Home cinema setup: floorstand or bookshelf speakers? (house floor plan included)

ceiling height is around 2.7 mtr (9 ft)

budget for speakers is GBP 2,500 (max) excluding cables,AV receiver.

Not looking for house-shaking bass.

Thanks.

- How big an un-walled area is your family room in (your pictures didn't come out)?.....if the room was walled, you would get away with Standmounts or small Floorstanders, but in an open plan space, the speakers may have a much bigger area to fill.

- Does the £2500 cover full surround including the sub?

- Do you like a more forward exciting sound or a smoother one?

- What sort of music do you like?

- Will you be using the sub for 2 channel?

- Will you be using pre-outs to your Kandy amp?

Thanks Cno for the response.

The open/unwalled area is approximately 6 mtr x 6 mtr (from the start of the family room with some small/short walls written on the floorplan) up to the island/pantry. There's actually a bit more open space in the dining room

here's the link to the flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85534910@N05/7839176932/in/photostream/ 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85534910@N05/7839179862/in/photostream/

The GBP 2,500 budget includes the sub

Sound: exciting one over smooth (mostly for movies)

Music preference: to be played in the family/cinema area would be something tolerable to the wife, hence: jazz, pop, lounge.  I will have my own hi-fi room upstairs w/ a different setup using my Roksan

yes, i will be using sub for this home cinema setup, when I use it for music, I will turn off the sub

The Kandy will not be used in this family/cinema area.

thanks mate

As usual, I end up pushing my luck, and your budget. The problem is the size of your open area.

I would look at  Kef, Neat, Dali and Dynaudio, with a sub from BK 

1. Kef     R300* + R200C + R100 + BK Sub

2. Neat  Motive 2 + Motive C + Motive 3 + BK Sub

3. Dali   Ikon 6 Mk2  5.1 package

2. Dynaudio  DM 3/7 + DM Centre + DM 2/6 + BK Sub

* I would like to have specced the floorstander, but ran out of budget. The R300 produce a lot of bass for their size, and combined with a sub should be fine. The R series are superb and would be my first choice....but you need to listen for yourself.

Good luck

Cno

Hi Cno,

many thanks for your input, the options would be very helpful in my upcoming demo this weekend.

For the sub, I'm not familiar w/ the BK brand, can you give me a link for the product?

What about REL sub? (or entry level Velodyne), would they fall into the same price bracket as the BK R300?

Also, Focal the 700 or 800 range, any thoughts about them?

Cheers.

I mentioned BK as I had used up all your budget, and they are imo the best vfm subs out there: http://www.bkelec.com/hifi/sub_woofers.htm

Velodyne and Rel are both excellent dedicated sub manufacturers....I prefer Velodyne, and used to own one from the SPL series. I liked the old Rel stuff like the Storm 5, Strata 5 and Stampede.....and the Bk subs are very like those old models.

Other brands that I rate are Paradigm, SVS and Fathom....but your problem is getting a sub that doesn't burst your budget wide open.

Focal make high quality speakers, so I don't see why their subs wouldn't be good.....but I haven't heard them. Here is some info from another thread: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1028940/opinions-on-focal-sw700-800-subs

Keen to get the velodyne spl 10 inch.. 

Hv demoed the focal 716, quite impressive sounding floorstander..however, i'm concerned with the lack of support from the local shop here, seems like they just want sell products without giving proper after sales support.

The surprise of the day was the demo of the PSB T6 + C5 center + B5 bookshelf+ PSB subseries 200 10 inch sub...superb results when demoing inception, and suckerpunch..and the price is very much affordable.

So far the psb is the top contender, need to demo BW next weekend.

Thanks mate

The best advise I can give you, is to demo as much as possible, and when the right combo comes along, you will know it.

If you are confused about anything, don't be afraid to come on here and check it out. There is nearly always somebody who can give you an answer.

Cno

thanks for the advise, really appreciate it.

Cheers.

As previously mentioned , demo,demo,demo. Everyone has their own taste but I would strongly recommend 

SVS SB12 with either

Monitor audio RX package minus the sub

Mordaunt short mezzo 6,2+5

The MA package is smooth with a fantastic centre channel

The Mordaunt short package has a bit more presence.

Thanks Lee, unfortunately, dont have MA dealers around here.

In the meantime, the local Dali dealer sent me an email, there will be demo units of Dali Zensor, 5MK2, 6MK2, all in 5.1 setups coming up in the next 2 week. Keen to hear them out as well.Don't know about their surround performance though, the OnWall Vokal 2, any input on these speakers guys? Looks fantastic, Wife Acceptance Factor is definitely high. But how does it sound?

http://www.dali.dk/en-US/Loudspeakers-1/IKON-ON-WALL-MK2.aspx 

Subwoofer,I might get a good deal for the Velodyne CHT-12Q

Cheers.

Mordaunt Short offer 60day return. Pleased with mine and good xustomer support. Not returned them but have a feeling they would do so without a fuss.

Cheers