The vinyl wrap also seemed to be more bubbly to me in several spots and, for a speaker at this price point, I expect better. company number 03997482, registered in England and Wales. The UE Wonderboom 3 is the all-around best portable Bluetooth speaker because it sounds good and looks cool, and its the most rugged model weve tested. Have you had a chance to compare those two yet? Hip-hop, R&B, and modern pop recordings often extend to lower frequencies, so if youre a fan of those genres (and you wont use a subwoofer), pay special attention to our CTA-2010 results at 31.5 Hz. Stylish design and great sound make the Polk Signature Elite ES15, ES10, and ES30 combo our pick for the best surround-sound system. If youre looking for powered speakers that cost less and sound good, check out our best computer speakers guide. I started reviewing speakers professionally in 1991 as senior editor of Video magazine, and Ive since served as an editor or writer at audio-focused publications such as Home Theater, Sound & Vision, SoundStage, and HomeTheaterReview.com. It also has no output to connect a subwoofer, if you want more bass. The Monoprice MM-5R offers deeper and more powerful bass than either the PSB or the Edifier sets, and it includes a USB digital input and a mono subwoofer output. As for the Triangle BR03's, also fantastic speakers. If you want a step up in sound quality from the Edifier S1000MKII and dont mind paying more: In our tests, the Monoprice MM-5R and PSB Alpha AM5 powered-speaker pairs sounded a little clearer with voices than the Edifier S1000MKII set did. I'm looking to invest in my first set-up with the current sales. In our tests with Holly Coles version of Train Song, the sound sparkled, filling the room with the jingle of percussion instruments and the subtle sounds of fingers scraping the strings of the double bass. I have no previous experience in audio, so I would greatly appreciate any advice that I receive. One is that youll probably have to pay for shipping, although that was only $8 last time we checked. For near field listing the Kef you mentioned. The Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 and 12.2 got similar reactions from our panelists. This website uses the TMDb API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDb. Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Miccas MB42X speakers are compact, but their small woofer couldnt put out much bass, and the treble had a harsh, metallic sound. The KEFs are brighter, more analytical, and I favor them for situations when I intend to listen actively. I intend to use whatever I pick for a long time, so I may in the future use it in the living room of a small apartment in New York, if this should in any way affect my decision making. Brent Butterworth is a senior staff writer covering audio and musical instruments at Wirecutter. The Edifier S1000MKII had excellent measured on-axis frequency response by any standard, but its results were especially good for a speaker in its price range. Frequency response measurements for the BR03 were excellent, with a variation of about 2.5 decibels through most of the audio range and an even balance of bass to mid range to treble. KEF Q150. We tested speakers with expert listeners, and we concealed the identities of the products to eliminate bias. Some powered speakers (including one of our picks) even incorporate a phono preamp so you can plug a turntable straight into them. This means that voices and instruments sound natural, and the speakers dont add much coloration of their own. That said, they are both very different speakers, and which is right for you really comes down to preference. This website uses the TMDb API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDb. Compared to the KEFs, these speakers shine for me on mellow, melty songs such as Julian Lage - Nocturne or John Scofield - A Go Go. The Q150s are renowned for their soundstage. Q Acoustics, Edifier, and Klipsch were unable to provide answers to our questions. Recordings sometimes sounded hollow, as if they had been recorded inside a box. On more mainstream pop recordings in our tests, the 3020i set performed equally impressively, presenting a natural and detailed sound on voices and guitars. Are they being sold by stores that allow in-home auditions or do cheap and easy returns? The amplifier is located in the right speaker, and the two speakers connect with a proprietary cable thats 16 feet longyoure unlikely to need anything longer. B&W's generally need a fair amount of space to breathe or they become boomy being rear ported. This subreddit is for the budget minded audiophile that wants to grow out of soundbars, boomboxes, mini systems, portable bluetooth, lifestyle speakers, and PC peripheral branded audio solutions. Too bad their sales aren'tbut the Q150s are excellent, and thats' a solid price for a pair. It should last for years and deliver better performance than you can get from the majority of all-in-one Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speakers that are all the rage now. A removable grille is included. Among all the powered speakers we tested, the S1000MKII pair produced the most enveloping sound; its vocal reproduction was realistic, too, and its bass was impressively full. Perhaps the most distinctive thing about the S1000MKII pairs performance is that it produced such a huge soundstagethe instruments seemed to spread across the entire width of the room, well beyond the speakers themselves. See What to look forward to for details. It has a phono input and a convenient front volume/input-selector knob, which the S1000MKII lacks. Lively piano jazz such as Old Castle by Chick Corea and Hiromi is still really fun and engaging. I agree completely. The proportions of the Triangle are entirely satisfying. Nothing comes close. These Q Acoustics speakers offer excellent sound quality at a great price in a handsome, wood-panelled package. Id be interested to hear a comparison between the Triangle Esprit Comte EZ and the Polk Legend L200 as they are more similarly priced to one another and feature the same size drivers. For more information, please see our Its bass also played impressively deep for the size of the speakers. Maybe give the 607s a go and return them if you think they are not up to par. TRIANGLE BOREA BRO 3 vs KEF Q150. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Each R-51PM speaker measures 13.3 inches high by 9.1 inches deep by 7 inches wide, so a pair isnt quite as bulky as the Edifier S1000MKII set. What stands out in the 3020is performance is the detail and clarity that these speakers bring out in every recording. Good looks plus good sound sealed the deal and the Triangle Borea BR03 are replacing the KEF Q150 in my 2-channel setup. The BR03 is well worth its higher price. Powered speakers with tone controls should be calibrated to sound good right out of the box, as Edifiers S1000MKII set is. I know you gave all of the candidates every opportunity to prove themselves. If you want more bass than the Q Acoustics 3020i delivers: Our former runner-up pick in this guide, the ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2 is a great speaker pair that comes close to the Q Acoustics 3020i in sound quality. The Spektor 2 has the best bass response, is reasonable smooth but not as revealing. KEF Q150. Unfortunately, in our tests this pair had almost no bass and distorted easily. For the price, theyre one of the best budget bookshelf speakers out there that they come from a reliable brand is just the cherry on top. When we auditioned the Edifier AirPulse A100 for our previous round of tests, it sounded a little better than the Edifier S1000DB (the predecessor of our new powered pick, the S1000MKII), with somewhat clearer treble. The BR03 cabinet features a front-facing port, so pushing the speakers back close to a wall is less of a concern than it is with rear-ported models like the Q Acoustics 3020i. The Klipsch R-51PM was less even, with a bit of excess treble, and its bass response wasnt as deep. Passive speakers dont require power to function as theyre driven by a separate amplifier; active speakers have an amplifier housed within their enclosures and thus require power. Press J to jump to the feed. Our panelists found it plays deeper than anything else weve tried in the under-$200 price rangealthough its nearly 16 inches high, and its treble response sounds a little soft, so high-frequency instruments like cymbals and bells sound a bit muted. In our measurements, the 3020i pair had roughly 8 to 9 decibels less bass output than what larger speakers like the Triangle Borea BR03 and ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2 sets could produce, so fans of bass-heavy music might prefer one of those options. Kef Q150, especially when they were on sale half price for $300 couple weeks back. The Q Acoustics 3020i speakers sound and look fantastic, and they play music of all genres with great detail and clarity. I wont be running them extremely loud to fill a large room, it would only be for my desk/ bedroom which I would say small/ medium size. They are considered passive speakers while Bluetooth devices are active speakers. The SVS Prime Wireless Speaker System provides DTS Play-Fi Wi-Fibased audio in addition to Bluetooth and a subwoofer output; I liked it, but the rest of our panelists said it needed more bass. For starters, it doesnt include a phono input to connect a turntable, so youd need to pair these speakers with an external phono preamp or a turntable that has one built in. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The S1000MKII lacks some features found on competing models, such as the Klipsch R-51PM. These speakers were not very picky on placement and they did not require much power to get good sound levels. The pair I like better depends on my mood and what I'm listening to. For now I will be driving both sets by the tiny Loxjie A30 but I aim to build a more robust system around those kef speakers in my living room. They can be a bit bright for some female vocals, making something like Janis Joplin's Mercedes Benz sound a bit harsh at times. In the BR03, particularly in the black finish, this could also legitimately be seen to be a little dull. But I doubt there are more than a small handful of people on this sub who have actually heard both personally. . If you want a smaller speaker than the B6.2, and if you listen to lighter music or prefer to use a subwoofer, this set is a good choice. However, the B6.2 is much larger and sports the plain, vinyl-wrapped black-box look for which speakers are often loathed. I think they are a little out of my price range at the moment. The Klipsch R-51PM comes with a nice remote that includes subwoofer output-level controls, so you can fine-tune the bass level without having to make adjustments on the subwoofer itself (if you add one). This pair costs little more than you might expect to pay to ship them, yet theyre fully functional speakers that sound good enough for background music in settings you might deem too hazardous for a nice set of speakers, such as a workshop or a childs playroom. As with most things in life, you can pay a premium for a top-of-the-line speaker combo, but there are also plenty of budget options available, too. Unfortunately can't demo or return the triangles. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The Klipsch R-51PM set is a great choice for vinyl-record enthusiasts because it includes a phono input, so you can easily connect most record players without having to buy a separate phono preamp. In addition to our subjective panel testing, we measured each system to get an unbiased second opinion and detect any anomalies. Excellent Review Victor! Measured bass output from a pair of 3020i speakers was 107.6 dB. I'm auditioning both the BR03s and Q150s right now through an Emotiva TA-100 for a desktop nearfield setup. This speaker will fit perfectly in rooms ranging from 15 to 30m2. O seu design e componentes so inspirados nos desenvolvimentos tecnolgicos de mais de 40 anos da Triangle Hi-fi e beneficiam das inovaes acsticas desenvolvidas na aclamada srie Triangle Esprit Ez. Next up are the ELAC Debut Reference DBR62 speakers, which arrived the day after the LSiM703.