Choosing the best satellites/compact speakers set-HELP!!!

[arielshiran]

I am about to purchase a new 5.1 set of speakers. They need to be shorter than 30 cm and be wall mounted. They will be pushed by a receiver like Denon 2105/Onkyo 602/Marantz 5500 and will be placed in a 30m^2 room. The set will be used half of the time for music and half of the time for movies.
I was sure I'll buy a satellites set but than some people told me to check small bookshelf speakers as well and now after listening to almost 30 sets, I am quite confused and need your help. After all of these demoes I remained with these speakers at my list. Please let me know which of these will sound best for the combination of movies and music I talked about without referring to the price of these sets but according to pure quality. If you have any other suggestions, I'll be happy to hear as well.
1) Mirage Omnisat
2) Totem Dreamcatcher
3) M&K K5 as fronts and surrounds, K7 as a center and a KX-10 subwoofer
4) Monitor Audio Radius 90 as fronts and surrounds, Radius 180 as a center and a matching sub
5) Anthony Gallo A'diva and a TR-2 as a sub (maybe a Due as a center-if necessary)
6) Mordaunt Short Genie
7) Tannoy Arena
8) Castle Compact
9) Morel Supra
10) B&W M1
Thanks guys,
Ariel.

 

[arielshiran]

Can someone help me with that?

Please... You must have any advice for me...

 

[wafflebird]

All choices look good.... I love my Omnisats

Ariel,

It looks like you have done a good bit of research, and have picked some very good choices.

As stated I have 4 Mirage Omnisats, and a Mirage Omni CC. I can tell you that I have had them for 3 and a half months and am still awe-struck by their performance. I replaced a Kenwood Home Theater in a Box (HTiB) system, with a new Yamaha receiver (RX-V2500) and these speakers along with a Velodyne DLS-3750R sub. The difference was astounding. The Omnisats have an unbelievable sound. For music and movies. I use mine probably 50/50 TV, movies/ Music. On the days I work from home I leave my digital cable box on the smooth jazz channel or whatever I am in the mood to listen to and catch myself appreciating the sound that comes out of these speakers often.

Bear in mind that these or any smaller speaker system you decide on will need a sub woofer to really get the most sound. Any of these smaller speakers will not produce the lower frequencies.

As I am sure you have read, the best thing you could do is go and audition as many of these speakers as you can. As your ears may find affinity for different speakers than me or anyone else.

If you are looking for incredible "Room filling" sound in a small package then you can not go wrong with the Omnisats, that I assure you of. Couple that with the fact that they will be much less expensive than some of the other brand names you are looking at, and they may become even more attractive.

Hope this helps you out. I would think you will get some more input, and most of these folks here are VERY helpful. So see what they have to say as well. Good luck and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[markw]

Start listening and whittle down that list.

One suggestion I would make is that you concentrate on music for your auditions. Too, too many times people were impressed with how well a system did for HT only to bring it home and find out that it lacked big time for music.

A system that does music well will have no problems with HT. It doesn't always work the other way.

 

[arielshiran]

Thanks for your comments. Has anybody listened to Morel's Supra/Applause sets?

Their price is quite high and their style is awsome. How are these speakers sound compared to the others? Many experts claim that Morel's tweeters in the SA-2 satellites are something which has no competition and the sub is awsome as well. What do you think about this set compared to the others? Is it a good value for money in terms of sound quality?

 

[Nick250]

I am a big fan of Paradigm Atoms. About $190 a pair. That being said I am a bigger fan of buying what sounds best to your ears and only you can know than. Markw's post on buying your speakers based on music not HT is excellent advice IMO.

 

[arielshiran]

All of my demos were done based on

a special CD I made with songs that represent the music I listen to but as I have difficulties to listen to more than one set of the ones I mentioned in the same store as each store carries different products, I wanted to hear your advice. Especially on the Morel Supra/Applause sets which I wondered how they perform compared to the Gallo Adivas/M&K K5s/Mirage Omnisats as they are more expensive.
Every comment is welcome.
Thanks,
Ariel.

 

[nm2285]

Why don't you go out each day and do 1 head to head competition? When you're done, you'll have half the possibilities remaining. Keep doing that until you have one (or take the 2 survivors home to try or something).

Good thing about going out on different days is you shouldn't remember how the systems on the previous day sounded, so you will be able to focus on that days competition.

 

[arielshiran]

It's a great idea but...

No store sells more than one of the sets I currently have dillemas between and therefore it is not possible. I have to count on my memory and this is the problem as I do not want to count on it but prefer hearing from users/reviews/professionals what they think first and then go and audition the relevant sets again.
Therefore, your opinions are most welcome.
Ariel.

 

[JimBoy]

7) Tannoy Arena

Has anybody actually heard one of these systems? It's supposed to be a nice system, but I haven't been able to find anybody who's actually auditioned it.

 

[warpdrive]

Not sure what your budget is but
1) IF you need very small cube type speakers
2) and you have around $2200

http://www.mission-cube.com/

The Mission M-Cubes are amazing. I can't believe something that small and has the letters NXT (bad memories of those NXT computer speakers) sounded as good as it did. These are real high end cube speakers...clear, very expansive, smooth, and detailed.

I saw these last weekend and thought they were some cheap Bose knockoffs, but they are the real deal

 

[lsmar]

M&K K-5's/7's

I just bought a set of 3 M&K K-5's and 2 MP-6's as surround channels. I have them as my secondary, bedroom setup. They sound fantastic, even in my somewhat suboptimal room. I've found the K-5's to perform admirably on both music and HT; even compared to the Def Tech BP6's (full tower bipolar speakers) that they're replacing. Their imaging is more precise than the BP6s, but the sound field is less expansive (bipolars are really great at creating a nice wide image, even when the speakers are a little too close together).

The K-5's are a great bargain direct from M&K at $104 each. The MP-6's are only available on-line and work great as surround speakers sitting on the floor, against the wall, facing up toward the ceiling. They're pretty inexpensive at $99 each.

The only caveat is that you'll need a decent sub to go along with this setup... I'm using my old M&K VX-7 Mark II, set at 100Hz crossover. I'd recommend a V-75 though, as I'll be going that direction pretty soon myself...