Speakers: $800 spending limit

MikE

MikE

Color Me Gone
One of the guys I work with approached me with some spec sheets for two Polk Tower speakers, the RTi70 & LSi15's. He's looking 2-channel and new only for around $800. I'm not familiar with Polk or speakers in that price range. The best speakers I've heard lately (in that price) would be the Adhire HE1.01's. But they're not floor-standers nor have "the look" of the Polk's. I get the impression he likes the look of them. As far as sonics, he said he likes his sound "clean & clear"... and likes to "feel the bass" but not of the one note variety. Off the top of my head I'm dumbfounded, any suggestions I could pass along. BTW - He's heard the RTi70's at Circuit City and was "very pleased" with them but his associations are also very limited. He has not heard my system or anything that would resemble Hi-End. He's got an (unnamed) 150wpc receiver to pair them with (least for now). TIA

MikE
 
I didn't check a whole lot of prices because I wasn't that impressed with most of the stuff that I listened to, but for less than $800 towers I think the best for the buck was Definitive Technology. They have an active side firing woofer for lots of bass that is not one note, and the highs are well integrated and are not shrill. I think the TOTL was priced around $750 but it was a store opening and could be more.
 
Might be worth looking into the Jean Marie Reynaud Twins also....I've heard some remarkable things about them, and they just fit the budget.
 
I was also thinking, if your friend doesn't mind he can get some KICK ASS vintage speakers for that money, there are TONS to choose from.
 
The guy wants towers that have bass. New. And for $800 or less. Its a tough call and yes side firers are hard to place but of all the lines I listened to for that kind of $$ that were towers they were the best IMO that I listened to.
Personally I thought the little Boston Acoustics bookshelves kicked most everyones butt at $350 but they are just little cubes less than a foot per side. A pair of those and the baby Sunfire sub pretty much were a great setup.
 
Hi MikE,

I have not personally heard them but...I would do some searching for AXIOM speakers of Canada. They make a wide range of speakers and I hear VERY GOOD reports about them/
AXIOM speakers are supposed to be very well built and designed and sell for HALF the cost of other well know speakers built in Canada. AXIOM builts drivers for OTHER well known speaker companies. Oh...it is a factory direct situation. Have your buddy do a search and check out AXIOM's web site. I hope this helps.
SixCats!
 
Don't laugh but I'd look at JBL S312. Frankly, for about $200 or $300 more I'm going to look into JBL S412P myself one of these days soon for HT front channels in my family room. I think J&R has them for $499 ea plus maybe shipping. OK, now you can laugh.
 
I'm not laughing ... I have a pair and they are great for that price-point ... in fact they put a lot of other stuff I demo'd to shame from higher price brackets.

soundmind - I don't think you'll find anyone at this site that will laugh at your audio-choice. :)
 
Strangely I don't own any JBL speakers in my collection....YET. But the S412SP combined with the S38 seem like a real winner for HT and at the price of $499 ea + $50 S&H at J&R I think they'd be hard to beat. I always feel you somehow are getting your money's worth with JBL. I don't feel that way about a lot of speakers. I would feel very nervous for example buying Paradigm. (I haven't heard any of their current models but if their web site is anything to go by I'm staying away.) I've nearly bought/built JBL systems in the past but I somehow never got around to it. Now if I can just find a set of plans for building those D44000 Ranger Paragons ....... (gotta get those 075 ring radiators for THAT project)
 
Well I can offer a learned opinion on the Axioms as I have owned a set of M3ti's and listened to all the speakers in their current lineup. The speakers are very well made, boast attractive finishes ( especially the cherry finish) and SixCats was right on target when he mentioned that Axiom supplies drivers for many of the leading Canadian speaker manufacturers. They make an excellent choice for HT when combined with a sub ofcourse. BTW if you are interested let me know because you can buy them much cheaper from a Canadian based retailer than from Axioms website. They are also duty free if <$1,000. As to their sound quality, they sound very nice, not fatigueing at all. They are a tad bright ( they use a metal tweeter) so thats to be expected. All the reviews I've read have favourably compared the Axioms to speakers costing 3 or 4 times more money.

Mike
 
Soundmind, you'll need a fairly large room for the S412! They are a large speaker system.
The S312 is a very nice sounding, big speaker system, too. The S312 (possibly the others in the series, too) has a very JBL sound, but brought into the 21st century--fairly flat, but full bodied, tight bass, and clean mids and clear highs.
I auditioned the S312 for quite a long time, but ended up with what I had, and scored a couple or three pair of 'vintage' systems.
Already have a couple pair of JBLs.
Just a mutt for hoarding bones, eh?

pete
 
That's all I do is hoard bones. My room for my HT is 25 x 20 x 9 1/2. well actually 25 x 25 x 9 1/2 if you count the hallway that it's completely open to next to it. These speakers won't be very far apart either, only a few feet flanking a 36" sony wega xbr in the corner. The S 38s will be in diagonally opposite corners. The reciever is a Sony STR3G (J&R had them on a closeout sale for $200. I'm a sucker for a sale, I admit it. Why didn't I pick up a pair of L7s or was it L9s when they had them?) It hasn't seen much use in these past few years. For me it's just a lark. Oh BTW, no fancy cables for me. I'm a zip cord and whatever comes in the box man. You should see the fighting we do about it on AR.
 
Mike,
TAS reviewed the PSB Image 5T's that retail for $799/pr. I scanned the article (it's part of a "real-world system" with NAD and Kimber) and put it on my webpage--
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/brighter/audiokarma/

Click on "aaareal" "1" "2" or "3" for the respective pages.

TY
I've also heard there will be a Silverline "Cardboardtina" that will retail for $799???

BTW, the real-world system is CD-based for $2300 total;of that,
$380 is for speaker cable & one interconnect (CD to integrated).
While I DO believe in high-end cable, I'm not sure of this particular $$ allocation---$800 for speakers and $380 for wire seems disproportionate.
 
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Look at the Klipsch Heresy IIs. Clean, clear and very well articulated bass. Very efficient and with 100 watts will deliver in the bass if positioned correcly.
 
Silverline "Cardboardtina"

Is this some kind of joke about the "fit-n-finish" of my speakers or what? MikE
 
Mike, half right!

It IS indeed a joke, though having nothing to do with f-n-f of Silverlines. Since they ARE considerably more than $800, I thought the only way to bring them down to the desired price point would be to construct them of cardboard.

TY
 
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