Slimline speakers?

[parapaul]

I have no decent home cinema or hifi kit at the moment, so would be starting from scratch. I only have experience of my father-in-law's kit, which, while old, is (I gather) very good (and sadly expensive), and I WANT

I've never heard a pair of floorstanding speakers project sound in the way his do - he runs both TV and a CD player through the amp, and the sound is consistently amazing - with the TV it moves round the room better than any 'off the shelf' 5.1 setup I've ever experienced.

We watch a lot of films, and listen to a lot of music, so I've managed to convince the OH that an amp and a pair of speakers would be a worthwhile investment, but she's fickle - as women are - and will only agree if the speakers look 'nice' So, PH Hi-fi gurus, is there a 'nice' looking (and by that I *think* she means either tiny or tall & slim) speaker that isn't Fisher Price quality?

I accept that the few hundred pounds' worth of what I buy will be no match for the FIL's £000's + setup, but I've got to start somewhere, right?

[parapaul]

Seems a bit of Googling using slightly different keywords has yielded some results...

http://www.avforums.com/forums/speakers/790714-ide...


Edit: fixed link

Edited by parapaul on Tuesday 12th January 05:40

[dalos260]

I've heard these Tangent Evo E34's and they surprisingly good for speakers with relatively small drivers. About £350.



The Mordaunt Short Alumni 8's are even better. About £500.

[Schtum]

parapaul said:

Seems a bit of Googling using slightly different keywords has yielded some results...

AV Forums 'Slim Wife Friendly Floorstanding Speake...

The link doesn't appear to work......

FWIW, I recently bought a KEF KHT3005 SE 5.1 Surround Speaker Package. It's certainly very discreet in comparison with my previous Mission floorstanders. The sound is very transparent and the sub is particularly well integrated with the satellites. It's not at all tiring to listen to and probably because of that isn't hugely impressive when you first listen to it.

Edited by Schtum on Sunday 10th January 20:18

Edited by Schtum on Sunday 10th January 20:39

[k-ink]

Beware that some of these good looking sets can sound very disappointing for hifi applications.


For very slim floor standers try Totem. For compact shelf, stand, or even wall mount for some of them, try Dynaudio. With the right equipment they can all sound exceptional.

If the budget is tight, buy quality over quantity. Get a pair of decent stereo speakers first. Then maybe add a sub later, when funds allow. Then add surround if you really insist. But get it sounding great for music first, then it will do the AV thing easily. Trying to do it the other way around will result in below par sound.

[parapaul]

Schtum said:

parapaul said:

Seems a bit of Googling using slightly different keywords has yielded some results...

AV Forums 'Slim Wife Friendly Floorstanding Speake...

The link doesn't appear to work......

Fixed I'll have a look at those and see what SWMBO thinks. Thanks

[wibbleone]

Monitor audio radius series? i like mine

[andy_s]

Not that tall and thin though....

[k-ink]

Pretty pointless if they have to be positioned 2 metres away from the walls! It's exactly the same situation with loads of speakers. My old PMC IB2 had to be miles away from all the walls, otherwise the bass was all blurred and frankly they sounded really crap.

[parapaul]

andy_s said:

Not that tall and thin though....

she'd love that!