| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system 16:43 - Aug 27 with 3668 views | hubble |
Okay good people this is one of those threads where I ask for your advice/opinions.
I want to get a decent/v. decent bluetooth soundsystem and I've been scrolling through the Richer Sounds website. The choice is bewildering. The reason I'm thinking active speakers over a soundsystem is that I want the full stero effect. So far, I really like the look of the ELAC Debut Connex DCB61s (not 41s), although they are fairly pricey at £700. I also like the look of the Triangle LN01As, which are significantly cheaper at £400.
Do you think that's a better choice than something like the Sonos Five (which isn't bluetooth, I note, but wifi - not sure how it works with a phone), which also sounds incredible from the reviews?
I guess the best idea would be to actually go to Richer Sounds and have a listen, but I'd appreciate your thoughts!
|  |
| |  |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 11:16 - Aug 28 with 1231 views | JimmyR |
The audio interface will allow you to change the input levels (essential if your going to have diiffernet inputs at different quality/volume levels) to the speakers and the speakers then selves have audio controls on them and an amp in them
Or buy an amp that uses a chip for amplification and plug whatever speakers you fancy into them, then that’s not active but the amp will have blue tooth and the sound will be decent, far lower cost. Look at fosi or similar for this then you don’t ’need’ active speakers. Not separate just a small amp
But those KRKs are monitors so are very directional and a bit flat which is why you need to be able to alter the input bass,terrible, gain as a minimum hence in |  | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 11:18 - Aug 28 with 1222 views | JimmyR |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 09:52 - Aug 28 by hubble |
Thanks FDC - what I mean is that I like the idea of having two speakers (which I will put on stands) on either side of the room. I know that systems like the Sonos Five (and many others) create a kind of soundscape that means you only need the one speaker, but not having any idea how good that is, I'm thinking the two active speaker idea might be a touch better. But maybe not. Either way, I need the system to have bluetooth connectivity and a built in amp. I don't want to go down the separates route. Hope that clarifies it! |
How much do you want to spend?
And why don’t you want to have an amp?
Active speakers are just speaker with a chip amp in them instead of a big copper coil
Which is what I assume Sonos is anyway | | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 11:23 - Aug 28 with 1219 views | FDC |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 11:07 - Aug 28 by JimmyR |
If I wanted this I’d buy the most expensive active KRK’s I could afford and a beringher audio interface - future proof and far more adaptable. Bit more DIY , but what your not paying for in convenience you will reap back in sound quality. I suspect that would wipe the floor with Sonos of the like but I don’t know cos I don’t own anything Sonos
I’ve got a 50quid John Lewis radio that you can Bluetooth anything into. I was really surprised how good the digital radio and even Spotify sounds wirelessly
As previously stated if you are steaming Spotify and expecting it to sound good you’ve lost before you’ve even started [Post edited 28 Aug 11:07]
|
I bought this little guy to take camping, you can actually pair them in stereo and they sound great for podcasts and Spotify etc.
https://www.theoontz.com/products/oontz-angle-3-bluetooth-speaker?variant=427710 |  | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 11:44 - Aug 28 with 1177 views | CateLeBonR |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 09:52 - Aug 28 by hubble |
Thanks FDC - what I mean is that I like the idea of having two speakers (which I will put on stands) on either side of the room. I know that systems like the Sonos Five (and many others) create a kind of soundscape that means you only need the one speaker, but not having any idea how good that is, I'm thinking the two active speaker idea might be a touch better. But maybe not. Either way, I need the system to have bluetooth connectivity and a built in amp. I don't want to go down the separates route. Hope that clarifies it! |
I’ve had an Audio Pro M3 wireless speaker for about 5 years now and the sound and build quality is excellent. No problems with it at all and would definitely buy from them again. Their A28 or A38 speakers sound like an option for you and has wired inputs should you ever change you’re set up.
https://www.richersounds.com/audio-pro-a28-black-1/#tab-description
*Edit - Looks like you need to run a speaker cable between the two speakers so might not be exactly what you’re looking for. Input is wired or wireless though. [Post edited 28 Aug 12:05]
|  | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 13:21 - Aug 28 with 1068 views | FDC |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 12:13 - Aug 28 by NorrisGreen |
I've moved to Two Dogs now so my Nogger Dog based name is sort of redundant. Your wife will know where Two Dogs is  |
Ha no way, my in-laws actually live down the road from Huyton - it's the train station i used to cycle to, to commute into Manchester when were staying with my wife's mum for a bit. | | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 13:39 - Aug 28 with 1032 views | hubble |
Hi Jimmy,
I am aware that bluetooth streaming from spotify (for example), is not going to provide a true hi-fi experience. Nevertheless, the difference I've noted between the various low to medium budget bluetooth speakers I've tried versus a high-end speaker/sound system is still vast. Streaming at the highest possible quality setting also makes a difference.
Right now I don't have enough vinyl to justify buying a turntable (much as I love listening to music at its analogue best), nor CDs to justify buying a player, so I will be streaming from my phone/laptop, or, with the right speakers, directly from the internet. However, I would like whatever I get to have the option of a wired input so that should I get those in the future, it can handle it.
As for price, I'm willing to go fairly high, for example I really like the look of these Triangle AIO twins at £699: https://www.richersounds.com/triangle-aio-twin-brown-maple/#tab-reviews
Rest assured, I shall go to Richer Sounds and road test everything first... and if there is little to no difference between a £120 quid speaker and a £700 quid one I'm not going to spend the extra. But if there is, I'm prepared to get the best quality I can. | |
| |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 14:08 - Aug 28 with 988 views | FDC |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 13:39 - Aug 28 by hubble |
Hi Jimmy,
I am aware that bluetooth streaming from spotify (for example), is not going to provide a true hi-fi experience. Nevertheless, the difference I've noted between the various low to medium budget bluetooth speakers I've tried versus a high-end speaker/sound system is still vast. Streaming at the highest possible quality setting also makes a difference.
Right now I don't have enough vinyl to justify buying a turntable (much as I love listening to music at its analogue best), nor CDs to justify buying a player, so I will be streaming from my phone/laptop, or, with the right speakers, directly from the internet. However, I would like whatever I get to have the option of a wired input so that should I get those in the future, it can handle it.
As for price, I'm willing to go fairly high, for example I really like the look of these Triangle AIO twins at £699: https://www.richersounds.com/triangle-aio-twin-brown-maple/#tab-reviews
Rest assured, I shall go to Richer Sounds and road test everything first... and if there is little to no difference between a £120 quid speaker and a £700 quid one I'm not going to spend the extra. But if there is, I'm prepared to get the best quality I can. |
The good thing about those Triangle AIO speakers is that, apart from allowing for a wired connection in the future, they would support Tidal Connect / Spotify Connect, allowing you to control playback from your phone without relying on Bluetooth. The speakers connect to your wifi so can you stream music directly to the speakers. | | | |
Login to get fewer ads
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 14:42 - Aug 28 with 944 views | Lblock |
Despite having a pair of KRK's connected to my 1200's via my KAM MobilePro mixer I have to confess all the other audio speak here is all very specialist -- fair play to those of you who go for that.
I don't think my ears are too badly trained over the decades.
When doing a total house refurb recently the AV set up was a key consideration and clearly you can spend thousands unwisely...... all that outlay and maybe end up with the AV equivalent of Madsen.
I'm glad I listened to one of our AV experts who said for a whole house domestic install such as what I was after to plump for SONOS. I ran all the cables but with a fundamental flaw in it only being two core... kin idiot! Having said that everything sounds brilliant and I am well happy with the zonal control and quality from all the kit I'm running (a mix of SONOS own, Wharfedales, Speakercraft and soundbars which are also SONOS).
The App update that SONOS did about 18 months ago was an absolute disaster and coincided with me "going live". I was close to selling it all and going down the NODE route but stuck it out due to expense. All much better now and works really well.
Just to back up an earlier comment -- wired far superior to bluetooth or WiFi though. |  |
| Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal |
| |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 17:56 - Aug 28 with 847 views | JimmyR |
Good luck let us know how you get on, as L block says the KRKs are pretty hard to beat an not that much money
Just had a look the their website and they’ve launched ‘kreate’ which look to be everything you need so no interface needed
There’s got to be a difference between spending 400 quid and 800 quid right? But I’d be surprised if the more expensive ones sound twice as good
Never owned or knowingly listened to Sonos buts it’s the DACs in these things that determine how they sound
DACs have got way cheaper to the point that you can buy any old shite CD player via an external DAC and it will sound amazing or so I’m told | | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 19:03 - Aug 28 with 796 views | FDC |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 17:56 - Aug 28 by JimmyR |
Good luck let us know how you get on, as L block says the KRKs are pretty hard to beat an not that much money
Just had a look the their website and they’ve launched ‘kreate’ which look to be everything you need so no interface needed
There’s got to be a difference between spending 400 quid and 800 quid right? But I’d be surprised if the more expensive ones sound twice as good
Never owned or knowingly listened to Sonos buts it’s the DACs in these things that determine how they sound
DACs have got way cheaper to the point that you can buy any old shite CD player via an external DAC and it will sound amazing or so I’m told |
Don't KRK make studio monitors, with a frequency response a bit different to what you'd want in your living room? I've always associated them with DJ setups and home studios. | | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 19:46 - Aug 28 with 758 views | JimmyR |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 19:03 - Aug 28 by FDC |
Don't KRK make studio monitors, with a frequency response a bit different to what you'd want in your living room? I've always associated them with DJ setups and home studios. |
Yeah bang on, not saying they are the best option, just I’m familiar with them and they are decent
Tbh I wish if bought them instead of a distinctly average sound back smallest kreate ones are only 135 quid | | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 12:31 - Aug 29 with 608 views | londonscottish |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 08:20 - Aug 28 by FDC |
Nice. I've had the Q Acoustic floor speakers for years, and wanted to match them with a Q Acoustic centre channel, which i bought and then discovered is mismatched to the receiver's impedance... I spent a bit of time looking in to it and I think I'm ok if I don't push it too hard, which will hopefully be ok as I don't watch a lot of loud action movies, but we'll see!
Yeah for surround channels I don't think you need to spend much really, they don't receive a huge amount of audio, and it doesn't take much to provide the immersion you're looking for. The Polk were the best balance I could find of smallish and not too expensive, plus they're white so are fairly indiscrete which was part of the domestic negotiation. |
Q Acoustics and Polk have a good rep.
Re the surround thing I can't comment on 7.1 as I've never added the Atmos speakers but for 5.1 the biggest single thing I noticed when I upgraded to the Monitor Audios was the centre speaker - so much dialogue comes though it when I'm watching TV show or movies.
I guess I'd never thought of spending a decent amount on a centre speaker before - now I see the point. |  |
| |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 14:09 - Aug 29 with 577 views | nick_hammersmith |
Sonos got killed a bit by Apple, when they bought out their own hardware for wireless speakers. I think they made the airplay license prohibitive?
I have to use an older version of the Sonos app as I have a mixture of speakers in the house. They are great, but I don't think the issues are Sonos' fault...
A nice bonus of Sonos though is that they end up being wi-fi repeaters as far as I can tell! |  | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 14:35 - Aug 29 with 541 views | FDC |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 12:31 - Aug 29 by londonscottish |
Q Acoustics and Polk have a good rep.
Re the surround thing I can't comment on 7.1 as I've never added the Atmos speakers but for 5.1 the biggest single thing I noticed when I upgraded to the Monitor Audios was the centre speaker - so much dialogue comes though it when I'm watching TV show or movies.
I guess I'd never thought of spending a decent amount on a centre speaker before - now I see the point. |
Yeah had the same experience , I'd been using the Q Acoustic floor speakers for films and TV for years, but was always adjusting the volume, turning up for dialogue and down again for loud bits. The centre channel makes dialogue so much clearer, and along with the sub takes a lot of work off the floor speakers and make everything more balanced | | | |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 14:37 - Sep 1 with 291 views | hubble |
For the few of you who have followed this thread (thanks for everyone's input), I thought you might be interested to know that I ended up buying these babies..
..which are Dali Oberon 1Cs. I did an extensive listen to a whole series of speakers at Richer Sounds (amazing service) and in the end I went for these. Absolutely exceptional sound (the RS guy said bluetooth and spotify input much better than some of you might think!), with the option to attach a turntable etc. What helped seal the deal was that I got a whopping £350 discount (+ a six year warranty) due to them be the last in stock, not a popular colour (they're fine by me) and also discovering me and the RS guy were neighbours. | |
| |
| Bluetooth active speakers v sound system on 19:34 - Sep 1 with 217 views | hubble |
PS Audiophiles please note: I've signed up to Apple Music and I'm using their lossless download function which captures the complete original audio file. The sound with these speakers is fkin awesome!
[Post edited 1 Sep 19:37]
| |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
