Opinions On Mid-Side Speakers......

[BKville]

I'm looking for Mid-Side speakers with maybe an 8" woofer.. With good sound but not expensive because I'll need four...

And I have limited space as far as height... Only 14" shelf to ceiling.. But no limit on width or depth...

Is it okay to lay speakers on their side or not..


I did read the thread on Small Speakers With Big Sound... But the speakers are smaller then what I would like...


Any input would be appreciated....

Thanks, Brent


Oooooh.... Yeah...... Not much cash to spend either.... Hahahaha

 

[mhardy6647]

8" woofers or full-range 8" drivers (don't laugh!) can get you into some pretty nice territory.

One semi-sleeper, which I believe is still available, is the Model Six from Cambridge Soundworks. These very inexpensive two-ways ain't bad as supplied from CSW. A much-improved crossover was designed by J. Forte and described in the October 2001 issue of Audioxpress (www.audioxpress.com). I bought a pair of black vinyl Model Sixes and built the Forte crossovers for my daughter, and they turned out pretty nice.

If you have any interest in 8" full-ranges, check out James Melhuish's Full-range Driver site and forum at www.melhuish.org/audio. The Fostex FE207E is a really, really nice sounding fullrange that'll sing when placed in quite a simple bass reflex box. The drivers cost about $80 each, IIRC.

You can see the Fostex FE207E on the top in the plain MDF box in the attached image (from a recent Bottlehead fete at Steve Culton's house):

 

[Andyman]

Get some EPI 100s.

Great sound at a great price; you should be able to get four for around $200 shipped.

 

[mhardy6647]

I cannot disagree with the recommendation for EPI's. I just didn't assume you wanted to go used/vintage

Other good vintage choices might be Polk Monitor 5's or 7's (but these tend to be a little pricey). Woofers are only 6.5", but augmented with a passive radiator, so bass performance is good. 5's are pretty small, 7's are kinda large.

 

[reyneman]

For another new recco- I listen quite often to JBL S38IIs, can sound pretty decent when driven with a quality source.

3 ways with 8" woofer, have one of the fullest sound ranges I've found in a bookshelf, actually designed to lay on their side (11.5" high on the side. I have not found the limit of their power handling, they do not compress as power goes up- they just get louder! Are fairly efficient at 89dB sensitivity. I've driven mine with a 6W tube amp (best sound IMHO) up through a 120W SS.

Although list is $600 (yeah, right) they are usually available for $250 a pair delivered. One caveat- they can be a bit shrill when driven by poor electronics, and do like to be played LOUD for a bit before they reach their stride. After that, they have decent sound at all volume levels. If it matters to you, they made Stereophile's list of recommended components a few years back

 

[krimney]

Boston acoustics

If you wanna go vintage, I think the BA A-70 is about 14" wide, you might be able to lay them on their side. They seem to be pretty cheap used and hvae nice dome tweeters and decent bass.

As for EPI, even their smaller A70 have great bass froma small cabinet. They are the little brother to the EPI 100.

RFT also make some nice sounding speakers in small cabinets even 3 way.

 

[Toasted Almond]

The EPI 100's Andy mentioned as well as others, and the Polk 5's too (but won't get as much bass as EPI 100), are great choices.

The Cambridge Soundworks Model 6's are a fabulous choice in light of the fact that you can get four for less than $300 shipped to your home, with a 10 year warranty. Dealus maximus.

I'd be laying speakers on their side all day long if that's all the room I had. Keep the tweeters away from the side walls as much as possible I would.

Toasted Almond

 

[DanTana]

I believe GordonW is making a huge line array with EPI 8" speakers, they are manufactured with a natural roll-off at 1800hz and use no crossover. Plus they sound pretty darn good.

 

[BKville]

Thanks guys.....

All the speakers mentioned seem like great speakers... I looked each model up on eBay just for a look and to get some idea of prices..
I like the EPI 100's best... And the fact they have got better reviews from more members... Also with the price factor, cheaper then most other models, ha... So I'm gonna go with these.. Hopefully I'll be able to find four in this group.. If anyone has any they want to part with I'd appreciate a PM....



Thanks again, Brent

 

[Bauhausler]

Paradigm makes a great range of smaller speakers tha thave found many fans among the HT crowd. If you're within driving distance of Canada you can get them very cheap.

 

[jguzman21]

Another great vintage speaker is the Dynace A-25. I have yet to find an amp that I don't find pleasing to listen to with these. These don't usually receive a whole lot of hype so they in turn won't command the high bucks.

john

 

[Thatch_Ear]

I was in a big store full of very expensive stoves, toilets, drapes etc and was walking by when a pair of Infinity indoor/outdoor speakers were being demoed for somebody. Don't know what the music was, but contemporary and male vocal, electric band but not head knocker and they sounded pretty good. Not real large, had good bass, the soundstaging was nice, tweets weren't harsh and they were powered by a Yammy reciever. I don't know the model or price, but if they were for patio use I doubt real expensive and you should be able to listen before you buy if in or near a city. I'll do a search and see if I can identify them.

 

[Thatch_Ear]

Outrigger, large size. Specs say they go down to 60 Hz with a 5.25" woofer, crossed at 3.2Khz. Infinity has some ceramic tweets and I suspect they are in these because they sounded good even when I was standing out on the floor in a huge store. These were not in a listening room but mounted on a wall above a displayed gas grill.

 

[THOR]

Two mid fi speakers I can personally recommend are the Home Theater Direct Level III's and Paradigm Titans, both have incredible bass for a 6.5" woofer. The HTD's are slightly better I feel but I was going by "memory" of how the Titans sounded, I chose the HTD's for my front and rear center duties in HT because I scored "B" stock ones for $140 a pair or so shipped

 

[Shain]

I've got a pair of JBL S38 bookshelves that I really like. They're one my reccomend list for 8"ers. Kind of hard to find in the natural finish wood, rather than the ugly black.

General Section
• Maximum Recommended Amplifier Power: 175
• Impedance: 8 Ohms
• Sensitivity (2.83V @ 1m): 89
• Frequency Response (±3dB): 45Hz -- 20kHz
• Crossover Frequency(ies): 800, 3200Hz
• High-Frequency Driver: 1" Pure Titanium dome with EOS™ waveguide
• Midrange Driver: 4" PolyPlas™ cone
• Low-Frequency Driver: 8" PolyPlas™ cone
• Dimensions
(H x W x D): 11-1/2" x 17-1/2" x 12-7/8"
(292 x 445 x 327 mm)
• Weight: 28lb (12.7kg)

 

[THOR]

Shain those are the only speakers I have ever heard at BB that impressed me, those things seriously rock I was amazed at the sound for the size, they easily sounded way better than any other speaker I have heard at a big box store and they even sounded better than larger and more expensive JBL's from the same product line, I woulda bought a pair in a heart beat but they were a bit more expensive than I was willing to spend.

 

[BKville]

Are the EPI 100 Time Energy Series basically the same as the regular Model 100's...


Thanks, Brent

 

[Shain]

Your right Thor, they are very surprising for a book shelf. (a large bookshelf)

I bought these new over a year ago, and as I recall they were $400. I ordered them because none of the box stores had anything other than the black crap.

They were used in my office at work, where I wanted a real "looker". They are sweet looking.

The best 8" bookshelf I've ever owned, Vintage or otherwise.

I'm sure there are other good 8" speakers, and I've had lots of different ones, but the JBLs will be in my collection a long time.