any review/feedback on Monitor Audio MR2/Wharfedale 10.2

Wharfedale Denton Anniversary Speakers
A

aadi007

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Hi All,

I have shortlisted Monitor Audio MR2 And Wharfedale 10.2 as my stepping stone to the Ht world.
I like a balanced sound with a bit of warmth..
I do not plan to listen at high volumes..so speakers should be easy to drive with an entry level AVR.
One reason for choosing Wharfedale 10.2 over 10.1 is the bigger woofer which will generate bigger bass as I don't plan to have a subwoofer in the near future.

Problem is I am not able to demo/audition these speakers here in Hyderabad.
Budget is around 20K, the less the better.
Please share your feedback/opinion. ANy other suggestions are also welcome!

Thanks
~aadi
 
aadi007 said:
Hi All,

I have shortlisted Monitor Audio MR2 And Wharfedale 10.2 as my stepping stone to the Ht world.
I like a balanced sound with a bit of warmth..
I do not plan to listen at high volumes..so speakers should be easy to drive with an entry level AVR.
One reason for choosing Wharfedale 10.2 over 10.1 is the bigger woofer which will generate bigger bass as I don't plan to have a subwoofer in the near future.

Problem is I am not able to demo/audition these speakers here in Hyderabad.
Budget is around 20K, the less the better.
Please share your feedback/opinion. ANy other suggestions are also welcome!

Thanks
~aadi
Click to expand...

When you are trying to match with entry level AVR's, choose speakers with highest sensitivity (db).... (or) a speaker which has Maximum power handling which is less...

Wharfedale Diamond series are very fine speakers.....It is low on sensitivity...You will need a Very good/big amplifier to bring the best....Entry level AVR might struggle to drive them...

Monitor Audio MR 2 being 90db sensitivity will be a easy load for the AVR to handle than the diamond's.....

BTW don't get hooked to bigger drivers.. They may impose a very good feel & might go down a lil than a speaker with 5.25 woofer....You might not actually feel them...:)
 
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I understand what u say....
but while going through this forum there are plenty of examples where people are happy with entry level amps and wharfedale Diamond's or even floor standers.
I have decided to first buy the speakers of my choice and then audition it with a suitable amp and then select the amp..
I am even ok with a couple of floorstanders to get the thump :)
Today, I went to the Wharfedale dealer here..
price offered was 16.5K for 10.1 and 21K for 10.2...is that reasonable?

He was suggesting to buy Heco Victa 201 and 301 for almost the same price and he claimed that Heco are better speakers than Wharfedales? Anyone for any ideas?

Alternatively, I am thinking of Jamo 426 package which seems to be a great VFM alternative..I hope there won't be any problem with entry level amps driving those ...but we will see. For now, just the speakers.
 
aadi007 said:
I understand what u say....
but while going through this forum there are plenty of examples where people are happy with entry level amps and wharfedale Diamond's or even floor standers.
I have decided to first buy the speakers of my choice and then audition it with a suitable amp and then select the amp..
I am even ok with a couple of floorstanders to get the thump :)
Today, I went to the Wharfedale dealer here..
price offered was 16.5K for 10.1 and 21K for 10.2...is that reasonable?

He was suggesting to buy Heco Victa 201 and 301 for almost the same price and he claimed that Heco are better speakers than Wharfedales? Anyone for any ideas?

Alternatively, I am thinking of Jamo 426 package which seems to be a great VFM alternative..I hope there won't be any problem with entry level amps driving those ...but we will see. For now, just the speakers.
Click to expand...

I owned diamond 9.2's (previous model to 10.2) for 2 yrs with a Marantz SR5200 receiver....I know how difficult it was for the amplifier to get to a reasonable listening level....

I am not drifting you away from diamond 9.2's..Juz keeping you informed...

Since it is your first time setup, take your time, demo as many possible & then decide..
 
I will agree with elangoas. Also, IIRC, I had written about these two some time back. You can read that also.
 
^^
Thanks everyone..

@elangoas - I ll keep that in mind...I am also looking at Monitor Audio/Polk/Heco...
ANy experience with Polk RTi speakers? Anyone tried Heco Victa 301/201 etc?

@hfvuser - Read your posts..I like a little punch and bass. Will audition for myself and see. Thanks a lot for your views
...................
One more question - I am thinking of either a 2.0 setup or a 3.0 setup for now..The question I have is - will the 3.0 setup be much better for movies with the extra center channel? Will there be any issues with 5.1 audio played in 2.0 or 3.0 format? I hope the AVR will take care.
------------------------

my usage will be 60% movies + 15% sports + 25% music.
 
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hncvzxvmvhao said:
When you are trying to match with entry level AVR's
hu6b.jpg
Click to expand...

budget :lol: wot else?
Do you think entry level AVRs like Denon 1513 will not be able to drive these speakers?
 
I have almost decided to buy the Denon 1513 AVR...
is 23K with bill and warranty a good price?

My shortlist of speakers is increasing day by day :D (I am not going to extend by budget beyond 21-22K as I have already extended it beyond my original budget of 20k :)

Category 1 -
Wharfedale 10.2
Heco Victa 301
Monitor Audio MR2
Boston Acoustics A26
MS Aviano 2 - where can I get these in Hyderabad?

Category 2
Tannoy Mercury V1
PSB Alpha B1
Wharfedale 10.1
Pioneer BS 22.



I will audition some of these shortly...Any others I should be looking at?
Please suggest looking at my usage pattern, budget and AVR.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Where did u get the 1513 for 23K, too late to ask though as I have already bought now but just curious.

I also have the MR2 and believe me they are awesome for the price under 20K.
 
where did you get the 1513 for that price? looking for 1713 for a friend. MS Aviano can be got at SBT ph 30606666
 
aadi007 said:
I have almost decided to buy the Denon 1513 AVR...
is 23K with bill and warranty a good price?

My shortlist of speakers is increasing day by day :D (I am not going to extend by budget beyond 21-22K as I have already extended it beyond my original budget of 20k :)

Category 1 -
Wharfedale 10.2
Heco Victa 301
Monitor Audio MR2
Boston Acoustics A26
MS Aviano 2 - where can I get these in Hyderabad?

Category 2
Tannoy Mercury V1
PSB Alpha B1
Wharfedale 10.1
Pioneer BS 22.



I will audition some of these shortly...Any others I should be looking at?
Please suggest looking at my usage pattern, budget and AVR.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Any particular reason of these 2 categories??

whats your pref after doing the auditions?
 
Category 1 are the ones which have little bigger woofers 6.5" and costs a little bit more.
Category 2 are the ones which have smaller 5" woofer and costs a little less.

I am not sure whether I need to spend the additional money for the Category 1 speakers...will be clear after doing some auditions.

--------------------------
Today had a very fruitful audition at the Audio People. Mr. verma was very helpful and patient.
There were 3 AVRs - Denon 2113, Pioneer 821 and Marantz 1402.
I tried 3 speakers - Monitor Audio Mr2, MR4 and BX2
--------------------
First, it was the Pioneer. Listened to some A.R.Rahman tracks.
Mr2 was bad..the mids and highs were lousy. Didn't like it
BX2 was very very good..enjoyed the Sound.
MR4 ...lots of boom but no better highs and mids than MR2.

Then, Came the Denon. I have to say I was thoroughly disappointed with Denon 2113..Lots of boom but not much detail..not my cup of tea. I am not going to buy Denon AVR for sure. Though my choice was Denon AVR 1513. But that's gonna change.

Last, came the Marantz 1402.
The same Mr2 which sounded crappy earlier sounded great with it. I was impressed.
The Marantz 1402 was not able to drive the BX2's I felt and didn't sound great. So, didn't even try the MR4.

---------------
So, all in all, the combination of Marantz 1402 and MR2 seems a good one and value for money..will cost me around 40K.

I will be doing some more auditions shortly before making the final decision.

I have a question - The Marantz 1402 seems to be having the lowest power (50W) compared to all others (75/100W)...Is this going to be a problem when I have a full 5.1 configuration??? Plzz clarify.

Lesson learnt - It is important to audition the combination you want to buy because you never know which one will be sounding good..

Cheers,
Aadi
 
Last edited:
aadi007 said:
Category 1 are the ones which have little bigger woofers 6.5" and costs a little bit more.
Category 2 are the ones which have smaller 5" woofer and costs a little less.

I am not sure whether I need to spend the additional money for the Category 1 speakers...will be clear after doing some auditions.

--------------------------
Today had a very fruitful audition at the Audio People. Mr. verma was very helpful and patient.
There were 3 AVRs - Denon 2113, Pioneer 821 and Marantz 1402.
I tried 3 speakers - Monitor Audio Mr2, MR4 and BX2
--------------------
First, it was the Pioneer. Listened to some A.R.Rahman tracks.
Mr2 was bad..the mids and highs were lousy. Didn't like it
BX2 was very very good..enjoyed the Sound.
MR4 ...lots of boom but no better highs and mids than MR2.

Then, Came the Denon. I have to say I was thoroughly disappointed with Denon 2113..Lots of boom but not much detail..not my cup of tea. I am not going to buy Denon AVR for sure. Though my choice was Denon AVR 1513. But that's gonna change.

Last, came the Marantz 1402.
The same Mr2 which sounded crappy earlier sounded great with it. I was impressed.
The Marantz 1402 was not able to drive the BX2's I felt and didn't sound great. So, didn't even try the MR4.

---------------
So, all in all, the combination of Marantz 1402 and MR2 seems a good one and value for money..will cost me around 40K.

I will be doing some more auditions shortly before making the final decision.

I have a question - The Marantz 1402 seems to be having the lowest power (50W) compared to all others (75/100W)...Is this going to be a problem when I have a full 5.1 configuration??? Plzz clarify.

Lesson learnt - It is important to audition the combination you want to buy because you never know which one will be sounding good..

Cheers,
Aadi
Click to expand...

There is something called matching speakers with amplifier...What sounds average with one amplifier may sound good with an other amplifier.... Glad you experienced that... For movies it wouldn't matter much..But for stereo it does...

Probably Denon AVR might sound good with different speaker.....Nothing wrong with Denon..Again system matching...

Marantz 1402 having only 50W/channel might be a problem if you select any speakers less than 90db efficiency....

speakers which have >90db are the best match for Maratnz..... Something like Klipsch series...
 
mshifi said:
where did you get the 1513 for that price? looking for 1713 for a friend. MS Aviano can be got at SBT ph 30606666
Click to expand...

talk to Vector systems..he quoted 23.5K for 1513 for Denon 1513 without much bargaining.

PM me if you need the contact number.
 
I had an audition of Heco Victa 301 speakers.
First of all, the speakers are huge...I mean they are tall and very very deep....much much larger than normal bookshelves.
Now, coming to the sound, they have a lot of bass...mids are good/decent but clearly highs are lacking...They are not sweet sounding. I believe they are ok for movies but not so good for music. The dealer is asking for 20K for a pair.
I am very very confused. Wharfedale 10.2 is available at 21K or so..but I am not able to audition them. It can be bought on order but no demo.
Same problem with Polk RTI A3/Boston A26 etc.

So far, I have listened to
Monitor Audio MR2
Monitor Audio BX2
Kef Q300
Heco 301.

BX2 and Kef are above my budget but they sound really good.
Between MR2 and Heco, I am not so sure..Will need another round. But none of them I found to be really impressive

I am also considering the following
Polk RTI A3
Wharfedale 10.2
Boston A26
MS Aviano 2
.......

Anything else worth considering?
-----------------

P.S. - Also had a chance to listen to B&W speakers ..small booksleves costing 45K and they sounded really really good but........

----------------
I am getting this feeling that it might not be really fruitful to go for AVR and bookshelves in my budget..just buy some packaged stuff and be happy with the compromise.
 
Last edited:
Hi aadi007, why are you so worry about the bass? If you are going for avr you can easily add a sub.
 
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