Up The Rear

I have recently invested in a Tag AV32 DP and would also like to also update my rear Speakers.
My room is 10' x 9' in size. So would be looking for speakers that fit on the wall.

At present I have a pair of Boston VRS Micro's and was looking at a pair of Monitor Audio Radius 90's to replace them.
I was told by a HIFI Store assistant that these were very poor (his words, not mine) , but not having heard them I don't know.
Most MA outlet gets them to order, so an audition would be very difficult.

So can you suggest some rear speakers that would be suitable?
Has anyone heard or got a pair of MA Radius 90's, what are they like?

All suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks

 

i use b&w cdm nt series front 3 but mission 78ds's for rears. they are a di-pole design so they have really good dispersion for rear ambiance and sound pretty damn good. richers used to do their little brother the 77ds's for under 100 quid for a pair. might be worth a look at these.
cheers


julian

 

Surely Julian2002 isn't the only one with some recommendations?

What have you got and what have you heard that could be up my street?

Cheers.

 

The ideal, for multichannel music is to have 5 identical speakers. That's usually not that practical (esp. for the centre speaker) and rather expensive so the usual suggestion is to get similarly voiced speakers, perferably from the same manufacturer. For example, I have Dynaudio Contour 1.3MkII fronts and Dynaudio Audience 42 rears (and centre). I'm not that familiar with B&W speakers so I don't know what model in their range to recommend.

If it's just for DVD surround sound then the "same make/model" criteria is not so important.

Michael.

 

I think WM will be selling his Monitor Audio Gold Ref FX (switchable) bi/dipoles soon - they would be superb - use as bipoles for music and bi or dipoles for movies. There are also cheaper Silver series 'SFX' versions.

B&W have I think brought out an update of the DS6 (which was frequency limited from the old pro-logic days) - the new DS7 doesn't have these limitations. Might be worth a look. I guess ideally you would want Nautilus rears but presumably these are on the pricey side. What about trying some B&W 600 S3 bookshelfs.

Another option (and possibly the best solution) might be some tripoles - check out the M&K K4's - not cheap but very small and highly rated.

Matt.

p.s. Julian - the Mission __DS speakers are bipoles not dipoles - they justify the naming by saying DS stands for 'diffuse surround' - bit naughty IMO as a lot of people will assume they are dipoles.

 

Mark, what's your budget ?

I'd check out some s/h B&W CDM1SE's, CDM1NT's or CDM2SE's.
However, I've read numerous positive opinions on the Mission surrounds used by Julian but if you're serious about surround music then bi-/di-poles may not be the best.

Cheers,

Steve

 

Thanks to all who replied.

My budget is Up to £250.

But space is the biggest issue.

My seating is up against the back wall so the Rears would be on the side wall either side of the seating. I couldn't really go any bigger than say the B&W LM1's. Not sure about them though.

I guess I am restricted.

Does this help

 

White in-ceiling speakers it is then! Or a pair of matt white Gallo Micro's mounted on the ceiling firing downwards and out?

Matt.

 

Matt F, I don't think so.

I have had a look round the net at the M&K K4's - £495 .
Golly thats a lot of money. Not too sure how they would integrate with my B&W 805 Sig's and the B&W Centre?

It's tempting but I am still intrigued by the MA Radius 90's - Much cheaper too.

Hasn't anyone heard them?

 

Well I use the B&W CDM SNT's for rears and they are pretty amazing. Sound just like their standmount brothers (1NT) and are only 13cm deep and hang flat against the wall. Unfortunatly not easy to get hold of and 2nd hand prices for a good pair are about £450 - £500. I think these would go very nicely with your fronts. I also have a pair of 600s3 which I used to use as rears and now may use for sides or in the kitchen. They also can hang flat on the wall and are only about 20cm. But the difference in quality between the 600's and the snt's is huge. The advantage is they are only £200 new and can be had for about £100 - £120 2nd hand.
Hope this helps.
Good luck with your search

 

Here's another angle - what about a pair of small active rears - Genelec 1029/BlueSky 5's etc? You then wouldn't need to worry about a power amp for them and could get either a classy monoblock for the B&W centre, get another active speaker for the centre (Genelecs can operate on their sides and their frq adjustments apparently make them easier to match with other speaker makes) or dispense with the centre altogether and run a 4.0 set up.

So I guess what I'm saying is - sell the rears, sell the centre, sell the power amp (not the BC!), buy 2 or 3 active speakers and run 4.0 or 5.0

Fell free to ignore me as I am typing as I think here

Matt.