While nothing was loose or falling apart, there was a very obvious seam on the Walnut vinyl wrap located on the bottom of the speaker. Otherwise, the S1000MKII set just does its job well without many noticeable sonic flaws, something that we cant say about most powered speakers in its price range. The ELAC DBR62 gives you a lot of sound and it is non fatiguing but it is not as laid back as the Polk LSiM while not being as forward as the KEF Q150. The Triangle Borea BR03 is widely considered to be a great Bookshelf Speaker at its $460 budget. Triangle Borea BR03 is Rated 90% on Average by 11 Critics The difference will come down to taste. Using speaker stands like the Sanus BF24B or Monoprice 39494 can also solve this problem. Its available in a black or walnut finish with a black front panel, or in a white or light oak finish with a white baffle. We also recognize that the following may not paint a complete picture of a products supply chain and life-cycle impact. Digital assistants and smart speakers are all well and good, but sometimes you just want to output your audio the old-fashioned way: through quality speakers. If you have the means, trying both in your space is worth your while. Kef Q150, especially when they were on sale half price for $300 couple weeks back. I imagine with the sockets, etc you are going to overhang by 6-7 cm). Are there any major differences to how these sound? The back panel has two stereo analog inputs plus optical and coaxial digital inputs, as well as bass and treble controls and a volume control that doubles as an input-selector button. I began measuring speaker performance in 1997 and have worked as a consultant on speaker tuning and measurement for some of the worlds biggest tech companies. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. I then moved on to more formal testing, in which I concealed all the speakers behind a sheet of thin, black fabric in my acoustically treated listening room. Miccas MB42X speakers are compact, but their small woofer couldnt put out much bass, and the treble had a harsh, metallic sound. That said, they are both very different speakers, and which is right for you really comes down to preference. But like the S1000MKII, the R-51PM has rear bass ports, which means you cant back the speakers up tight against a wall without affecting the sound quality. I have not listened to the Dali nor the Triangle. The KEF Q150, however, while also a good product at this price point, doesn't stack up against its competitors quite as well. What Do You Get When You Spend More for Speakers. In vocal reproduction, this pair ranked among the most natural-sounding of all the speakers we tested, and each 3020i speaker produces a solid amount of bass for its sizethough fans of bass-heavy music may want more. The grille uses magnets instead of plastic tabs and grommets, which gives the front of each speaker a clean look when you remove the grille. company number 03997482, registered in England and Wales. Triangle Borea BR03 (300 euro) KEF Q150 (360 euro) They would be used for nearfield listening now (desk usage), but hoping to use them in a medium-sized room at some point in the future. 1 Home Entertainment Tech Resource. See What to look forward to for details. Our panelists liked it pretty well for instrumental music, but found it tended to de-emphasize the sound of voices. The S1000MKII pair comes with a simple remote. 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. Thats why this speaker sounded a little trebly. 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. The soundstage on both speakers is excellent and the center image was locked in place on both speakers as well. I am currently deciding on what to get out of the 2 listed and the KEF Q150. The former is a big plus. Good thinking! Brent Butterworth is a senior staff writer covering audio and musical instruments at Wirecutter. The Fluance XL8S pair put out a good amount of bass for its size and price, but voices sounded somewhat thin and harsh. In all likelihood KEF will win this poll because KEF spends way more on marketing than Triangle, and the recent discount is fresh on everyone's mind. Triangle Borea BR03 A step up in sound quality The Borea BR03 is one of the best bookshelf speaker sets we've heard, with extraordinary clarity and spaciousness plus plenty of bass. When youre comparing speakers around the same price range that both have a good reputation, there is no better one. It was kindly sent to me for testing by a member and costs US $499 on Amazon including Prime shipping. what amp would you recommend? Triangle Borea BR03. Combined with a minimum impedance of 4.1ohms, these specifications make the speaker quite easy to drive. Its bass also played impressively deep for the size of the speakers. Triangle Borea BR03 Amazon product link: https://amzn.to/3onVXk4 KEF Q150 Show. The B652s 6.5-inch woofer covers most of the audio band, from the bass to the mid-treble. The speakers come with foam plugs for those ports if you do place them next to the wall, but that will reduce the bass output. In the charts below, the flatter the trace is, the more natural the speakers sound. The 6.5-inch woofers in the SVS Ultra Bookshelf speakers produced excellent, room-filling bass in our tests, but our top pick and upgrade pick offer superior mid-range and treble performance. Compared with passive speakers, powered models are a more plug-and-play, all-in-one option. On more mainstream pop recordings in our tests, the 3020i set performed equally impressively, presenting a natural and detailed sound on voices and guitars. Sound quality: Arguably the biggest part of picking any speakers, youll want to know that your music or content will sound great when its being played. I've been thoroughly enjoying them for music and pc gaming. Nice bookshelf shootout Victor, well done. I see that you have the Triangles for sale, have you moved on to another bookshelf speaker that you like better, or just going with your new 705s? The BR08 fairs a little better in this regard. These $549 Triangle Borea BR03 and $599 KEF Q150s are just the kind of speakers that I enjoy listening to and evaluating. I mainly listen to classical and jazz. The House of Marley Get Together Duo is a small set of powered speakers with Bluetooth and line inputs, and the right speaker has a rechargeable battery that lets it work on its own as a portable speaker. The Fluance Ai61 had a recessed mid range, which in our tests took the body out of singers voices and made them sound a little like they had their hands cupped around their mouths. Suggestions for amp/speaker upgrade: Marantz, Musical Fidelity, KEF, Dali - how does it all fit. I am a Kef owner of almost 20 years with some Kef Reference Ones. But I reckon these ones will be all right. Audiogon Discussion Forum If for no other reason the KEFs coaxial setup will image better, especially on a desk. The R-51PM set is especially suitable for use with a TV not only because of its optical digital input, but also because the manual provides codes for programming remotes from DirecTV and RCA satellite receivers and AT&T, Bright House, and Xfinity cable boxes to control the R-51PMs volume and mute functions. The 3030is are also considered unfussy speakers, which really just means theyll work well with most (budget) amplifiers and wherever in the room you place them. This website uses the TMDb API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDb. I hear that the Q150s are supposedly even better, despite their smaller profile. If youre looking for powered speakers that cost less and sound good, check out our best computer speakers guide. Like the ELAC B5.2s, the KEF Q150s are sombre, serious-looking loudspeakers that prize functionality over fanciful aesthetics. B&W's generally need a fair amount of space to breathe or they become boomy being rear ported. The Triangle Borea BR03 pair is a great buy for serious music lovers who want the enveloping, captivating sound of real audiophile-grade speakers but dont want to spend thousands of dollars or sacrifice a lot of floor space on tower speakers. The mid range, especially, looked extremely flat, varying by only 2 decibels, which is why voices sounded so natural. For more details, read our blog post about Bluetooth codecs. Nice review Victor. Following are our impressions of some of the other speakers weve tested for this guide. Triangle Borea BR03 Review - UPDATED 2021 - Specs, Prices & More! With its tone controls centered, the Edifier R1700BTs pair sounded too trebly and thin, and voices sounded coarse and crude. 13.1K subscribers. 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. 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. Their sound stage is more coherent and interesting to my ear. Edit: The Q150 benefits the most of a subwoofer. Triangle Up-sizes The Sophistication. 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. The Q Acoustics 3020i set has enough bass for most music styles, but with just a 5-inch woofer, its no low-end powerhouse. The Dayton Audio B652-AIR is basically the B652 with an air-motion transformer (AMT) tweeter. In our tests, its treble sounded muted compared with that of the B652; both models had a dip in their treble response around the frequency where the tweeter started working, but with the B652-AIR, the dip was much deeper. Im mentioned in the most popular text on speaker design, Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, and I have written for Voice Coil, the leading trade magazine for the speaker industry. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. My Own Devices Audio Channel. AVForums.com is owned and operated by M2N Limited, KEF Q150 or Triangle Borea BR02 : r/BudgetAudiophile Looking to mount your speakers on a stand? The 0.5-inch tweeter is really there only to add a little sparkle to the soundalthough that sparkle might be more accurately described as glare. 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. Triangle Borea BR03 has a Frequency response range of 46 - 22k Hz at 3dB and Power Range of up to 100 watts. AVForums.com is owned and operated by M2N Limited, Currently available in the UK at considerable discount. Lively piano jazz such as Old Castle by Chick Corea and Hiromi is still really fun and engaging. Cautious as my recommendation may seem, the B652 did sound clearly better than every other inexpensive speaker I compared it with, including models from Micca and OSD as well as Dayton Audios B652-AIR, a costlier and supposedly better version of the B652 that uses a fancier tweeter. But before you take the plunge, theres a bit of research youll need to do as bookshelf speakers arent at all like your average soundbar or Bluetooth device. Just a question for you: which one did you keep? Thanks! 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. First and foremost, the 3020i performs beautifully, offering a clear, spacious sound on vocals and instruments thats at least as good as anything weve heard in its price range. 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. Forward may not be the right way to describe the Q150 speakers but I think, in comparison to the other two speakers so far, one could see it that way. Its performance is bound to please practically any listener, and we like the sophisticated, minimalist design, which should suit almost any space. Of our three passive-speaker picks, the Triangle Borea BR03 came closest to an ideal response for a bookshelf speaker. Likewise, the newer HD4a slightly larger version of the HD3 with a bigger wooferhad a muted treble that made it sound less lively than the HD3. Triangle Borea BR03 Vs KEF Q150. Buy. Our picks in that guide are tailored more for use in a home theater setup, where the speakers dont need as much bass (because the use of a subwoofer is assumed) and high volumes are more common. They thought the speakers sounded generally good, but somewhat soft and mellow in comparison with our top picks and most of the other similar models we tested. The switchers also let me move among the speakers (labeled only by number) without knowing which one I was hearing. I'll most likely go with the kefs since they're slighter cheaper than the triangles. Not the surrealist Dali stands for Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries, and theyre a seasoned brand that has earned near-universal plaudits for its entry-level and mid-range hi-fi speakers. The BR03 offers binding posts to connect the speaker wire. The Spektor 2s are among the brands most affordable speakers. The Edifier S1000MKII is an updated version of the S1000DB set, which was the top pick in our guide to the best wireless powered bookshelf speakers (which weve now rolled into this guide), and in our brand-concealed tests it was every bit as excellent as its predecessor was. The DBR62's have a very wide soundstage and decent bass response for a front slot ported design. The only area that I thought was a little off was the midrange.