A total of 2 reviews of this product on Reddit.
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Ok so here’s two concrete ideas:
(1) Stereo AVR + Passive Bookshelves
You can get a Marantz NR1200 for £700. This thing is pretty small, but it has HDMI input for your TV; built in streaming with AirPlay/Spotify/etc; several analog and digital inputs, and a 75Wpc amp. It can play to Bluetooth headphones, which is unusual and perhaps convenient. The amp and phono pre have room for improvement, but the important thing is that it leaves you £800 for loudspeakers.
Sell the Mackies for £200 and you have £1000. You can get a pair of Elac Debut Reference DBR62 for £500. Add a Elac Debut 2.0 Sub3010 subwoofer for £500.
Now you have a decent 2.1 system for £1500 + selling 2 Mackie monitors. You may need money for speaker stands and cables depending on what you already have.
(1.1) different speakers
If you skip the sub and put all £1000 into a pair of speakers, you could get the KEF LS50 Meta. These look cooler than the Elacs, but you’d probably get better overall sound from the Elac DBR + sub. Certainly the KEF won’t be able to compete on bass.
(2) Smart active monitors
If you like the KEF look, you could get a pair of KEF LSX for £1000. These active speakers support AirPlay 2/Spotify/Tidal. They have an analog input for your turntable and a digital input for your TV. They come in several colors, if you care about that. There a several mounting options available that match the various color finishes.
You can add a KEF Kube 8b subwoofer for £500. You can get a wireless connector for £180 (probably less – don’t think you need the transmitter) which will give you a lot of flexibility to place the sub around the room and help you hide wires.
Thoughts
If I were in your shoes, I would probably do Option #2. This is mostly driven by style. If you want a really clean, slick looking setup, the KEF should give you that. I might save up a bit longer and get a bigger sub though.. 8” doesn’t move a ton of air.
Option #1 is more expandable and flexible. You can upgrade the Marantz to something like the Cambridge Audio EVO75 (£1800). You can swap out the Elacs for whatever set of passive bookshelves you like.
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There are plenty of quality speakers and there are plenty of quality Amp+Speaker combinations.
Are you looking for top audio quality, if so then I would recommend KEF LS50 or there equivalent with built in Amps. Highly praised speakers, but those in the link below require an external Amp.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Bookshelf-Speaker-Mineral-LS50-Meta/dp/B08HGHTWYL/
Here is a pretty nice, very compact Amp with Digital In, Bluetooth, and Headphones out –
SMSL AD-18 40w/ch Amp – (¥15,892 direct)
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/AD18/dp/B01M3ULDG9/
There is a drop down menu where you can select your local currency if it doesn’t appear by defautl.
In a small space these would easily drive the KEF LS50.
Though be aware that they are countless passive speakers do choose from at all price ranges.
For myself, I have an somewhat large Onkyo Amp and some Q Acoustic 3020 5″ bookshelf speakers.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Acoustics-3020i-Bookshelf-Speaker-Pair/dp/B07C4NZNYQ/
Notice at the link there are other color options – white, gray/charcoal, & wood grain at about ¥38,000.
If you are looking for the basics in quality Active speakers, then check out EDIFIER which has world wide distribution by Amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=Edifier+S350DB
https://edifier-online.com/us/en/speakers/s360db
Another option would be Studio Monitors, though these work, but are very basic, though the sound is good. Here is one example from Mackie –
Here are JBL 5″ 305P MKII – also very good (Priced EACH, not per pair) –
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/PROFESSIONAL-305P-Powered-Monitor-Speaker/dp/B077N2GQXC/
There are the typical range of options most people face when looking for computer speakers.
I WOULD NOT GET tiny computer speakers like this unless your budget is VERY low, and for myself – never.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Logitech-Z313-Subwoofer-Included-Supports/dp/B003OID5HA/
I think I would be very happy with the Q Acoustics 3020i and the SMSL AD-18 Amp to drive them. They sound good, but they don’t have super deep exaggerated bass, so they will work nicely in an office environment. I think that combination would run about ¥65,000.
