nice looking speakers...

[az]

...and also IMHO stupid even without the woman: When my stereo is off (and it is a lot of the time: Either I'm listening to music or I'm doing something else, and most of the time something else is occupying my time), my speakers are just furniture, thus they have to look good. I can't afford and I'm not sure I'd even want a listening room where aesthetics are unimportant.

[Mehen]

ahh!! I haven't been on murc much lately, sorry I missed this...

Anthony Gallo Acoustics!!!!!!!! Check out the line-up - they have got rave reviews

[VJ]

...and also IMHO stupid even without the woman: When my stereo is off (and it is a lot of the time: Either I'm listening to music or I'm doing something else, and most of the time something else is occupying my time), my speakers are just furniture, thus they have to look good. I can't afford and I'm not sure I'd even want a listening room where aesthetics are unimportant.

It depends of the room IMO. If you have a dedicated home theater room, than aesthetics aren't that important, quality is what matters there. But if they are to be placed in a living room, they should have some design.
Then again, even a nicely finished, sleek wooden box looks nice to most people (apart from my mother).

The Gallo speakers look nice...


Jörg

[Umfriend]

VJ, are you looking for 2.0 or 5.1 or something? Wha'ts the budget constraint?

I own a pair of Quadrals (Shogun) as well and am very satisfied with them but I have been dissapointed with their cheaper models and am suspicious of the Signo line, especially without a subwoofer (which I am suspicious of in any case).

The Gallo's are fugly to me.

I do love Quadral's ribbon tweeters (and I have listened to some of their RiCom tweeter products, not so nico IMHO), so if it is small and 2.0 you are looking for, the Pico (499 SRP each), Ronde (599 SRP each) or the Certo (900 SRP each) might be worth listening to. They're all of the Phonologue C line.

The Aurum line is nice as well but, unfortunately, has the RiCom tweeters. Luckily, they are renewing the line and the new Aurum line will again feature ribbon tweeters (although I am not sure how long it will take and whether the cheaper models will get these as well. I think they will).

[az]

I think Elacs look good. Clearly speakers, but nice looking ones.

[VJ]

They (esp. my dad ) are looking at 5.1, which would include the subwoofer. Price range will depend (but they would be willing to pay more if they find something they like).

For the Gallo speakers, I ment the simple round ones (not the floor standing weird things).

The Quadral Signo range looks nice on photo, so the next step would be to go out and listen to them. Luckily, I know some stores where this is possible.
I have an older pair of Argent 70 (they are 3 way: woofer, midrange and tweeter - no ribbon) yet they sound superpb. I'll keep those small ones in mind, but Monitor Audio also makes great small speakers (my brother has a pair for a mini Denon system and a 5.1 for his home theatre system). So if they want to get small ones, Monitor Audio is a possible candidate.

But it is not urgent, so there still is plenty of time.


Jörg

[az]

If you're looking at 5.1, have a look at www.teufel.de - they sell direct only, and currently their website is only in german, but you have four weeks trial and can send back if you don't like the speakers. They have a twelve year warranty, and their speakers are rated very very favourably in all german HiFi/AV mags (smaller ones performing like other speakers twice as expensive, and the really big sets theater 8 and 10 are reference at most mags here, together with other speakers costing in the hundreds of thousands).

[Fluff]

What about Tannoy http://www.tannoy.com/ArenaOverview

They look quite sweet.

[Mehen]

Go Gallo!

check http://audioreview.com/ good site for reviews on all audio products

[VJ]

Ok, chances are they will be going for a wall system like this:

http://www.former.it/eng/sottoprodotto.asp?Model_ID=1&Pdt=1&ID=4

(not this one, but this concept)

Ideally, the speakers would have to be flat, so that they can be hung on the panel around the TV (you know: left, right, center hung below the TV). The Quadral Signo seems interesting (with its 6.5cm depth), but are there other decent, relatively flat speakers?


Jorg

[az]

Teufel Concept P, which is also very cheap (and very likely sounds much better than the price suggests, but don't forget that those are still flat speakers and as such just CAN'T sound as good as full-sized speakers of the same price).

NXT panels, like Elac Imago.

[VJ]

Interesting... But the Teufel Concept P seems to use floor standing front speakers, which would not be an option for my parents...

The Elac Image is intended for in wall use...


Jörg

[az]

The Elac Imago line includes in-wall speakers as well as flat "Picture" speakers. I don't know how well those picture speakers sound, though.

For the Concept P, front and rear (and center) speakers are technically the same and sound the same, so front and rear speakers are interchangeable (Teufel even recommends this if you want to hang the front speakers to the wall next to your flat TV). Also have a look at the Concept S (not that flat, but not very deep or big, too, and can be had with floor-standing or wall-mounted fronts) and the fully active systems Motiv 4you and Motiv 1 (this one costs 1.5k EUR, though). Both use small speakers, and the Motiv 1 is quite good-looking, too, IMHO (and well-received in the press).

[KvHagedorn]

We are thinking about taking on another line of speakers after hearing these..

Vienna Acoustics

These are small, conservative-looking, very narrow profile speakers which produce bass you would not believe. We heard the "Mozarts" which were approx $2000/pr retail.

[VJ]

Ok, the idea now is to hang the TV, but not the speakers.

Those Vienna things look awesome... (but more expensive than they would be willing to spend)


Jörg