What speakers for Denon 2809?

[dave87]

Hey,

Right, finally got myself a chance of getting a decent Home Theatre Setup together.

So, the kit I've already got:

Samsung 40B530
Denon 2809 (the new addition)
Panasonic SCHT900 (currently doing the surround sound duties till I get speakers to go with the Denon)
Sky HD
XBox 360 + HD DVD Add On
PS3

So, I'm after something that can be wall mounted (planning to wall mount my TV when I move house, be black or silver (don't mind either - TV is Black, AVR silver) and be good enough to get the most out of the Denon Amp.

Price wise? Not sure really, what it has to be? I don't mind spending the money if it is worthwhile, but at the same time I don't want to go and spend a thousand quid and not know where it went.

As to requirements for them? Mixture of gaming, SkyHD/BluRay movies, eventually a Home Theatre PC is also on the cards, so a versatile setup.

What do you guys think?

[r_j_k_p]

Ket KHT3005se

general rule of thumb is money spent on speakers should be 3 times the amount spent on the amp.

[dave87]

What's the difference between those and the 2005s?

[r_j_k_p]

Same wattage on the sats, however i believe the 3005 has an extra 50W on the subwoofer.

Sats are also slightly larger.

The 3005's are 'newer' which i know isn't scientific.

http://www.whathifi.com/Review/KEF-KHT3005SE/

http://www.whathifi.com/Review/KEF-KHT20053/

[BigGlenn]

Don't know if you have already tried, but it may be worthwhile having a look over at AVForums and posting some questions on there

Glenn

[b0redom]

I got a set of these to go with my Denon 2910:

http://www.froogle.richersounds.com/...kard-hkts7-blk

I looked at the Kef Eggs, but they didn't seem to have fantastic build quality. If you do go for the Harmon Kardons you should note that they come with wall mounting brackets.

Sounds awesome with a Bluray / HD source.

[Alex]

Are you set on a sub-sat system? Or would you have full size ones?

IMO, having heard a bit of both, full size speakers offer a lot more for your money.

What we did was simply to go into a hi-fi shop (we went to Audio Excellence in Cardiff) and looked at a few speakers in each price bracket (about £250 per speaker pair, about £750 per speaker pair, and about £2k per speaker pair) and used that to decide whether we felt it was worth spending X amount on speakers.

Once we'd used that to set a budget we then listened to a few speakers in that price bracket to decide which ones we wanted.

Any good hi-fi shop will be quite happy to do this for you, and again any decent hi-fi shop won't push you into buying the more expensive ones but give you the space to decide by yourself.

No-one will be able to tell you how much it is worth spending on speakers etc, you need to hear them at different price brackets to decide how much, to you, it is worth spending. The only advice is only to listen to something you can afford - don't end up wanting something you can't afford! Oh, and if you have a missus then bring her along - both for aesthetics and because while men, in general, try to analyse the speakers they're listening to, most women will simply say whether they prefer one or the other.

EDIT: If you did have £1k to spend, even potentially, it would be worth looking at the Monitor Audio RS range which are being replaced/updated by the RX series - a few bargains to be had, e.g. from Peter Tyson Online. I don't particularly like the sound myself but others swear by them - and that's really the point with speakers - mostly it's personal preference rather than one speaker being vastly better than any other. Anything from Monitor Audio, Bowers and Wilkins (B&W), Kef, Mordaunt Short, Wharfedale's Diamond series, and a few others are all solid bets and which is better is, as I said, basically personal preference.

For what it's worth, I was quite impressed by the Wharfedale Diamond 10 series at the Bristol Sound and Vision show. A 5.0 setup from Richer Sounds would come in at around £750-800 depending on which front speakers you wanted, and would leave you with a choice of subwoofer (they only really need to match visually, any good sub will integrate well). My recommendation would be something from BK electrics - this would be a good bet.

If you wanted to spend less then there are other options, but those rambling thoughts may help, who knows?

[black---rider]

Logitech X680?

[Guy]

Logitech X680?

Your kidding right?!

A high end Amp to run a set of logitech speakers. . . .

[Terbinator]

I've always wanted to get my own HT set up going and been looking at some fo the cheaper separates such as these two on Richersounds:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/...2c/kef-iq2-wal
http://www.richersounds.com/product/...0/camb-s50-blk

What do you think the quality of these will be like, the specs seem decent enough.

[DeludedGuy]

I would get seperate speakers.

The Tannoy F1 range represents great value for money, you can get the black bookshelf speakers for £120, the centre for around £80-100 and a BK XLS200-DF MK2 subwoofer for around £300. If you dont fancy spending £300 on a sub, you could settle for the BK Gemini II which is £200 are still rated high by AV Forums.

That only gives you a 3.1 setup but you dont need anything too expensive for the rear, and at the end of the day you have some great kit.

Failing that you could buy this good value KEF cinema kit for £600, http://www.richersounds.com/product/...t2005.3-hg-blk

[Butuz]

If your looking for best value you cant beat these at around £500:

http://audioaffair.co.uk/index.php?a...productId=3027

Look bloody fantastic in the optional piano black, and have good wall brackets available.

I am not a big fan off egg shaped sattelite systems. They just don't have the midrange clout that real speakers can have.

Butuz

[DeludedGuy]

If your looking for best value you cant beat these at around £500:

http://audioaffair.co.uk/index.php?a...productId=3027

Look bloody fantastic in the optional piano black, and have good wall brackets available.

I am not a big fan off egg shaped sattelite systems. They just don't have the midrange clout that real speakers can have.

Butuz

If you are going to consider those, you may as well buy these instead, much better value for money.

http://www.hyperfi.co.uk/tannoy-merc...age-p-649.html

[Butuz]

They are cheaper yes but then each speaker is not as good so not sure about them being better value for money...

Butuz

[GheeTsar]

I've got the older version of that amp and use Mordaunt Short Genie's. These were What Hifi's best compact speaker system for 2004 and as are now discontinued can be picked up cheaply if you can find them. Eg: £299 here:

http://www.hyperfi.co.uk/mordaunt-sh...tem-p-625.html

When they first came out it was a grand for the package.

http://www.mordauntshort.com/ranges....=6&Title=Genie

[DeludedGuy]

They are cheaper yes but then each speaker is not as good so not sure about them being better value for money...

Butuz

How do you know this?