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Small(ish) Bookshelf/Wall mount speakers

Paul

Staff member
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
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11,543
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South Wales
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Toibs
Looking at Active Wall mount speakers, and seeing some reasonable reviews for the Money for the Edifier R1280DBs speakers (Active, Bluetooth, Sub out which are my main three requirements).

Anyone had any experience and anyone have experience of anything similar?

Thx!
 
They are for slapping on the wall in my office to give me some music... Not sure ANY speakers warrant a price tag of over £200... :D

Now if they made me cups of Tea and breakfast... worth every penny :)
 
I have a pair of the R1280Ts - my understanding is that they're the same as the R1280DBs except the R1280DBs has S/PDIF input and Bluetooth capability. Really happy with the quality for the price - probably the best bookshelf speakers in that price bracket; sound is crisp and clear.
If you stretch your budget a little bit from the DBs the R1700BT tweeters are a little better but it's not a massive difference if you'd rather save the money.
 
What about a couple of the older Sonos play 1? About £80-90 second hand?
 
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What about the older Sonia play 1? About £80-90 second hand?
I'm actually thinking about using two Alexas in "stereo" mode..... Not sure i'll get the quality i'm after though (Semi-decent)....
 
I use a pair of Dali Zensors which sound great via the Topping D10s DAC, downside is the remote control is thin plastic crap.
(For context we have a Canton sound bar, now that comes with an indestructible brick of a remote control)
 
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Where will the music be coming from?
If you have a small amp with bluetooth input, you can please yourself speakerwise
I've got some Wharfdale Diamond 9.1s which I love, and also a pair of Q Acoustics which are a bit smaller and also sound decent, both of which were about £200 a pair but that was 10-15 years ago, don't get me wrong they're no BWs, but they sound good to me :D
 
Hi

The Sonos Play 1 has an annoyingly good sound .. the only 'good' Sonos speaker in my opinion.. surprisingly good for the $$

Kef LSX would be my preferred option for this job if you want small, or the perfect bit of kit would be the Naim Mu-So 2 in your workshop !! (This is what I have)!
 
Naim Mu-So 2 in your workshop !!
£1k speakers in the workshop..... :eek: No way i could afford that :) I'm over 50 now, my hearing will only go downhill... So pointless

The Sonos Play 1
After the "recent" Sonos debarcle I'm deffo steering away from any "semi-controlled" speakers. I didnt have much invested (only a couple), however it seems many technologies are even more disposable due to forced obselecence by the Manufacturers (annoyingly less so with Amazon who just add niceties/features you "want" to the latest release to encourage people to upgrade... however I have a couple of old alexas and they still do what they used to....

Where will the music be coming from?
If you have a small amp with bluetooth input, you can please yourself speakerwise
So - I was initially thinking about a small Stereo Valve Amp i have... https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07C22L1DT/ (got those pesky cheap chinese valves out and replaced with some siemens 5654W valves - EF95 Equivalents - which give a much more "valve" like smooth sound) - these would just need "any old" speakers and i could throw some Cambridge Min 22's on there and probably have reasonable sound output (at zero cost as i already have the Min's). Then realised i would really like a sub under the desk since i have the X200, so that rules the Amp out as there's no Sub-out. That was then when i considered binning the idea and getting something like the Edifiers, which i could hard wire to my PC to one port, and Bluetooth in if needed from my mobile (depending on what the player option of the day was (Spotify/Youtube etc)....

As mentioned above, i could go the route of taking two Echo's and setting up in Stereo mode, however that rules out any PC option unless i connect everything Via BT... just gets messy.. plus the thing will deafen every 5 mins when someone comes to the door/notifications etc etc...
 
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So - I was initially thinking about a small Stereo Valve Amp i have... https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07C22L1DT/ (got those pesky cheap chinese valves out and replaced with some siemens 5654W valves - EF95 Equivalents - which give a much more "valve" like smooth sound) - these would just need "any old" speakers and i could throw some Cambridge Min 22's on there and probably have reasonable sound output (at zero cost as i already have the Min's). Then realised i would really like a sub under the desk since i have the X200, so that rules the Amp out as there's no Sub-out. That was then when i considered binning the idea and getting something like the Edifiers, which i could hard wire to my PC to one port, and Bluetooth in if needed from my mobile (depending on what the player option of the day was (Spotify/Youtube etc)....
If you're playing back MP3's compressed audio would you even need fancy valved amps?
My old Rotel amp, Mission speakers set-up I love but I can't remember the last time I even turned it on and it's years ago.

Save your money, you need MOAR pins!
 
If you're playing back MP3's compressed audio would you even need fancy valved amps?
Depends on the sampling rate of an Mp3.... anything over 256k is reckoned to be non-distinguishable from the source anyhow...

This wasnt specifically about justy Mp3's tho :)

to be fair the valves are only used on the Pre-stage... Main amp is a simple TI TPA3116 Class D Amp... so nothing special :)
 
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I'm actually thinking about using two Alexas in "stereo" mode..... Not sure i'll get the quality i'm after though (Semi-decent)....
Seriously, take a look at the big Google speakers, they are freakin awesome. And they tune themselves to your room.
 
If you're playing back MP3's compressed audio would you even need fancy valved amps?
My old Rotel amp, Mission speakers set-up I love but I can't remember the last time I even turned it on and it's years ago.

Save your money, you need MOAR pins!
That brings back memories. I used to absolutely love my old Rotel amp. It wiped the floor with my neighbours NAD that was the pinnacle at the time.
 
Seriously, take a look at the big Google speakers, they are freakin awesome. And they tune themselves to your room.
I have a natrual aversion to google (Just ripped out my Nest Gen 3 as there is virtually nothing out there to allow them to properly control room temps - Nice system, complete lack of accessories to refine it!).

Might be an idea tho purely to rip the circuitry out and hardwire them if they sound that good :D
 
I have a natrual aversion to google (Just ripped out my Nest Gen 3 as there is virtually nothing out there to allow them to properly control room temps - Nice system, complete lack of accessories to refine it!).

Might be an idea tho purely to rip the circuitry out and hardwire them if they sound that good :D
You can just switch off the mic and control them through Spotify on your phone. I don't really use any of the Google Assistant stuff now the novelty has worn off.
 
Off topic but for home automation - HomeAssistant is pretty awesome, use any Zigbee device you like, and you can build some pretty involved scripts
Very low cost of entry too - RPi or old micro PC and a 20 dongle and you're away.
 
Off topic but for home automation - HomeAssistant is pretty awesome, use any Zigbee device you like, and you can build some pretty involved scripts
Very low cost of entry too - RPi or old micro PC and a 20 dongle and you're away.
indeed... something i have been playing with :D
 
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