Looking for a bookshelf setup £200 budget.

[Tieox]

Hi all.

 

My venerable Technics SV-DV250 finally died yesterday after over a decade of daily use.  Random pops and sputters when you touch the volume dial, and the eq randomly changes mode.

 

I've decided to retire it as we are downsizing in our house I am looking for a bookshelf setup to replace the 5.1 system that is now out going.  

 

I like some bass, but I am mostly into clarity with treble and a decent mid range.  Is their a range of tasteful non gamer Bookshelves speakers with inbuilt amps I could look at? 

 

Also what pitfalls does this design of including the amp in the speaker bring in terms of quality? 

 

I have a budget of £200 maximum to put on this.

 

Thanks.

[The Flying Sloth]

3 hours ago, Kierax said:

what pitfalls does this design of including the amp in the speaker bring in terms of quality? 

In terms of quality? Nothing. Many professional studio monitor speakers have integrated class A amplification, 
The only pitfall is that if the speaker dies you have to also replace the amp or if the amp dies you have to also replace the speaker.

Bookshelf speakers typically are passive by definition though and it's really easy to find high quality vintage passive speakers online for next to nothing from brands like Tannoy, JBL and Kenwood. I'd suggest purchasing a stereo power amplifier and a set of the best vintage bookshelf speakers you can find.

Sloth

[Tieox]

On 5/12/2020 at 12:10 AM, The Flying Sloth said:

In terms of quality? Nothing. Many professional studio monitor speakers have integrated class A amplification, 
The only pitfall is that if the speaker dies you have to also replace the amp or if the amp dies you have to also replace the speaker.

Bookshelf speakers typically are passive by definition though and it's really easy to find high quality vintage passive speakers online for next to nothing from brands like Tannoy, JBL and Kenwood. I'd suggest purchasing a stereo power amplifier and a set of the best vintage bookshelf speakers you can find.

Sloth

Could you recommend me some decent bookshelf speakers? I am fairly sure I could pickup a reasonably decent amplifier from eBay or local classifieds, but I would like to ensure the speakers are new.  It would only be used with my PC via the onboard sound (for now)

 

It's been a very long while since I was on the lookout, and while I am tempted to replace the knackered parts of my current system, I am aware that no matter what I do the components are still all getting on for twenty years or more in age.

[The Flying Sloth]

27 minutes ago, Kierax said:

-snip-

Respectfully that should be the other way around, Being that you're in the UK there are tonnes of old Tannoy and other top quality bookshelf speakers available used for a very reasonable price (that will likely sound far better than any cheap modern bookshelf speakers), a new amplifier, however, will likely be more efficient and have a higher signal to noise ratio than older hardware.


 

[Derkoli]

15 hours ago, Kierax said:

Could you recommend me some decent bookshelf speakers? I am fairly sure I could pickup a reasonably decent amplifier from eBay or local classifieds, but I would like to ensure the speakers are new.  It would only be used with my PC via the onboard sound (for now)

 

It's been a very long while since I was on the lookout, and while I am tempted to replace the knackered parts of my current system, I am aware that no matter what I do the components are still all getting on for twenty years or more in age.

If you insist on new speakers then I make a few recommendations.

 

Q acoustics 3020i: Pretty much standard recommendation in cheaper bookshelf speakers, good sound, not needy with power, also has Q Acoustics P2P stuff in the cabinet so they sound very clean with next to no colouration. Also look quite good IMO.

 

https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/standmount-speakers/q-acoustics-q3020i-walnut.html

 

Dali Spektor 1: Again another good option for this price range. Dali stuff does have a house sound, and are fairly needy on power, but most older amplifiers have alot of power on tap, so this isn't a huge issue. Plus Dali stuff is great sounding, especially for the price.

 

https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/standmount-speakers/dali-spektor1-lightwalnut.html

[Tieox]

On 5/15/2020 at 6:48 PM, Derkoli said:

If you insist on new speakers then I make a few recommendations.

 

Q acoustics 3020i: Pretty much standard recommendation in cheaper bookshelf speakers, good sound, not needy with power, also has Q Acoustics P2P stuff in the cabinet so they sound very clean with next to no colouration. Also look quite good IMO.

 

https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/standmount-speakers/q-acoustics-q3020i-walnut.html

 

Dali Spektor 1: Again another good option for this price range. Dali stuff does have a house sound, and are fairly needy on power, but most older amplifiers have alot of power on tap, so this isn't a huge issue. Plus Dali stuff is great sounding, especially for the price.

 

https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/standmount-speakers/dali-spektor1-lightwalnut.html

Apologies for being quite late back to this topic. 

 

I have now pair of Acoustic Solutions AV-120 MK2's, I got them for basically nothing, and they are in mint condition.  

 

They claim a long term power of 130watts.  I am wondering where to find a budget amplifier to power them? eBay brings up lots of spares or repairs, and other some strange looking Chinese things.  

 

 

[The Flying Sloth]

14 minutes ago, Kierax said:

Apologies for being quite late back to this topic. 

 

I have now pair of Acoustic Solutions AV-120 MK2's, I got them for basically nothing, and they are in mint condition.  

 

They claim a long term power of 130watts.  I am wondering where to find a budget amplifier to power them? eBay brings up lots of spares or repairs, and other some strange looking Chinese things.  

 

 

If you want a cheap amp don't look for anything fancy, try and find a power amplifier, I have a rack mount one that's 360W of class A amplification and it's beautiful. Just make sure that if you are going to play these loud that the amplifier meets or exceeds the watt rating of the speakers, a clipping amp can kill speakers. Also, be warned, peak power and RMS are completely different, peak means nothing, RMS means everything.

[Tieox]

1 minute ago, The Flying Sloth said:

If you want a cheap amp don't look for anything fancy, try and find a power amplifier, I have a rack mount one that's 360W of class A amplification and it's beautiful. Just make sure that if you are going to play these loud that the amplifier meets or exceeds the watt rating of the speakers, a clipping amp can kill speakers. Also, be warned, peak power and RMS are completely different, peak means nothing, RMS means everything.

Going from some googling, the speakers have 130watts RMS.  

 

Amplifier wise it rapidly heads over £100 on eBay for some rather tired looking stuff, I have the sneaking suspicion that I need to be looking £200+ for something with the punch for these speakers?

[The Flying Sloth]

Just now, Kierax said:

Going from some googling, the speakers have 130watts RMS.  

 

Amplifier wise it rapidly heads over £100 on eBay for some rather tired looking stuff, I have the sneaking suspicion that I need to be looking £200+ for something with the punch for these speakers?

I think you just discovered why music stores are a thing, now, I'm not saying to purchase this amp but it seems to be within spec (or damn close to) and it has nice enough reviews. Take a look around this website for yourself and find an amp you like.

https://m.thomann.de/gb/the_tamp_e400.htm?o=4&search=1591910345

[Derkoli]

On 6/11/2020 at 9:56 PM, Kierax said:

Apologies for being quite late back to this topic. 

 

I have now pair of Acoustic Solutions AV-120 MK2's, I got them for basically nothing, and they are in mint condition.  

 

They claim a long term power of 130watts.  I am wondering where to find a budget amplifier to power them? eBay brings up lots of spares or repairs, and other some strange looking Chinese things.  

 

 

As sloth has said, a power amplifier + pre-amp would be pretty good. You don't need a tonne of power, but most PA amps have an auto-shut down feature if they start clipping, so I'd aim for a power amp with atleast 100 watts of power.

 

The one Sloth linked is quite decent. Decent power, input/output options, low distortion, plenty of protection circuits and is Class AB so will sound very nice, my current amplifiers are also Class AB. Class AB gives some benefits of Class A and D in one amplifier topology.

 

Other options for amplifier include some options from Crown, or for some cheap power The T.amp also has the E-800.

 

For a pre-amp, your system volume will work, or if you wanted a physical control, Little Bear makes XLR/RCA pre-amp's. These can be had for pretty cheap on sites such as amazon.

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tamp_e800.htm

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nobsound-Fully-balanced-Single-ended-Pre-amplifier-Controller/dp/B077QYSWF8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=little+bear+mc2&qid=1591996951&sr=8-1