Brilliant Bargain Bookshelf speakers

Advantages: Bass is deep and detailed, terrific presence, lively and engaging
Disadvantages: Mid range could be more open

...speakers really shine is in their sonic performance across all genre ranges; from rock to rap, to reggae to dance and indeed classical. These speakers possess a great deal of presence and this makes for a very lively listen so if you live in a small semi you might want to keep the volume down as tempting as it is to turn things up. You are particularly appreciative of this when the music presents wild transients in the music, from a sudden thump of a bass drum, to a slam of the guitar it handles it with aplomb. The bass while obviously not offering the same kick as a floorstander is plentiful particularly for a bookshelf speaker. It controls the bass well, never threatening to become too lumpy and adds a precision which is rarely seen in this price tag. This is obviously particularly necessary in rap music where a heavy emphasis is placed...

grandchamp 01.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Monitor Audio Bronze BR2

These Bookshelf Wonders Punch Above Their Weight

Advantages: Sound quality, looks, fit and finish
Disadvantages: None

...I've just taken delivery of my Quad 12L speakers and I'm absolutely stunned. What a bighearted sound! I've downsized from the excellent Linn Katan's to suit my bijou new flat, and have suffered no loss of quality in the process - result! Sure there isn't quite that Linn foot-tapping rhythm, but the sense of air and transparency you get from these bookshelf wonders is something else - like a speaker costing 2 or 3 times as much. The looks and level of finish are also superb - again like a much more expensive product. I go back quite a long way with Quad. When I had the time and space to indulge myself with "real" hi-fi I ran a pair of ESL63 electrostatics. I thought they were the bees knees, and still do. But so hard to live with and use! Of course these little puppies are in no way like the ESL's, but they're nonetheless...

oz_steve 19.03.2004 · Read review
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Review of Quad 12L Bookshelf Speakers

It's Creative with speakers!

Advantages: Tiny, FM radio, voice recorder, speaker
Disadvantages: Quite some, read the review

...I never had a great respect for Creative?s audio quality, in a sense they are know to have at best ?above average? and normally ?average? audio quality. None of their audio products has ever reached, forget about over running, the standard set out by the best up there. This new Creative ZEN Stone Plus is no exception only that you get a speaker system, whose sound quality is not more than what you can expect from speaker so tiny, as a bonus and only that. The Upgrade to Creative Zen Stone plus, keeping the same price tag with upgraded accessories without charges. Providing silicon skin and detachable clip for the skin plus the standard ear-bud, instructions and of course the USB cable. I thought it was an inch from the Shuffle and Clip. The skin is a quality one providing openings for USB cable and the speaker. The new Zen Stone...

roktimdutta 23.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Creative ZEN Stone with Speaker 2 GB

Beautiful looks. Beautiful sound.

Advantages: Immacuately built, gorgeous sounding loudspeakers
Disadvantages: Very few. They might show up your current source equipment and have you spending more money

...beautiful something is to begin with the more annoying it is when it gets damaged. Apart from that you'll need to buy a proper pair of stands to mount them on otherwise most of the Qauds quality will be sucked up by your bookshelf or floor. (You are looking at something ike the £60 Atcama Nexus stands as a minimum.) But then this goes for any small speaker; the other option is to go for a floorstanding model like the Quad 21L. Shop around and you can pick these beauties up for £380. Certain web dealers package them with 5m of QED Silver Anniversary biwire speaker cable (another highly recommended product) and may be willing to further discount this price if you don't need the cable....

dlcastles 05.02.2004 · Read review
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Review of Quad 11L Bookshelf Speakers

Small Speakers, Small Sound

Advantages: Small, lightweight, can be used with any mp3 player
Disadvantages: Sound quality isn't great - speakers not very powerful

...Introduction I previously posted a review for the Sanza Fuze mp3 player I bought for my daughter. Well, one of the joys of having a child is you buy them something and then they ask you for accessories, and this was no exception - I needed to get a wall charger separately and she also asked for speakers. Most of the content my daughter has on her mp3 player is on her laptop, for which I bought her high quality speakers that give her excellent sound quality, so when she asked for speakers I told her I was only going to get cheap portable ones rather than spend a lot of money on something that would merely duplicate what her laptop does. Choosing the Speakers My daughter isn't particularly fussy about sound quality, so she was happy to go along with this and I did a little research online in search of something that would fit...

rosebud2001 11.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of JVC SP-A220 Portable Speakers

MS902

Advantages: Looks, smoothness of bass, crispness of treble
Disadvantages: Look to nice to leave to grilles on all the time

...I can't begin to descirbe how much i like these speakers. The sound quality is incredibly clear. Very occasionally, older/lower quality recordings can sound a bit nasal, but this is not an issue. Everything from Led Zeppelin to Madonna is reproduced with almost frightening clarity and realism. These speakers sound incredibly open and warm, and are incredibly musical Bass is something that Mordaunt Short have always done very well. These speakers go down to 55Hz, although in-room this is far lower. The bass is very flexible, yet still dry. They can do the deep sine sweeps often found in music by bands like the chemical brothers, but a bass drum in music by the white stripes is reproduced with equal weight and drive The treble that comes from the aluminium dome tweeter is fantastically clean. It sounds very sharp for an acoustic...

TomF 06.07.2004 · Read review
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Review of Mordaunt Short 902 Bookshelf Speakers

Can you stretch a budget?

Advantages: Fab finish and more than extra special sound.
Disadvantages: Your going to need to splash out to get the best from these speakers.

...--BACKGROUND INFO-- To start with, I'm suprised that these speakers even exist! Quad is the big sister of wharfedale, they basicaly broke off to focus on the high-end market. Until now, Quad's speakers have been highly priced, electrostatic wonders! We're talking thousands of pounds here! These speakers are basicaly Quad's version of Wharedale's fantastic diamond range (see my review of the diamond 8.3s). Being Quad however, they've had to take things one step further, with all new techno wizardry, fancy magnets, expensive materials, componants and finish - these beauties really are the 'high-end' of 'budget' speakers. --THE SPECIFICATIONS-- The quad 11Ls can produce sounds with frequencys from 45hz (nice and bassy) to well into the in-audible range over 20,000hz. This might not seem useful, but it does add detail and sparkle...

MusicSam 06.02.2004 · Read review
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Review of Quad 11L Bookshelf Speakers

M2SS Individual Bookshelf Speakers

Advantages: High quality sound
Disadvantages: Not the best bass without a subwoofer

...After deciding to upgrade my surround sound speakers, I had a look at a few Loud Speaker packages, and then at the individual bookshelf speakers to compare price with value for money. I first decided to go with the individual bookshelf speakers rather than the all in one package, as you only need to have good front speakers to get the high quality sound feeling, and can drop a few levels for your side and rear speakers, as they do not need to produce as many sounds. After a good few weeks of looking around I ended up at Richer Sounds, where I noticed a pair of Mission M2S speakers (the individual speakers from the M2S Loudspeaker Package Mission slowed and may have stopped producing as they upgraded) on sale for £49.95 a pair, which are valued at a normal price of £99.95 a pair. After seeing this good price, I instantly went...

Delboy001 02.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Mission M2S

Mission 750 LE Bookshelf Speaker

Advantages: Its Mission quality
Disadvantages: Not much Speaker for the money you have to pay

...To celebrate their 25th anniversary Mission launched the 750 Limited Edition bookshelf speakers. Only 7000 pairs of this little gorgeous sculpture are being made, and then it's over. The 750 is an entirely new speaker, based on no older Missions. It comes as a tiny but weighty 2-way model, clad in lush real rosewood or black ash veneer, and looking not unlike a Sonus Faber Extrema (after all this is an Italian magazine, so I have to honour my host, comprende?). The driver compliment is made up of a 13cm Aerogel woofer, and a silk dome tweeter (as in the other Mission 75-series speakers). The bi-wiring binding posts are heavily gold-plated, and there is a reflex port at the back, which precludes use close to a wall. Sensitivity is 86dB/W@1m, and the nominal impedance is 6 Ohms, not hard to drive. The 750s look very attractive...

DJ_FUSION 18.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Mission 750

Speakers Corner - The Real Thing

Advantages: a British institution
Disadvantages: not as good as it used to be

...Does everybody who uses the words 'Speakers Corner' (from now on SC) know what they're talking about? That this is really a location: the north eastern corner of Hyde Park, near Marble Arch, London, UK? The words have left the location, aren't only the name of a place any more, they have become a term and are now used worldwide to describe . . . what actually? Certainly politicians in Singapore hadn't studied the subject closely when they decided to allow a SC on September 1, 2000. According to Reuters news agency: "The Singapore government announced it would launch the forum because it wanted greater public involvement, conducted in a 'mature, non-agitated way.'...Speakers must register for a permit and speeches may be recorded by the police . . . The police department said before the corner's opening that uniformed officers...

MALU 05.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park, London