Working to a budget doesn’t mean you need to miss out this Christmas. Everyone deserves great sound in their lives, so here we have our top picks for fantastic hi-fi speakers – for under £200!
We promise not to spill the beans if you do go slightly over budget, though…
Small but mighty!
Ever the budget wonder, Wharfedale are our first offering for a bargain speaker. Whilst they might be small in stature, the Diamond 9.0 are a low-priced heavyweight when it comes to bang for your buck. Perfect for those with little room to spare but with dreams of great sound quality, the 9.0 are ready to rock if you are!
Looking to upgrade your current set-up? Give these a spin.
One of the longest standing names in speaker design, Mordaunt Short have a real pedigree in the industry. The M20 are front ported design, which makes them great for those who need to back their system and speakers up close to a rear wall. This front port also means you’ll get good, solid bass response, and like the Wharfedale’s above, they’re a fairly compact design, too. If your current speakers lack a bit of ‘oomph’, these Mordaunt Short’s are well worth an audition.
Offering excellent detail and instrument separation.
What Hi-Fi? award-winners in their day, these Q Acoustic speakers are a fantastic proposition for the current going rate. Featuring a 5″ drive unit and the same silk-dome tweeter found in their much pricier ‘Concept’ range, the 2020i offer fantastic levels of details and instrument separation, as well as a wide and deep soundstage. These would be a real upgrade to many a system.
A larger bookshelf designs allows for a great low-end frequency.
A second entry for Wharfedale on this system, and another 5-star winning speaker to add to our list. The Diamond 220 is a larger bookshelf design, using a cabinet size that allows for great low-end frequency performance. The 220’s also feature some clever cabinetry work, with MDF being used to ‘sandwich’ in particle board, giving improved rigidity and superior damping to similarily-priced models. A woven ‘Kevlar’ drive unit is the icing on the proverbial cake, giving tight, punchy bass to go alongside the sultry top-end.
Floorstanders for under £200? Yes indeed!
We thought we’d throw in something of a curveball to round out the list, squeezing in a top notch set of floorstanders for under two hundred quid! The phrase ‘go big or go home’ is often used by hi-fi afficionados, and if you’ve got an understanding spouse (and neighbours!), there’s no better way to get the party started than with a big ol’ set of floorstanders. These Missions are packing in TWO bass drive units, so they’re really capable of shifting some air when needed. They can be delicate when called upon, too, though, so they’ll sound just as good with quieter classical pieces as they will with some funky house.
Find out more about our bookshelf and floorstanding speakers.
Author – Chris, Liverpool store
Hi there.
I’m looking to set up some zone 2 speakers from my onkyo nr636 AV amp. Thought initially about some Bose cubes as the will be going into a modest sized kitchen so space and size take precedent for this room. Having looked around a little more though the Cambridge Audio minx 22’s look like they could hit the spot.
The reviews seem to be good, I know I will be lacking in low end with these speakers but for their size I am lead to believe the clarity should be excellent. I will be running speaker cable from the AV amp to the kitchen around the outside of the house to avoid disruption and streaming tunes via onkyo’s own app on the smartphone ..
Does anyone know of any other speakers which I should be considering? Have been tracking the minx 22’s for a while and notice that richer sounds now have them in a ‘deal’ at exactly the same price as the pre deal price!!