Best stereo speakers for under 150 quid?

Concrete · 12 Dec 2018 at 22:28

One of the tweeters in my Diamond 9.1s suddenly gave up and Wharfedale don't want to help me fix them so I need some new speakers.

I'm by no means an audiophile but I would like them to sound as good as the 9.1s. They are wall mounted and have to fill a decent sized room and are really only used for music.

Any suggestions? Cheers!

EdButler · 12 Dec 2018 at 23:32

If you were happy with the Diamonds, why not just buy a second hand set? You could always swap the tweter over.

Failing that, I would still go for something second hand. If you have time, keep your eye on auction sites for a while. I upgraded from Tannoy DC6 series and they were seriously good speakers. I bet you can get some bookshelfs for 150 if youre a bit patient, but they are quite large.

lucid · 13 Dec 2018 at 05:24

Being wall-mounted means you could really do with some speakers that are designed to work well up close to the wall. Dali Zensor 1 at £149 fit the bill.

Other bass-ported speakers can have their bass output tweaked down by using port bungs. If you haven't come across this idea before, it's a piece of foam cut and shaped to fill the bass port on the speaker. Fitting it counteracts some or all of the bass over-boosting effect of being closer to the wall than an open-ported speaker should be.

Concrete · 13 Dec 2018 at 10:19

EdButler said:
If you were happy with the Diamonds, why not just buy a second hand set? You could always swap the tweter over.

Failing that, I would still go for something second hand. If you have time, keep your eye on auction sites for a while. I upgraded from Tannoy DC6 series and they were seriously good speakers. I bet you can get some bookshelfs for 150 if youre a bit patient, but they are quite large.

Yeah I was happy with them, but keen to avoid Wharfedale after the way I was treated. Second hand set is a good idea, I've already had them apart, is it a completely stupid idea to just find a similar size/spec tweeter pair and replace them both?

Strangely enough I had been looking at Tannoy as I remember from 20 years ago that a friend of mine had these totally awesome self powered studio grade ones, bit out of my price range though!

Concrete · 13 Dec 2018 at 10:23

lucid said:
Being wall-mounted means you could really do with some speakers that are designed to work well up close to the wall. Dali Zensor 1 at £149 fit the bill.

Other bass-ported speakers can have their bass output tweaked down by using port bungs. If you haven't come across this idea before, it's a piece of foam cut and shaped to fill the bass port on the speaker. Fitting it counteracts some or all of the bass over-boosting effect of being closer to the wall than an open-ported speaker should be.

Will check out the Dali, I saw the 2s got some rave reviews.

The base port idea is a good one as they have boomed since I shoved them up on the wall, I have some really nice Atacama speaker stands, but a 2 and 6 year old mean that I want them out of reach!

pepp77 · 13 Dec 2018 at 10:30

There are some Q Acoustics 3020s (or 2020s) in the MM - might be an option.

Concrete · 13 Dec 2018 at 10:44

pepp77 said:
There are some Q Acoustics 3020s (or 2020s) in the MM - might be an option.

Yeah saw them, would have been ideal if I wasn't in Barcelona atm

Psycho Sonny · 13 Dec 2018 at 10:47

i got 2 x Monitor Audio BX6's and a centre speaker for £220

second hand is where you will find the best value for money.

whitecrook · 13 Dec 2018 at 14:48

take the part out check for a part number and start googling that. You might find a hit. I fixed a pair of 773 and a pair of 760ise doing just that.

FurryLemon · 13 Dec 2018 at 14:50

Mission LX2 are another option. Or perhaps 2 pairs of Mission LX1 and use the Atacama stands...

If you brain one of the kids and damage the speakers, you'll have a spare set, plus you get all the joys of trying for another kid.

Concrete · 13 Dec 2018 at 16:41

whitecrook said:
take the part out check for a part number and start googling that. You might find a hit. I fixed a pair of 773 and a pair of 760ise doing just that.

This was my original plan when I couldn't get direct customer support. The problem is that is that its a common failure point, so the parts are like hens teeth & cost almost as much as a full second hand set.

Concrete · 13 Dec 2018 at 16:42

FurryLemon said:
Mission LX2 are another option. Or perhaps 2 pairs of Mission LX1 and use the Atacama stands...

If you brain one of the kids and damage the speakers, you'll have a spare set, plus you get all the joys of trying for another kid.

Those base ports make a great place to put Lego pieces and the speaker cones are like cat nip for kids

whitecrook · 17 Dec 2018 at 15:09

Concrete said:
This was my original plan when I couldn't get direct customer support. The problem is that is that its a common failure point, so the parts are like hens teeth & cost almost as much as a full second hand set.

Yep. You have to keep looking. They WILL come along at some point. Set up alerts on the websites for keywords.

Concrete · 17 Dec 2018 at 15:56

I ended up getting in contact with a company called Sound Imports (I don't think its a competitor, so should be OK to mention?)

Despite them being primarily about much more high end gear, one of their customer service reps helped me identify a suitably shaped and configured tweeter to replace the blown one. Lets see if it fixes the problem!