Need help choosing my first stereo system - €600/ $600 Budget

[darkfirebg]

Hello everyone,

I'm in the market for my first audio system and would love to get some recommendations. Here’s what I’m looking for:

• Budget: €700
• Availability: Europe
• Sources: TV/Bluetooth/Laptop
• Music Preferences: Electronic and Rock
• Speaker size: 5 to 6 inch
• Preferences: Active, non fatiguing speakers that I can use for movies and music listening 50%/50% in my living room 22 sq/m, (236 sq/ft)
• Included sub out if possible.
• Listening distance 2.5m

I'm currently returning a set of Q Acoustics M20 as they sound kind of thin for my taste and the BT implementation is pretty bad.

Speakers available locally within the budget:
Argon FORTE A5 MK2
KEF LSX 2 LT
Debut ConneX DCB41

Open for other suggestions as well. Thanks in advance.

 

[DTTOM37]

Hi, welcome on board and thanks for asking ;-)
While the Kef LSX 2 LT are an excellent choice - imho - in the markets where I look at them (Europe) these seem to overshoot your budget largely.

You'll find the i.e. the Adam TV5 between 300 and 350 Euros atm. I was watching them for my son's system, but we went passive with Ayima 08 pro plus Q-Acoustics 3030i.
That was last year.

My advice as of today, would be looking chez Thomann for checking out Swissonic 305/306/308 series and pehaps the Sub 10 - and pair it with a WIIM Ultra, which may allows you to do bass management and offers multiple connectivity for future purpose. If budget is unfriendly, the WIIM Pro Plus is the alternative.

In my opinion, the speaker might be the first thing you would want to change, thus either you get it right first time (bad for budget) or you compromise and get your source/streamer/DAC/Pre correct.

Good luck

 

[darkfirebg]

Thank you very much, i will check out the WIIM Pro Plus as the ultra is way over budget. The Kef LSX 2 LT right now are 600 euro here, but they are really small speakers and I'm not sure if they will suffice for the room. Swissonic are unfortunately not available locally, will double check.

 

[ZolaIII]

Kali LP 8 v 2 or JBL 308P MK II which ever you find cheaper availability is generally good. With those you can pass and without sub. You can probably find 3rd gen Fucorsite Scarlett fairly cheap on sell (as 4th gen is out and basically cleaning stock's of old one). Don't use BT if you really don't have too, if you do unbalanced dongle alike receiver's (with LDAC start at about 50$ like Hiby W3 II (battery powered 1.75 V output CS43131 DAC) and you can use them and with reasonable demanding to drive wired earphones/headphones on the go. Try out EQ-APO if it's Windows laptop and get a measuring microphone if you don't have one already. Hopefully that helps and welcome to ASR.

 

[DWPress]

Excellent advice from @DTTOM37. Good speakers will be the most important part of the system so most of the budget should go to those if possible. The WiiM family would be my recommendation too for connectivity amongst many family members or other users on any platform iOS, Android, etc. Amplification can start out on the cheap side, lots of good options out there right now.

 

[Elbow]

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Sounds great and looks nice. BT is one option here, but WiFi is also included and the better choice.

 

[kemmler3D]

+1 for WiiM and JBL at this budget.

The KEFs should be good and a little less vulnerable to the room, but you will be missing bass.

 

[Mr Swing King]

If one of your go-to genres is electronic I highly recommend getting a subwoofer to go along with the speakers.
And yes welcome to ASR

 

[darkfirebg]

Hello and thank you everyone!
Subwoofer is a must. But the budget is quite limited at the moment, so I will start with the speakers and add subwoofer and streamer/dac in the next few months.
Both these speakers - Kali LP 8 v 2 or JBL 308P MK I are too big for my room.
I can potentially get the JBL LSR305P which is the 5 inch version or the LSR306P (500eur) which is the 6.5 inch version.
The Triangle AIO Twin are only available second hand locally for 450 euro.

 

[kemmler3D]

LSR 305/6 P should be good for the money for now, later you can add a sub and you should be pretty happy.

The JBLs are often available secondhand near me, you might score a deal and have enough $$ left for a sub also.

 

[Wolf11Man]

If you are in Europe, why don't you look here: https://www.thomann.de/ie/cat_GK_st...LCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6MiwibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjJ9&reload=1
You want small size, active, quality and reasonable price? You will not find that at Amazon or the like. Professional monitors are much more value than the usual Bluetooth plastic speaker with a wall wart to power them with 1200Watt PMPO.
If you really need Bluetooth in a small room like yours (for what reason? Huge distance?) instead of a solid wire connection, get a pair of 12€ Bluetooth dongles to put behind the speakers.

 

[DTTOM37]

Thank you very much, i will check out the WIIM Pro Plus as the ultra is way over budget. The Kef LSX 2 LT right now are 600 euro here, but they are really small speakers and I'm not sure if they will suffice for the room. Swissonic are unfortunately not available locally, will double check.

Hi, the Thomann website offers shipping to 50 countries in Europe, but yes you may not find a local dependemce in your country. 30 days money back, 23 years guarantee, they write. Never had hassles with them.
Here is an example if sub is a must
2x SW305 222 Euro
1x SUB10 222 Euro
1x WIIM PP 249 Euro
roundabout 697 Euro
altenatively I can see
2x SW308 278 Euro (38hz low end)
1x WIIM Ultra 399 Euro
Roundabout 677 Euro.

If you could wait until November when the all electronic offers are competing against each other for our limited budgets - and WIIM need to catch up wrt the Apple Airplay desaster - I'll bet you'll find the Ultra for below 350 Euros.

 

[darkfirebg]

Hi, the Thomann website offers shipping to 50 countries in Europe, but yes you may not find a local dependemce in your country. 30 days money back, 23 years guarantee, they write. Never had hassles with them.
Here is an example if sub is a must
2x SW305 222 Euro
1x SUB10 222 Euro
1x WIIM PP 249 Euro
roundabout 697 Euro
altenatively I can see
2x SW308 278 Euro (38hz low end)
1x WIIM Ultra 399 Euro
Roundabout 677 Euro.

If you could wait until November when the all electronic offers are competing against each other for our limited budgets - and WIIM need to catch up wrt the Apple Airplay desaster - I'll bet you'll find the Ultra for below 350 Euros.

The problem with ordering abroad is that if I don't like the sound (I have bad memories from harsh and fatiguing monitors) it's really painful to return them. That being said I really loved the sound of Focal Solo6, but pair of these are way out of my budget and space constraints. Also.. see below.

If you are in Europe, why don't you look here: https://www.thomann.de/ie/cat_GK_st...LCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6MiwibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjJ9&reload=1
You want small size, active, quality and reasonable price? You will not find that at Amazon or the like. Professional monitors are much more value than the usual Bluetooth plastic speaker with a wall wart to power them with 1200Watt PMPO.
If you really need Bluetooth in a small room like yours (for what reason? Huge distance?) instead of a solid wire connection, get a pair of 12€ Bluetooth dongles to put behind the speakers.

I understand that, but there are additional.. circumstances. My gf wants to be able to play bt via the speakers, and that's it. And the other problem is the looks of monitor speakers, as these will be in the living room, she may decide to simply throw them in my home office room and shut the door. That's why I went with active vs powered speakers initially as she was generally ok with the looks of the q acoustics.

 

[thunderchicken]

A Topping DX3 Pro, Fosi amp, and used Kef Q series or Elac DBR speakers should be everything you need for top shelf performance on that budget and covers Bluetooth, optical, and USB.

 

[Karmacoma]

I vote for Kali LP 8 v2 + fiio sr11
Total budget: 620€
Hard to beat imho

(Add 200€ and you can get the Kali in-8 v2)
Edit: my bad, the Kali doesn't have a coaxial input, only RCA TRS XLR, so a wiim mini instead of the sr11

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Hello and thank you everyone!
Subwoofer is a must. But the budget is quite limited at the moment, so I will start with the speakers and add subwoofer and streamer/dac in the next few months.
Both these speakers - Kali LP 8 v 2 or JBL 308P MK I are too big for my room.
I can potentially get the JBL LSR305P which is the 5 inch version or the LSR306P (500eur) which is the 6.5 inch version.
The Triangle AIO Twin are only available second hand locally for 450 euro.

The Kali LP-6 seems to be in your size/price range: 35.9 x 22.2 x 26 cm. IMO it's better than either of those JBLs.

 

[Zog]

Hello everyone,

I'm in the market for my first audio system and would love to get some recommendations. Here’s what I’m looking for:

• Budget: €700
• Availability: Europe
• Sources: TV/Bluetooth/Laptop
• Music Preferences: Electronic and Rock
• Speaker size: 5 to 6 inch
• Preferences: Active, non fatiguing speakers that I can use for movies and music listening 50%/50% in my living room 22 sq/m, (236 sq/ft)
• Included sub out if possible.
• Listening distance 2.5m

I'm currently returning a set of Q Acoustics M20 as they sound kind of thin for my taste and the BT implementation is pretty bad.

Speakers available locally within the budget:
Argon FORTE A5 MK2
KEF LSX 2 LT
Debut ConneX DCB41

Open for other suggestions as well. Thanks in advance.

At this pricepoint just get the absolute best speakers you can afford. Keep that your focus. Source and ampflication is more than adequate at this level.

 

[J.M. Noble]

Another JBL 305p + JBL sub vote. I have this combo in my synth rig, and it's pretty great for the price.

 

[TylerR]

I have a set of the original 305s and the Kali LP-6v2's, and the Kali's are definitely better. I'd get those.

 

[J.M. Noble]

I have a set of the original 305s and the Kali LP-6v2's, and the Kali's are definitely better. I'd get those.

Do the original 305p speakers even figure into this? 305p MkII is quite a bit different.

I haven't listened to the Kalis, but I have listened to my $260/pair 305ps in the same 22' X 24' room where I have my $2.2k passive Dynaudios and they put a smile on my face--and that was before I got the JBL sub for $250 as an open box special from Proaudiostar (not relevant to the OP, who is in Europe, but still ...) I could be happy for the rest of my life with that combo. The Dynaudios are a step up, sure, but it's not as large of a step as I would like it to be for the price! ($2.2k + $1k sub + $400 stands = $3.6k vs. maybe $600 for the JBLs with decent stands ... and that is without an amp for the passives).