Can anyone recommend me some floorstanding speakers

hkrdan

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Hi folks. I’ve got an old Teac Reference 500 Ah500i amp and matching CD player. Can anyone recommend some floorstanding speakers that’d be a good match.

As usual I’d like to spend as little as possible, but max budget is about 400 unless it’s worth spending a bit more for a lot better.

Any advice appreciated :)
 
ex demo pair of monitor audio radius 270 works really well with the teac, we have this combo at work and that is in a 5x4m room...
 
If you’re anywhere near these they are a very good, quite easy to drive speaker.

 
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If you’re anywhere near these they are a very good, quite easy to drive speaker.

The Teac system may not be good enough for these speakers.

I would consider adding to the shortlist a pair of fyne audio f302

IMG_20200618_091532.jpg
 
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The Monitor Audio Bronze 5 (2x5.5", £550/pr Suggested, Currently £350/pr) are pretty well regarded in reasonably compact Floorstanding Speakers -




bze-5-ros_large_1-medium.jpg


That is a very decent price in a NEW speaker. I believe Monitor Audio has released a New Bronze Series, so this is remaining stock in the previous series. But the Bronze 5 have been very well regarded.

Steve/bluewizard
 
Thanks guys, lots of food for thought there. I’d heard good things about the Fyne’s, but the bronze 5’s look excellent for the money.
 
I think you'll need to upgrade the teac amp to get near the best out of any of the speakers mentioned above.

I had an expensive all in one teac system and it was crap. mid range was thin, lacking detail and bass muffled.

i took it back and exchanged it for an amp for the same price.
 
It’s not an all in one system. I’ve demoed many a more modern amp over the years and not heard much better that won’t set me back a small fortune. I’m not saying it’s top-end, far from it, but the reference 500 series are good solid hifi separates.
 
the teac system i bought was an alternative to the denon dm30. it was about £300 almost 20 years ago. no speakers included.

its expensive for the sound quality. a £59 cambridge audio a1 mark 1 sounded much better with my £39 jpw ml310i speakers and sony walkman portable cd player
 
Any time you buy a Micro/Mini-Amp you are buying a compromise, but that is Audio Life, we are all trading something for something else.


One of the best sounding amps I ever owned, and one I had for decades was a 45w/ch Pioneer (full sized). And I consistently drove large 12" speaker with that amp.

So, unless the rated Sensitivity of a give speaker is low, I don't see much problem using floorstanding with a 45w/ch amp.

But as I said when you buy a Compact Amp, you are buying compromises.

My impression is that the Thread Starter has had the TEAC for quite a while and seems very satisfied with it. So, not sure we need to go there.

Now certainly a full-sized higher-powered amp would be better. But that is kind of a rabbit hole that a person can get lost in. There are always bigger more expensive higher powered amp to be considered.

The Monitor Audio Bronze are rated at 90db Sensitivity, and that should be high enough to be driven by just about any Amp. Just a guess, but I would say any speaker 87db and above are going to be fine.

Now you are all free to have any opinion you want about the TEAC, that's fine. But for a vast majority of us, we play with the amp we have, not with the amp we want.

I think most of us are engaged in Stepped Upgrades. That is, we upgrade one item at a time, step by step, rather than entire systems. Right now Floorstanding is the step that the OP wants to upgrade. Later when the urge strikes he will probably upgrade the amp. But for now ... one Step at a time.

Steve/bluewizard
 
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Thanks guys, lots of food for thought there. I’d heard good things about the Fyne’s, but the bronze 5’s look excellent for the money.
£350 is an absolute steal for a new pair of those.
 
the teac system i bought was an alternative to the denon dm30. it was about £300 almost 20 years ago. no speakers included.

its expensive for the sound quality. a £59 cambridge audio a1 mark 1 sounded much better with my £39 jpw ml310i speakers and sony walkman portable cd player

The op’s amp will not have problems driving any of the speakers mentioned here.

It was a serious attempt by Teac to make a real amp in a small case.

Hence the 350W potential power draw.

Plenty of current to drive anything in this kind of league to rather impressive levels.
 
The Monitor Audio Bronze 5 (2x5.5", £550/pr Suggested, Currently £350/pr) are pretty well regarded in reasonably compact Floorstanding Speakers -




bze-5-ros_large_1-medium.jpg


That is a very decent price in a NEW speaker. I believe Monitor Audio has released a New Bronze Series, so this is remaining stock in the previous series. But the Bronze 5 have been very well regarded.

Steve/bluewizard

Good call sir.

Other than used, like the Regas, or refurbed, like the CAs mentioned earlier, it’s hard to see past these at this price.
 
im not saying it will have problems driving the speakers above. there are better amps that will get more out of the speakers.
 
I cannot recommend the MA Bronze 5s enough, and at that price they are a steal. I purchased the MA Bronze floorstanders from RS about 3 years ago (£650 !!) when I got back into HiFi. I ran them off an old 80s Yamaha A300 amp (brill in its day) and an Onkyo CD player and an old 80s Akai AP90C turntable. I gradually upgraded everything over the years via Marantz stuf... to now, where I have Naim XS3 amp, Naim CD5si CD player and a Rega P8 deck.......but the MAs have remained. They have, time and time again, passed muster with ease, keeping up with the upgrades. They are probably maxed out now, but I do not intend to go any higher in cost. The MAs just disappear. they will be more than adequate for your current stuff and see you through many upgrades. At that price, you will not do better. Best of luck with whatever you go for.
 
Hi @hkrdan
Jus wondered what speakers you ended up getting?
 
@hkrdan, apologies for jumping onto your thread but just wondered if @boristhespider could expand a bit on the Monitor Audio Bronze 5s:

I too am looking for speakers - something to replace my old, boomy Mission 702e's. Like hkrdan I don't want to spend any more than £400. Noticed the MA Bronze 5s on Amazon at £369 today - I think they look fantastic and what a price! How is the bass though? I can't have anything too wayward as I have a large room with a suspended wooden floor. Bass and mid need to be fairly tight and controlled. Is this the Bronze 5's?
 
@hkrdan, apologies for jumping onto your thread but just wondered if @boristhespider could expand a bit on the Monitor Audio Bronze 5s:

I too am looking for speakers - something to replace my old, boomy Mission 702e's. Like hkrdan I don't want to spend any more than £400. Noticed the MA Bronze 5s on Amazon at £369 today - I think they look fantastic and what a price! How is the bass though? I can't have anything too wayward as I have a large room with a suspended wooden floor. Bass and mid need to be fairly tight and controlled. Is this the Bronze 5's?
I remember those Missions.. bass heavy, muddy, lack clarity. The bronze 5 and pretty much any modern speaker around £400 will be a huge improvement.

The Monitor 200, which can be bought for £300 is another great choice..but it depends on the rest of the system. The metal tweeters aren't best suited to bright sounding amps.
 
I remember those Missions.. bass heavy, muddy, lack clarity. The bronze 5 and pretty much any modern speaker around £400 will be a huge improvement.

The Monitor 200, which can be bought for £300 is another great choice..but it depends on the rest of the system. The metal tweeters aren't best suited to bright sounding amps.

Ha ha! That's a pretty bang-on description of the Missions. I have an old(ish) NAD C352 that will be driving whatever replaces them. It's a reasonable amp, not too punchy but I suspect the Missions never gave it an opportunity to perform at its best. Cheers, I'll check out the 200s.
 
You should also check out the Mission LX3. The award winning bookshelves LX2 are a great buy. I used to have the smaller version LX1's and they are easy to drive and worked well with any amp I tried. The black look a bit boring though so you might prefer the white or walnut finish.
 

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