Cheap But Good Speakers.

[Daniel Quinn]

Err I think you might mean Snell K? SD1s are huge buggers. Massive bass unit and semi OB mid/ribbon tweeter.

Snell Ks look like nothing special. If anything you might be forgiven for thinking they look like a cut down AP2. They are significantly clearer though and have a real "snap" to the timing. Evetything just sounds so addictive and fast. The designer believed a speaker shouldn't store energy. Instead they should just release whatever is put through them. The Ks sound like he knew how to do just that. They aren't just for valve amps either, although some forum egos might wish to tell you otherwise.

googled it and you are of course correct

[Andrew]

I knew a bloke who had 2 pairs of SD1s rigged up using an ambisonic decoder in a small flat. He traded them for KEF 107s and regretted it big-style.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Docfoster had a bake-off at his place between those SD and NVA Cube1's.

The outcome was very clear. The smiley will tell you

It is in the archive somewhere, probably the old archive.

[jandl100]

I enjoyed my time (a few months) with SD1 - here's one of them posing with a Bowers Active One ...



Just stupidly good for the £220 I won them for on eBay.

Pretty as well, don't you think?

[_D_S_J_R_]

Snells are perfect for the open minded ugly looking individuals. Like most of us on here

S.

Snell 'E's' (with rear facing extra tweeter) weren't for me - really boomy bass, a nasty squeak at the crossover point if listened to a little too close up and a cheap tweeter jangling away on top - ugh! I replaced them with some NS1000's and, veiled as they were in my then setup, they totally annihilated the 'E's'

The only Snells I ever liked were the ones that looked like giant SBL's (C's?) and despite a lack of finesse as given by the best UK speakers, they did communicate most enjoyably

[Fretless]

My 2nd system features a pair of Arcam One speakers (the original version in walnut from the early 80's) powered by an equally vintage Sansui AU-217. The sound can best be described as invitingly warm and rich.
These speakers can be bi-wired although i've never tried it. Bought them originally with a Nytech CA252 which had an upgrade option of an extra power amp to do the bi-wire thing. Never got around to that as I traded it in for an NVA.

[jammy395]

My Mission 751's were cheap n cheerfull if memory serves...........

Mission 751 standmounts..png (74.43 KiB) Viewed 3083 times

[slinger]

I don't really know if they'd be considered properly "cheap speakers" but I reckon that the £127.00 I paid for the Epos ES11s in my second system ought to put them in the running.

[Lindsayt]

Heybrook HB1's can be had for less than £50 - if you include £20 for the refoam kit that all the cheap ones on ebay need.

Whether you'd call them good or not depends on how ambitious you are when it comes to hi-fi and what you're comparing them against. They make an acceptable and pleasant enough sound, but they are not the last word in fidelity by any means.

For my money, I think it's well worth while spending an extra £200 to £450 to get something that would have been more high end when new.

[Andrew]

HB1s were one of my earliest speakers. I loved their clarity but their hardness on vocals was unbearable. And that was with vinyl. I traded them in after a fortnight for ES14s. To this date ive never had another speaker as uncomfortable to listen to, but they always sounded like the designer was close to something special.