Recommendations for speakers and amp

[cwhaley]

Looking for recommendations on a quality set of bookshelf speakers and an appropriate amp, if anybody has any good knowledge. Budget is about £400 for both, so obviously nothing high-end sadly.

I've only ever dealt with vintage '70s and '80s stuff like Marintz, Aiwa, Technics, etc. and as good as this stuff is, it won't work with my set-up -- plus I don't know much about anything other than this.

Little one on the way so I'm making space by putting the 'tower' of decks away. What I'm hoping for are two bookshelf speakers connected to an amp which will also fit on a shelf (anything up to 9 or 10 inches in depth). From there the audio source will be phono-in. The room is only about 9ft by 9ft, with soft furnishings and a laminate floor with rug.

Any pointers greatly appreciated!

 

[cwhaley]

Like a t*t I've posted this in the wrong category and not Audio/Visual! Please can the mods move for me? Sorry

 

[Sureitsoff?]

pop along to your local richer sounds for inspiration as what I like may not be what you like

 

[RandomGrinch]

I have some Q Acoustic 3020's wall mounted in the kitchen - I find them to have a nice rounded sound for their size:
https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustics-q3020-matte-graphite.html?refSrc=12716
and @£150, you could have a bit of change for an amp!

As for an amp, thats where it may get complicated, do you want a built in receiver
/DAB/internet radio, Bluetooth, WiFi streaming etc?
Or, just a plain amp!

If you are interested in a streaming amp, I believe Yamaha are quite well respected. I have an old Denon Ceol N8, good sound, but difficult menu to navigate and the internet radio, now requires payment to receive any stations!
(Workaround available with an RPi! )

As above, take a favourite CD to RS, and arrange for a demonstration!

 

[cwhaley]

I have some Q Acoustic 3020's wall mounted in the kitchen - I find them to have a nice rounded sound for their size:
https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustics-q3020-matte-graphite.html?refSrc=12716
and @£150, you could have a bit of change for an amp!

As for an amp, thats where it may get complicated, do you want a built in receiver
/DAB/internet radio, Bluetooth, WiFi streaming etc?
Or, just a plain amp!

If you are interested in a streaming amp, I believe Yamaha are quite well respected. I have an old Denon Ceol N8, good sound, but difficult menu to navigate and the internet radio, now requires payment to receive any stations!
(Workaround available with an RPi! )

As above, take a favourite CD to RS, and arrange for a demonstration!

That's what I'm after just an all-rounder for sound quality as my music taste varies incredibly. In terms of functionality I'm just after a straightforward amp as any input will be through phono -- don't need anything else as any separates can be plugged into the phono. To be honest most of the time it'll be connected to the laptop's 3.5mm stereo output.

Not considered Yamaha. Also read that Marantz are sill respected so I'll look at those.

I'll struggle getting to Richer Sounds to be honest, as good as I know they are. Nearest one is a 40 mile round trip If the ones I shortlist are in stock at the nearest branch I'll do as suggested, as it's a worthwhile trip then.

 

[cwhaley]

Finally decided what to go for. I decided to use one of my spare amps -- nothing special, just a bog standard Realistic STA-720 from ~1981.

I bought myself a Cambridge Audio SX-70 centre speaker as space-wise it works, and it also gives a good all-round sound output. I was also lucky to be given two Cambridge Audio Aero 3 speakers which although designed for use in a surround sound setup, do work really well combined with the SX-70. The Realistic amp can handle them as it has four channels.

My only question is how to wire in the centre speaker. Obviously the left and right speakers have four wires (meaning two into the left channel and two into the right channel on the amp). However, the centre speaker only (being a single speaker) has two wires -- where do these go in the back of the amp?

EDIT -- obligatory diagram done in MS Paint to explain!

 

[sparkymarka]

I wouldn’t thought that amp supported a centre speaker

 

[RandomGrinch]

nothing special, just a bog standard Realistic STA-720 from ~1981.

Nice amp!

It has a 'mono' button, so I believe you can bridge a set of speaker connections for a single speaker, but I will have to investigate further!
...and it means the Aero3's will also only have a mono output.

There are simple ways of just connecting a single speaker, but there is likelihood of damage to the amp, or speakers. Not best practice!

And for a sense of nostalgia, check out page 5 (60MB download)!

https://www.tandyonline.com/doc/catalogues/Tandy-Catalogue-1980.pdf

Edit: another thought, although a shame after choosing the SX-70; maybe swap it for a powered subwoofer? The output could then be nicely matched to the Aero3's - there's no guarantee that would happen with the SX-70
...or just get another SX-70!

 

[cwhaley]

Nice amp!

It has a 'mono' button, so I believe you can bridge a set of speaker connections for a single speaker, but I will have to investigate further!
...and it means the Aero3's will also only have a mono output.

There are simple ways of just connecting a single speaker, but there is likelihood of damage to the amp, or speakers. Not best practice!

And for a sense of nostalgia, check out page 5 (60MB download)!

https://www.tandyonline.com/doc/catalogues/Tandy-Catalogue-1980.pdf

Edit: another thought, although a shame after choosing the SX-70; maybe swap it for a powered subwoofer? The output could then be nicely matched to the Aero3's - there's no guarantee that would happen with the SX-70
...or just get another SX-70!

It does have a mono button yes (useful when playing some records from the '60s where there seemed to be an obsession with vocals in one speaker!). Unfortunately I can't get another SX-70 though as there isn't room -- it just works mounting the Aeros on the wall and the SX-70 on a shelf.

Would either of the attached two options be work? Option 1 is a setup I think was popular in the 70s (just not sure how effective it is) and the other is one I found on an audio forum which still gave the user stereo output. Again, please excuse the shoddy drawings on MS Paint!

PS loving the Tandy catalogue! Funny how such a simple think as seeing the radio frequency in large format was a selling point -- LCD!

 

[cwhaley]

I wouldn’t thought that amp supported a centre speaker

I know it doesn't have the dedicated input, but it does have input for up to four speakers so I was hoping it could work. The SX-70 is rated at 10-100w I think and 8 ohms so within the ranges of the amp.

 

[ETAF]

opps should have read all the posts, notice you have already purchased
have you thought about sonos ?

I had a lot of high end stuff over the years (Audio Analogue Enigma, Bose, Marantz , NAD, spender BBC monitors.thorens/sme) , and after moving , and got rid of it over the years and used streaming just with the Audio/bose setup. And just recently decided to get rid of that and moved to a SONOS , If its just some bookshelf speakers with a £400 budget, i would certainly consider sonos.
I have a sonos beam for the TV , plays spotify via the AppleTV and macbook
looking to add a subwoofer and then 4 sonus speakers for all round sound from TV & maybe the sonus amp for a spare bedroom, used as aden

just a thought

 

[cwhaley]

opps should have read all the posts, notice you have already purchased
have you thought about sonos ?

I had a lot of high end stuff over the years (Audio Analogue Enigma, Bose, Marantz , NAD, spender BBC monitors.thorens/sme) , and after moving , and got rid of it over the years and used streaming just with the Audio/bose setup. And just recently decided to get rid of that and moved to a SONOS , If its just some bookshelf speakers with a £400 budget, i would certainly consider sonos.
I have a sonos beam for the TV , plays spotify via the AppleTV and macbook
looking to add a subwoofer and then 4 sonus speakers for all round sound from TV & maybe the sonus amp for a spare bedroom, used as aden

just a thought

Indeed I have but I do more than streaming so for me to work anything with it, I'll need to get a preamp and then we're pushing £500 for anything decent.

They do look really smart, and if I hadn't already bought the speakers and already had the amp I'd think about it.

 

[RandomGrinch]

It does have a mono button yes (useful when playing some records from the '60s where there seemed to be an obsession with vocals in one speaker!). Unfortunately I can't get another SX-70 though as there isn't room -- it just works mounting the Aeros on the wall and the SX-70 on a shelf.

Would either of the attached two options be work? Option 1 is a setup I think was popular in the 70s (just not sure how effective it is) and the other is one I found on an audio forum which still gave the user stereo output. Again, please excuse the shoddy drawings on MS Paint!

PS loving the Tandy catalogue! Funny how such a simple think as seeing the radio frequency in large format was a selling point -- LCD!

I believe option 1 will 'work' - caveats:

The schematic shows your speaker outputs are paralleled, so the speaker impedance will effectively be reduced; your amp is capable of driving into 4 Ohms, so 'should' be ok!
Keep the volume down to start with!

The centre channel will receive a mix of the stereo signals, with some parts just cancelling out. What you receive through the speaker will not be 'everything', from both stereo channels. More like a sort of centre 'effect'.

As there is no way to independently adjust the volume for the channels, whether the output volumes from all the speakers match, will be down to luck!

Manuals and schematics available here (free to register):
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/realistic/sta-720.shtml

The only other option I can think of; separate the speaker connections within the SX-70, and feed the speakers independently?

 

[cwhaley]

I believe option 1 will 'work' - caveats:

The schematic shows your speaker outputs are paralleled, so the speaker impedance will effectively be reduced; your amp is capable of driving into 4 Ohms, so 'should' be ok!
Keep the volume down to start with!

The centre channel will receive a mix of the stereo signals, with some parts just cancelling out. What you receive through the speaker will not be 'everything', from both stereo channels. More like a sort of centre 'effect'.

As there is no way to independently adjust the volume for the channels, whether the output volumes from all the speakers match, will be down to luck!

Manuals and schematics available here (free to register):
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/realistic/sta-720.shtml

The only other option I can think of; separate the speaker connections within the SX-70, and feed the speakers independently?

I remember when I first used this amp with an iPhone connected to it (turned up to full volume) and there was a bit of random 'popping' which stopped when the volume was brought down on the phone to about 25% and the amp turned up, so I'll be careful to watch out for it!

I'll give option 1 a go when it arrives and see what it sounds like... really I'm just after more 'ooomph' and bass/lower frequences which the Aero 3s don't give on their own. They are great for clarity (I'm hearing backing vocals I didn't even know were in some of my library!) but not so great for things like the deep synths on some stuff.

I do like the idea of separating the two speakers, just means trying to open the speaker case up neatly. When it arrives I'll have a look... would be a neater install and would mean the amp is properly powering four independent speakers through four independent channels.

Thanks for the link to the manual, it will come in useful as all I'd found was a page describing its basic parameters.