10's which look to be their newer brothers. I can't say I'm that blown away by the sound myself? The bass is plentiful, but it seems loose and uncontrolled.

Interesting how the older versions are getting rave reviews.
Click to expand...

Sometimes when they tweak and change the internals of the speakers, they don't always really improve them, sometimes its a case of modernising the look and making them cheaper to produce :(
(Onkyo 805 vs 806 would be an example when talking amps, as the 805, the older brother, has better Burr Brown DACs).
 
M3G4UK said:
I've got a pair of KEF Cresta 10's which look to be their newer brothers. I can't say I'm that blown away by the sound myself? The bass is plentiful, but it seems loose and uncontrolled.

Interesting how the older versions are getting rave reviews.
Click to expand...

They're much smaller (12litres for my Cresta 2s, compared to 8.5 litres for the Cresta 10s), which I guess could explain the difference. The woofer is also slightly smaller too.

http://www.kef.com/history/1990_2/cresta_1999-02/cresta2.asp
http://www.kef.com/products/cresta/cresta10.asp

Apparently What Hifi gave them 5 stars.
 
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50 squid is not to bad. I paid 40 new for my old pair of Cresta 1's several years ago. I think the Cresta 2's were about 70 squid new at the time however as I only ordered mine as a pair of cheap rear speakers so I didn't bother spending the extra cash for the 2's.

What Hi-Fi did give them 5 stars and they were their budget speakers of choice when they were first launched.

Please turn the loudness and any of the tone controls off, surely the're boomy enough all ready being placed that close to the wall?

Dave
 
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