Best floorstanders for under £400

GoRedwings19 · 2 Sep 2018 at 14:32

IvanDobskey>How did you get on with the 3050? They have the new 3050i model out but haven't listened to it yet. I loved the 3050 when I had it.

IvanDobskey · 2 Sep 2018 at 18:12

GoRedwings19 said:
IvanDobskey>How did you get on with the 3050? They have the new 3050i model out but haven't listened to it yet. I loved the 3050 when I had it.

Only decent speakers I have had up until now are the 2020i's, which are fantastic for the money.

I did consider the 3050, but they are just too big for my living room really. I went for the Monitor Audio Bronze 5's in the end at £475.

Hopefully will get them on Wednesday.

dbmzk1 · 3 Sep 2018 at 21:27

Just thought I'd say that I have a Denon Ceol N9 with some Q Accoustics 2050i's and the N9 is more than powerful enough to drive them, sounds great with no issues

Yadda · 4 Sep 2018 at 01:40

IvanDobskey said:
Only decent speakers I have had up until now are the 2020i's, which are fantastic for the money.

I did consider the 3050, but they are just too big for my living room really. I went for the Monitor Audio Bronze 5's in the end at £475.

Hopefully will get them on Wednesday.

This thread has made me look at upgrading my speakers (~15 year old Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3 floorstanders). Let us know how you get on with the Bronze 5's.

Damnit, I can feel my wallet twitching (in a good way).

lucid · 4 Sep 2018 at 05:25

Yadda said:
This thread has made me look at upgrading my speakers (~15 year old Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3 floorstanders). Let us know how you get on with the Bronze 5's.

Damnit, I can feel my wallet twitching (in a good way).

As much as I like MA Bronze/BR/BX 5s, I'd be surprised if you found them much of an upgrade from the Aegis Evo 3. This is especially the case if the room is small.

Have you mass loaded them?

IvanDobskey · 4 Sep 2018 at 06:49

Yadda said:
This thread has made me look at upgrading my speakers (~15 year old Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3 floorstanders). Let us know how you get on with the Bronze 5's.

Damnit, I can feel my wallet twitching (in a good way).

Despite being 15 years old, I think those are pretty good speakers

Speaker tech hasn't really changed much over that time period, so I'd say you'd have to spend a bit more to get something significantly better. Maybe the silver 6's. I noticed there's a refurbished set on richer sounds for £449.

Hoping to get my bronze 5's delivered tomorrow, so will report back. Just hoping my Denon N9 is up to the job.

IvanDobskey · 4 Sep 2018 at 10:58

Delivered today, so will have a play this evening

IvanDobskey · 5 Sep 2018 at 09:23

Got them all set up now and had a play:

Very impressed with the design and build. They feel high quality straight out of the box. Like the way the grilles are held in place magnetically, nice touch.

Sound wise, I initially found them a little harsh on the trebbles on some music. But my ears are adjusting accordingly. I think they will probably mellow as they are run in.

Overall very happy with them. I have now moved my 2020i's up to my pc setup, so it's all good

Doobedoo · 5 Sep 2018 at 17:49

Looking good glad your happy with them.

GoRedwings19 · 6 Sep 2018 at 02:33

@ivan nice looking setup

IvanDobskey · 6 Sep 2018 at 08:58

GoRedwings19 said:
@ivan nice looking setup

Cheers

That's my spending done for now I think

Upgradeitis can strike out of nowhere though. A better amp and a 4k 65 inch oled would be rather nice.....

IvanDobskey · 6 Sep 2018 at 09:42

Doobedoo said:
Looking good glad your happy with them.

Cheers

I have always skimped on the audio side of things in the past, both for my pc and AV setups.

Bought some really nice headphones couple of months ago and realized what I was missing.

Yadda · 6 Sep 2018 at 11:24

The new speakers look great in situ. Very nice!

lucid said:
As much as I like MA Bronze/BR/BX 5s, I'd be surprised if you found them much of an upgrade from the Aegis Evo 3. This is especially the case if the room is small.

Have you mass loaded them?

IvanDobskey said:
Despite being 15 years old, I think those are pretty good speakers

Speaker tech hasn't really changed much over that time period, so I'd say you'd have to spend a bit more to get something significantly better. Maybe the silver 6's. I noticed there's a refurbished set on richer sounds for £449.

Hoping to get my bronze 5's delivered tomorrow, so will report back. Just hoping my Denon N9 is up to the job.

Thanks for the advice, maybe I'll keep the AEs for bit longer and improve my CDP instead (I've been looking at mods such as replacing the clock).

Lucid - yes, they came mass-loaded from the shop. The room is approx 5x3.5m.

IvanDobskey · 6 Sep 2018 at 12:44

Yadda said:
The new speakers look great in situ. Very nice!

Thanks for the advice, maybe I'll keep the AEs for bit longer and improve my CDP instead (I've been looking at mods such as replacing the clock).

Cheers

They are a little crammed into the limited available space, but they still sound a decent upgrade on what I had.

Definitely worth hanging on to your speakers for a while longer I think. Unless you spot a deal on something.

Psycho Sonny · 6 Sep 2018 at 14:12

IvanDobskey said:
Cheers

I have always skimped on the audio side of things in the past, both for my pc and AV setups.

Bought some really nice headphones couple of months ago and realized what I was missing.

audio is just as important as the screen if not more important IMO. as in the music, etc can really set the scene. there is a reason why IMAX cinemas have a ridiculous number of speakers and sound fantastic.

IvanDobskey · 6 Sep 2018 at 14:16

Psycho Sonny said:
audio is just as important as the screen if not more important IMO. as in the music, etc can really set the scene. there is a reason why IMAX cinemas have a ridiculous number of speakers and sound fantastic.

Definitely true

Happy to stick with decent stereo for the time being though. Quality surround sound could get expensive real fast and I do use my setup for playing music a lot. Plus there's the room size issue and running cables....

Psycho Sonny · 6 Sep 2018 at 14:26

IvanDobskey said:
Definitely true

Happy to stick with decent stereo for the time being though. Quality surround sound could get expensive real fast and I do use my setup for playing music a lot. Plus there's the room size issue and running cables....

I think the bare minimum usually for home cinema is 3.0 or 3.1.

Essentially the centre speaker is the most important. It's the one the majority of spoken voice comes out of. So you may find it sometimes you can barely hear people speak as it's not mixing well to 2.0.

I would definitely get a centre and sub. Those 2 add so much. The rear speakers add little compared to those 2.

IvanDobskey · 6 Sep 2018 at 14:28

Psycho Sonny said:
I think the bare minimum usually for home cinema is 3.0 or 3.1.

Essentially the centre speaker is the most important. It's the one the majority of spoken voice comes out of. So you may find it sometimes you can barely hear people speak as it's not mixing well to 2.0.

I would definitely get a centre and sub. Those 2 add so much. The rear speakers add little compared to those 2.

Would need a new amp first unfortunately, mine is stereo only

Psycho Sonny · 6 Sep 2018 at 15:29

IvanDobskey said:
Would need a new amp first unfortunately, mine is stereo only

maybe food for thought for the future.

i originally had 3.0. then went 3.1 then went 5.1.

i felt the biggest difference was going 3.0 to 3.1 and 5.1 only really comes to life with decent movies. for the majority of viewing tv shows it's pointless.

IvanDobskey · 6 Sep 2018 at 15:35

Psycho Sonny said:
maybe food for thought for the future.

i originally had 3.0. then went 3.1 then went 5.1.

i felt the biggest difference was going 3.0 to 3.1 and 5.1 only really comes to life with decent movies. for the majority of viewing tv shows it's pointless.

Certainly a possibility in the future, once we have a bigger house with a bigger living room.

Enjoying the bronze 5's in stereo at the moment

First proper pair of speakers I have owned.

The little N9 is doing a surprisingly decent job of driving them at the moment.