Is a speaker upgrade worth it?

[Aspect]

Im very interested in upgrading to a proper hi-fi, but at the moment just cant justify the money. I was thinking if it was worth upgrading the speakers on my current system, idea being it will spread the cost a bit for when i finally do completely upgrade as well as potentially improving the sound quality?

I currently have a Technics HD-310 midi system:

Not mine personally, but same model.

Now i can appreciate that good speakers are only as good as what's driving them, which is why i ask if its worth the incremental upgrade.

Any advice or opinions would be appreciated.

 

[lunarwolf]

no idea about that system tbh,

- what kind of power can it actually deliver? no point in getting speakers if it can't drive them
- what are you looking to spend?
- what are you looking for as upgrade path? 2.0 or full surround in then end?

you could always start with second hand speakers and a stereo amp - there are some bargains out there

 

[Guest2]

Also what space requirements? Do you have a big room where you can have floorstanders/stands with speakers on or just space for a midi type system?

What are your neighbours like? (if you have any) Not much point in getting 200 watt speakers if you can only ever play them at 7 oclock

 

[Aspect]

no idea about that system tbh,

- what kind of power can it actually deliver? no point in getting speakers if it can't drive them
- what are you looking to spend?
- what are you looking for as upgrade path? 2.0 or full surround in then end?

you could always start with second hand speakers and a stereo amp - there are some bargains out there

I believe its rated at 20w per channel. I guess id consider spending up to £100. Im looking for just a 2.0 system.

Also what space requirements? Do you have a big room where you can have floorstanders/stands with speakers on or just space for a midi type system?

What are your neighbours like? (if you have any) Not much point in getting 200 watt speakers if you can only ever play them at 7 oclock

Room size isn't massive, i could probably get the speakers 6ft apart from each other though. Floorstanders are an option, id have to have a rearrange of my room though. Neighbours are very cool, although i wouldn't want to annoy them.

 

[Corasik]

What are your neighbours like? (if you have any) Not much point in getting 200 watt speakers if you can only ever play them at 7 oclock

Power and volume are very losely linked, its the efficiency of the speaker which makes the biggest difference.

Unless I remember wrong it takes 10 times more watts for each doubling of volume, so to be twice as loud as 100W, takes 1000W assuming the speaker efficiency is unchanged.

On the other hand if you slap on a pair of Cerwin Vega's with 104dB/watt/1 meter, you'll have a damn loud system and then the neighbours might start knocking

 

[lunarwolf]

you could get some tannoy F1 for about £100 or get some wharfdale 9.0 for £50 which leaves you some cash. probably get these cheaper second hand.

Can you plug decent sized wire into the Tecnics? ie 1.5 or 2.5mm thick cable (no more than £1 per meter, don't need to get super expensive branded cable), bellwire isnt great.

If you got a stereo amp (something like a Cambridge Audio Azur 340), does the CD player in your tecnics have regular plugs or is it some wierd stuff that will only connect within the mini hifi system (many small HiFi usualy do from past experience). Which would mean you would need a CD player as well if you got a stereo amp.

For a £100 I would look second hand stuff and get a amp + speakers

 

[Aspect]

you could get some tannoy F1 for about £100 or get some wharfdale 9.0 for £50 which leaves you some cash. probably get these cheaper second hand.

Can you plug decent sized wire into the Tecnics? ie 1.5 or 2.5mm thick cable (no more than £1 per meter, don't need to get super expensive branded cable), bellwire isnt great.

If you got a stereo amp (something like a Cambridge Audio Azur 340), does the CD player in your tecnics have regular plugs or is it some wierd stuff that will only connect within the mini hifi system (many small HiFi usualy do from past experience). Which would mean you would need a CD player as well if you got a stereo amp.

For a £100 I would look second hand stuff and get a amp + speakers

I actually put some 2.5mm cable in yesterday. I remembered i was given it years ago, whilst i was still using the cables that came with it.

I don't really use the cd player anyway. Currently im just running my ipod with rockbox straight in for all my flac files and mp3's.

How are the Q Acoustics 2010's? I've seen they get pretty good reviews.

Also, which amp would you suggest?

 

[Guest2]

Power and volume are very losely linked, its the efficiency of the speaker which makes the biggest difference.

Unless I remember wrong it takes 10 times more watts for each doubling of volume, so to be twice as loud as 100W, takes 1000W assuming the speaker efficiency is unchanged.

On the other hand if you slap on a pair of Cerwin Vega's with 104dB/watt/1 meter, you'll have a damn loud system and then the neighbours might start knocking

I saw these when looking for speakers, makes that cd look tiny!

http://www.avforums.com/forums/atta...1233062872-cerwin-vega-e-715s-12012006062.jpg

These are the speakers I use. On left, i used the mission M71 on right before them. Great speakers for the £90 i paid for them.

Enjoying them more now i have my nad c352

 

[Corasik]

I have some baby Mission 750SE's on my PC, cute little things, nice clear sound, light but controlled bass. I've also got Misison 753 freedoms on my theatre system. I could make a pic that looks quite like yours Guest2 Little and Large.

Bet the B&W's are considerably louder than the M71's with the amp settings unchange, I know that when I swapped from the 750's to the 753's I ended up with a much louder system.. But no surprise there, efficiency of the 750s is 85dB/watt, and the 753's are 92dB/watt if I remember correctly.

Cerwin Vega's will make hell of a lot of noise even with the smallest of amps, more power generally just means better control, especially when it comes to managing difficult bass. (IE BOOOOOOMmBOOOOOMmBOOOOOOM thats easy but Slam B Bamm B Boom B Doo takes power to bring the speaker back to silence between the beats.)