Upgrade from Polk Monitor 70 II to bookshelf, seeking advice

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Randall B

Audiophyte
I have a pair of Polk Monitor 70 II speakers that take up too much room in my HT/Listening area. 18'W x 35'L x 11'H. I am looking for quality bookshelf speakers that would be an upgrade from the Polks around the $500 price point. I have an SVS PB12-NSD sub to handle the low end. The rest of my system is KEF 9000ACE and KEF 6000ACE.

I have been looking at the ELAC Debut 6.2 and the KEF LS50. I have not considered Polk speakers due to seeming lack of love on the AV forums, although my Monitor 70's have served me well. Are newer designs actually better sounding due to better computer modeling tools of today or is it mostly marketing hype? My KEF 9000/6000 look great and blend well on my wall, but I find them lacking musicality on their own. My goal is to find the smallest alternative to the Monitor 70 II speakers that will be an improvement in musicality. On-wall mount would be ideal, but I am skeptical that there is an on-wall that will fit the bill.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
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rdkusher

Audioholic Intern
the kef ls50 are outstanding speakers but that is a large space to fill especially since part of your use is home theater.it seems that you like kef's and are focusing on standmounts so i will suggest the q350.they have higher sensitivity and will have more output for that size room.they are not quite as detailed and refined as the ls50 but will be a nice step up over those elacs.the only real downside is they can be a bit boomy on the low end in some rooms but since you are using a sub that won't be an issue.
 
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Randall B

Audiophyte
rdkusher - Thanks for the reply. The Q350 are a good looking speaker which will help with the WAF. My price point is flexible. Do you know of other, perhaps smaller or slim wall mount candidates? The KEF T301 would be perfect for aesthetics, but I'm pretty sure they will sound similar to the 9000ACE and disappoint me.
 
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Russdawg1

Full Audioholic
I upgraded from the Monitor 70’s to the Ascend CMT340’s.

Hands down best upgrade possible.
 
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rdkusher

Audioholic Intern
rdkusher - Thanks for the reply. The Q350 are a good looking speaker which will help with the WAF. My price point is flexible. Do you know of other, perhaps smaller or slim wall mount candidates? The KEF T301 would be perfect for aesthetics, but I'm pretty sure they will sound similar to the 9000ACE and disappoint me.
i forgot to ask you how far away is your seating from the speakers?if it is not that far you may do just fine with something like the ls50 as long as you have enough subwoofer to fill the space and aren't looking for ear splitting volume.as far as these smaller wall mount speakers i don't have any experience with them.something like that is fine if looks are the primary concern but are almost always going to come up short on sound quality.as a compromise you can always mount a good pair of standmounts to the wall.as long as you are crossing them to a sub at 80hz or so the ports won't have enough output to cause a problem.another very nice speaker at this price range to look at is the ascend acoustics sierra 1 which is on sale right now.sound quality wise they are right up there with the ls50 in my opinion and will look very nice as well.you may also want to check out the cantons that seem to be very popular around here.i will let someone else comment on those as i haven't heard them.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
I think it's worth a look at Craigslist with that budget. I've stumbled across some very good deals on some very nice speakers for $500 in my area. Where are you located (roughly, for a Craigslist search)?
 
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Randall B

Audiophyte
i forgot to ask you how far away is your seating from the speakers?if it is not that far you may do just fine with something like the ls50 as long as you have enough subwoofer to fill the space and aren't looking for ear splitting volume.as far as these smaller wall mount speakers i don't have any experience with them.something like that is fine if looks are the primary concern but are almost always going to come up short on sound quality.as a compromise you can always mount a good pair of standmounts to the wall.as long as you are crossing them to a sub at 80hz or so the ports won't have enough output to cause a problem.another very nice speaker at this price range to look at is the ascend acoustics sierra 1 which is on sale right now.sound quality wise they are right up there with the ls50 in my opinion and will look very nice as well.you may also want to check out the cantons that seem to be very popular around here.i will let someone else comment on those as i haven't heard them.
The Monitor 70's are in the R/L corners of the room pinned between 6' tall cabinets and the wall. Far from ideal to let them breathe. I am considering putting the bookshelf speakers on top of the cabinets, but I think I might end up with too much vibration even with careful isolation. Bookshelf speakers are mostly too large for wall mount in my opinion. The KEF's were a real win for looks and keep a very low profile in the room. I have kept the Polks as second front speakers because they add so much richness to the overall sound. I had hoped if enough time passed, a good alternative would present itself. I badly want to move to a more minimalist look, but a soundbar will never do for me. I suppose I could start over, but I hate to toss the KEF's which were flagship speakers of their time. I need to find a way to fill the sonic void of the KEF's for my music playing satisfaction
 
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Randall B

Audiophyte
I think it's worth a look at Craigslist with that budget. I've stumbled across some very good deals on some very nice speakers for $500 in my area. Where are you located (roughly, for a Craigslist search)?
Southern California. I found surprisingly few options. If the search was just for some great sounding bookshelf speakers, I think I could find some great deals. I'm struggling with the combo of size/looks/performance...
 
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rdkusher

Audioholic Intern
the ls50's and your sub will be significantly better than any soundbar.they will also work better than most speakers in that compromised location due to the uni q.why not get a pair from amazon or crutchfield and try them out?when it comes down to it we can try and guess what will work for you but the only real way of knowing is trying them out in your room with your system.they may work out very well.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Southern California. I found surprisingly few options. If the search was just for some great sounding bookshelf speakers, I think I could find some great deals. I'm struggling with the combo of size/looks/performance...
I haven't heard the Chrono SL-536.2s yet, but have been hearing very good things about them. They're good sized for a bookshelf too. They also have the ceramic tweeters that @KEW seems to really like a lot. If I were shopping for new I'd take a good look at those in the $500 range.
 
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Randall B

Audiophyte
the ls50's and your sub will be significantly better than any soundbar.they will also work better than most speakers in that compromised location due to the uni q.why not get a pair from amazon or crutchfield and try them out?when it comes down to it we can try and guess what will work for you but the only real way of knowing is trying them out in your room with your system.they may work out very well.
You are correct. I will definitely be auditioning 1 or more of the recommendations posted here. I have not owned any bookshelf speakers in this value range and did not want to audition any if there is no chance of them being satisfactory. It sounds as though there are bookshelf speakers that will do the job if combined with my sub.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I haven't heard the Chrono SL-536.2s yet, but have been hearing very good things about them. They're good sized for a bookshelf too. They also have the ceramic tweeters that @KEW seems to really like a lot. If I were shopping for new I'd take a good look at those in the $500 range.
If you are looking to buy speakers and $520 is in your price range, IMHO, these are the ones to get!
They benefit from both a very good discount (46%) and that Canton (a well established German speaker manufacturer if you are wondering that you have not heard of them) decided to repackage their expensive Vento series in a plain (but well braced) box to produce a bargain speaker that has the same performance as the Vento.
The truly impressive thing about this speaker (as Pogre mentioned) is the ceramic tweeter which to my ear puts it in the same class as the RAAL ribbon or Focal's top of the line beryllium tweeter. It seems Canton can manufacture this tweeter design and sell it in a well designed pair of complete speakers for not much more than it would cost for just a pair of RAAL or Focal tweeters alone!
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Where do you sit in that room? Why the move to bookshelves particularly instead of towers again? I have a slightly smaller main room and I found towers (JBL 590 & 580) a better way to go than the bookshelves I'd been using (Ascend Sierra-1s/170SE/200SE). I use multiple large subs, too. What the hell is musicality, tho?
 
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Randall B

Audiophyte
Where do you sit in that room? Why the move to bookshelves particularly instead of towers again? I have a slightly smaller main room and I found towers (JBL 590 & 580) a better way to go than the bookshelves I'd been using (Ascend Sierra-1s/170SE/200SE). I use multiple large subs, too. What the hell is musicality, tho?
I sit about 12' back from the speakers. Since I don't want 2 separate systems for Home Theater and Audio only playback, I must compromise. Sadly the KEF ACE speakers alone do not satisfy my ears for audio only. As for home theater, it is amazing and often scares the wife, kids and dogs. Everything is a trade-off and reducing the amount of gear in the room is the current priority. So... the bookshelf or wall-mount hunt begins. (Musicality = Ability to reproduce audio only content to my satisfaction)
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I sit about 12' back from the speakers. Since I don't want 2 separate systems for Home Theater and Audio only playback, I must compromise. Sadly the KEF ACE speakers alone do not satisfy my ears for audio only. As for home theater, it is amazing and often scares the wife, kids and dogs. Everything is a trade-off and reducing the amount of gear in the room is the current priority. So... the bookshelf or wall-mount hunt begins. (Musicality = Ability to reproduce audio only content to my satisfaction)
If done well I don't think it's a compromise to have HT vs audio only, I combine the two in several systems as they all work just fine for both. Hopefully you don't need to go wall-mount for your mains. The KEF 9000 look reasonable, the 6000 a bit small IMO. Keep in mind lower sensitivity/impedance will play a role somewhat if you go to the KEF LS50 or the Elacs. Can't help you with what speaker you might prefer particularly, that's fairly subjective. If possible go listen to a variety of speakers to hone in on what you might prefer "for music" whatever that is.
 
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Randall B

Audiophyte
So I got my LS50's today..... WOW!

Here are my initial impressions:

- Many people have described them as "revealing". I think this is a very good description
- HUGE wide sound stage. 18' in my case. Just amazing
- Outclassed my existing Polk Monitor 70 II floor standers in every way
- Surprisingly plenty of bass in my largish room
- Paired perfectly with my KEF KHT9000 L/R and KEF KHT6000 C/SR/SL. Excellent voice matching
- Demoed for my wife. They made her dance and get emotional over some nostalgic music we played
- Maybe a little bright, but I think I will adjust


All of this from just setting them on top of my old monitors in the corner of the room.
I chose the LS50's because of the likelihood that they would pair well with my other KEFs, and because its been nearly 8 years since they were released and people are still talking about them.

I look forward to the next few weeks of tweaking positions and settings. I also am upgrading my center channel to another KHT9000 as suggested by lovinthehd. The dialog has always been a little weak.

For those that are curious
AVR: Pioneer VSX-1120
L/R Main: KEF KHT9000
C/SR/SL: KEF KHT6000
SUB: SVS PB12-NSD
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
So I got my LS50's today..... WOW!

Here are my initial impressions:

- Many people have described them as "revealing". I think this is a very good description
- HUGE wide sound stage. 18' in my case. Just amazing
- Outclassed my existing Polk Monitor 70 II floor standers in every way
- Surprisingly plenty of bass in my largish room
- Paired perfectly with my KEF KHT9000 L/R and KEF KHT6000 C/SR/SL. Excellent voice matching
- Demoed for my wife. They made her dance and get emotional over some nostalgic music we played
- Maybe a little bright, but I think I will adjust


All of this from just setting them on top of my old monitors in the corner of the room.
I chose the LS50's because of the likelihood that they would pair well with my other KEFs, and because its been nearly 8 years since they were released and people are still talking about them.

I look forward to the next few weeks of tweaking positions and settings. I also am upgrading my center channel to another KHT9000 as suggested by lovinthehd. The dialog has always been a little weak.

For those that are curious
AVR: Pioneer VSX-1120
L/R Main: KEF KHT9000
C/SR/SL: KEF KHT6000
SUB: SVS PB12-NSD
Why not just another LS50 for center? That would be my preference, to have same across the front....I only said the 9000 was a more reasonably sized speaker.....
 
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Randall B

Audiophyte
Why not just another LS50 for center? That would be my preference, to have same across the front....I only said the 9000 was a more reasonably sized speaker.....
Aesthetically the 9000 matches better, also the main L/R are 9000's. The LS50's play on channel B - mostly for 2.1 music, but they widen the soundstage considerably when in 5.1 surround mode with A+B active.
 
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