Speaker review - part 4

[azekeil]

Bugger. The butt-ugly Naim Intros sound really quite pleasent in my setup - a good more natural sounding balance, without being overly harsh or lacking. They show the amp more - the clean sound with reasonable stereo imagery I know it produces.. and the splashy treble. They don't have as much obvious presence as the Castles but the balance of sound is better on the whole.

I could listen to the Castles and not notice their lacking in some areas but I'm acutely aware I can do better now. It's just a shame they are so damn butt-ugly, and lack the presence of the Castles..

So. I have a horrible feeling I'm going to have to bite the bullet and see what's around for the £500 mark. It just doesn't make sense to get something I know is lacking.

kissycat1000 has just borrowed some £500 KEF Reference IIs (I believe). Have to see how they sound. kissycat1000, would it be OK to swing via yours on the way home to pick up the Castles, otherwise I'm going to be speakerless this evening :(

Oh, and as a side note, I missed a couple of steps on the way down in the shop with one of the KEFs and landed heavily on my knees. Of course the KEF was fine as I resisted the urge to throw it down the stairs, but my right knee in particular hurts and is all hot :(

Comments

[serena-lesley.livejournal.com]

They're actually £1300 KEF Reference 2's, but they're going for £500 second hand. :p

Yes, I'd already realised you'd need to do that. ;)

[dylan.livejournal.com]

I heard some Kef References once, I think it was the twos, they were better than the other 10 sets of speakers the shop had and sounded reasonable. Not compared them to any really decent speakers though.

Are you around this weekend? I may have some free time to visit

Hope the knees get better soon

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

meep!
Try to keep weight off it wherever possible. :/
If it's still feeling hot and painful this evening, put a bag of frozen peas on it or something (over trousers or it'll be too cold) for while.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Yes! Come up this weekend :) We decided to have a lazing around with hifi weekend this weekend. Heard rumours you might be busy. Glad you can possibly make it! Definitely want you to hear all this kit passing through our hands :)

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

*kiss*

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

In fact, I'm around by myself at mine this evening if you'd like to come up - the kids will be in bed.. kissycat1000 will be back possibly with ev1ldonut tomorrow..

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Ta :) It doesn't twinge and I'm not afraid to use it, it's just a dull ache as I'm aware I gave it a good whack.

[dylan.livejournal.com]

I've got 2 party's to get to this evening so that's not a good idea. I'll let you know when I find out when ghostpaw wants to do her coursework

[gerald_duck]

Never lose track of how much your health is worth. A friend of mine messed his back up in a way that took him half a year to recover from fully, for the sake of not dropping a £300 VCR… that was fully packed.

Admittedly, it was his back, and my VCR, and I'd said I'd carry it, and he was the fool walking on an icy pavement in formal shoes with slick soles, but still there has to come a point where you just drop the expensive thing. (-8

It sounds like your knee's not too bad, though — here's hoping it sorts out soon.

(You're all being wusses about speaker size, by the way. Those Castles are 992×210×320mm; my main speakers are 1100×284×450mm, and I'd still upgrade to the bigger model in an instant, if I could work out a way to blag a pair!)

There are lots of good loudspeakers around the £750 mark, and I'm sure some of them can be got for £500 if you shop around as much as you're doing. They're certainly in a different league from the £250-ish models — some things just aren't cheap to get right. A note of caution, though: spend much more than that, and I just bet you'd be better off putting at least some of the the money elsewhere in the system.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

I know - I'm valuing my health more and more these days. It does seem to be fine.

I'm not afraid of big speakers - just moving them :)

I'm not shopping around; I'm mainly going to one store but they treat us well and lend us kit without question. Service is worth a fair amount :)

I will probably end up spending around £500 on second-hand speakers - my main aim is to get nice sounding speakers with headroom for when I improve on the other components in my system - that won't break the bank now.