Looking to replace Wharfedales

[Sisnootles]

Hi,

I hope this is the right place to post this.

I just bought a Nad 316bee V2 amp. I have Wharfedale 220’s and find the midrange really strange. Just don’t like them.

What speakers work well with the Nad. Room is about 13ft x 13ft. I mainly listen to Jazz and Prog. I have a budget of around £500

 

[bodhi]

The amp really doesn't matter that much. You could go and have a look at the reviews here, but IIRC the Elac DBR62 is rated best passive in that price range.

 

[Eetu]

Have you seen Amir's review of the 220s? The grilles have quite a big negative impact so I would make sure to keep them off. If you have the ability to use EQ it's easy to smoothen out the 900Hz bump (and other issues). I would start there.

Also have a look at the recommended passive speakers list.

Personally I think in this price range active speakers offer more bang for the buck. To get significantly better performance you would probably have to bump the budget up a bit.

 

[nerdstrike]

I agree that an open box dbr62 would be a great choice if in budget.

On pure random factor, the q acoustics concept 40 are on end of line discount right now... The 50s don't measure amazingly, but not madly eccentric either.

Kef Q150 might give you good quality per pound in a bookshelf. Amir measured the q350 here and found it a bit polarising: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/kef-q350-speaker-review.13484/

Definitely worth trying to overlay the graphs of these speakers to see what it might be about the Wharfdales that is off-putting, but I'll wager that big climb into the mid-range with a drop after.

 

[Pulse]

Do you mean studio monitors? I’ve always been under the impression that the have a very narrow sweet spot.

Can you recommend what to look at with my budget in mind?

 

[Eetu]

Do you mean studio monitors? I’ve always been under the impression that the have a very narrow sweet spot.

Can you recommend what to look at with my budget in mind?

Umm correct me if I'm wrong but you have two different accounts??

 

[Pulse]

I think so. Not sure what’s happened. I logged in on my phone thinking it was my Sisnootles account but Pulse came up. I’ve never knowingly used Pulse as a username. I’ll have to delete this account I think.

 

[ZolaIII]

How about buying a measurement microphone like UMIK-1 if you already don't have one and learning to use REW.
Playing with placement of speakers and EQ-ing (PEQ) them (you can do it with PC/laptop/developer board as Pi for starters)? The Wharfedale 220 mids deficiencies without grill can be fixed that way, however what can't and calls for crossover @100 Hz is absence of low bass for that you would need a subwoofer.
However do take a look at DBR62's and from active cheap ones take a look at Kali LP 6 V2's.