Speakers for Under $100.00, Bargain or Not?

I just bought a pair of Insignia speakers from Best Buy, I didn't even listen to them in the store because they didn't have them hooked up. They said I had a 30 day return policy. So it's a 30 day trial for me.

My old Sony SSU 6030's need some serious work, new foams and probably new caps for the crossovers. I got them at a yard sale about eight years ago.

So in the iterim I got the Insignia's to use and would use them in a surround sound system later on.

I plugged them in and turned them up, these speakers are really interesting, they have good bass for a small enclosure with a wall of sound and detail that is astonishing. They are much "brighter" than the Sony's but then again the Sony's were probably dull.

I have my cd player connected via a fibre optic cable and with the Sony's it made little difference but with the Insignia's it makes them sound much more open and detailed.

Now I know people will say there are much better speakers but my wife and I find we are now listening to ejoying the music a lot more.

There is always something better, better cars, better computers etc. But with these I am happy to listen to the music warts and all. Heaven Can Wait by Meatloaf sounds really good as does Comfortably Numb.

I remember back in the 70's I went to a small hi fi shop and this guy had all this up market equipment. He was a fanatic who made a living out of his hobby.

He was more than happy let you listen to stuff even though he knew you wouldn't buy.

He cranked up his flagship system focused around these huge top of the range Janszen electrostatics (not sure if they make them anymore), a high end amp and preamp with a high end turntable and very expensive moving coil cartridge.

It filled the room with a sound that was absolutely undescribable and probably the most accurate sounding system I have ever heard. But with a cost of more than two new cars only a his wealthier clientel could afford it.

It would be the sort of system that takes your breath away the first couple of times you hear it and from then on you want that "rush" again and again. But it never quite sounds as good as last time.

On the other hand he had these Altec fullrange speakers in a custom enclosure that when compared to the Janzen's sounded like they had booming bass, in your face treble and hump in the midrange. Accurate "NO" Musical "YES" and people loved them because they were fun to listen to and not too expensive. They were one of his best sellers.

So getting back to what I was saying, there is always something more expensive and accurate than what you have, is it worth the extra, that's up to you.

But at the moment I am very happy with my speakers for under $100.00.

If you are happy, then I'm happy

I really like those Insignias. They look and sound like a much more expensive pair of speakers. I want a pair, but BB in Canada doesn't sell them.

Not!

They have been thoroughly analyzed by many experts in various forums, and a half-dozen of those have devised approaches to "fixing" them.

Karma Indignias kick them to the curb:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=160535

There's an A/B comparison with Insignias in the thread:

Robie said:

As much as I like my $40/pair "stock" Insignias, the Indignias best them in every category, except price. No contest. The Indignias have much more detail, air and bass. The Insignias, while polite and listenable, sound congested and somewhat muddy compared to Indignias.

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http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1998084#post1998084

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=99993&d=1216502774

I saw they were on sale yesterday for fairly cheap

hypertone said:

I really like those Insignias. They look and sound like a much more expensive pair of speakers. I want a pair, but BB in Canada doesn't sell them.

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I went down to Bellingham, WA and bought 2 pairs for my son-in-law for $151. He is very happy with them. We are in the process of building a powered sub to augment the bass for ht. Should make a great budget system.

That is cool to know re the Insignias. I may have to try to demo them for giggles.

I think that's a good point. There's always something better in every area. Everyone seems to have a slightly different take on the hobby, some blend of seeking better sound, finding good synergy with equipment, fixing gear, collecting gear, bargain hunting, enjoying the music, etc. It's all good, I reckon...

Spending $100 for you and your wife to enjoy music much more than before -- how cool is that? Sounds like a deal to me! :thmbsp:

Michael

"Zilch"

"They have been thoroughly analyzed by many experts in various forums, and a half-dozen of those have devised approaches to "fixing" them.

Karma Indignias kick them to the curb:"

They sound interesting Zilch and they come in under $100.00 like the Insignia's?

HypnoToad said:

They sound interesting Zilch and they come in under $100.00 like the Insignia's?

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Depends on what you put them in. They're a DIY project here on AK. Currently, as far as I know, there are 3 pair up and running. Zilch in NorCal, Robie in Chicago, and me in southern Illinois. If you're within spitting distance of any of those I'm sure you can catch a listen.

Anyway, I put mine in simple butt jointed MDF. Without finishing costs it was right at $100 but the drivers were on sale last month. I think it would be around $110-$115 with the drivers at regular price.

Ray

I think they're decent enough at the sale price of $59/pair.

For unanimity I figured I'd weigh in as well.

Insignias are a tremendous value. I bought mine when they were on sale at $40 a pair (those days are long gone, evidently). They are very nice speakers and all you have to do is go to BB and shell out the cash and they're yours. Just enjoy them.

That said, for a little more investment in time and $$$ you can build your very own pair of Indignias. That extra investment pays off though and provides a much, much better level of performance.

Correction to an earlier post: Indignias beat Insignias in all respects except price and efficiency. You might be able to get by with a T-Amp and Insignias, but they won't play loudly. Even less so with the Indignias. However, in all other respects, the Indignias do "kick the Insignias to the curb." Very big sound out of a small speaker even with a 25W Accurian. Overachievers that are all about the fun of music.

I'm an east coast speaker guy. Indignias are a great marriage of east coast highs and west coast bass with the port open. Stuffing the port creates a different speaker all together, more east coast sounding. Better on some songs, worse on others (even on the same album).

Trust me guys, and gals. If I can build a pair, so can you. Half the fun of owning them is the journey building them and knowing you "made them."

I need more time to get a handle on these speakers but I'm starting to wonder if a couple of pair (or six) might be all I'd need.

Anyone in the Chicago area who wants to contact me for an audition, just PM me.

HypnoToad said:

They sound interesting Zilch and they come in under $100.00 like the Insignia's?

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Our project grew out of an earlier "Are Insignias any good?" thread here, and the proposition that any of us could build better speakers for not much more money. At that time, Insignias were on "Sale" for $80, as I recall. How Karma Indignias were developed is documented in the thread linked above.

Nearly as significant as how good they are as speakers is the process of building your own pair. We have laid it out in sufficient detail that anyone should be able to succeed, and the satisfaction inherent in accomplishing that is enormous.

"Indignias ROCK" in many, many ways.... :thmbsp:

I have been listening to Cat Stephens on my Insignia's and love the way Sad Lisa sounded, the violins really leap out at you. They have a rich fullness that I just can't get over for the price. Do the Indignia's handle power well? I am using a 110w rms per channel amp with no tone controls or other nastiness at the moment and the Insignias just love it.

I am probably going to restore a pair of JBL LX 44's soon to see what they sound like, if I don't like them I may build the Indignia's.

As I write this, I'm listening to my Insignias with a low cost receiver, Sherwood RX-4109 from Radio Shack. $50+80=$130 for a REAL nice sounding system. I know the Insignias are selling for more these days and the Sherwood is back to $100, but the sound is quite satisfactory to me. This comes from a guy who has heard a lot of gear over the years, including mixing studios. Be happy in your choice! You made a purchase that was financially smart and sounds good too. Not a bad move at all.

Best $100 I ever spent on a speakers were a pair of Cambridge Soundworks Model 6's.
At times I prefer them over my B&W DM 604's.

If you are happy with your Insignia's, then great, you found what you are looking for. Myself, I refuse to give BB any of my money, as they basically ran away nearly every high-end shop in town. Instead, Craigslist IS my best friend, and I feel like I've gotten fairly lucky on a few buys. I've bought decent Wharfedale's, great Polk's, and even a pair of Bozak 302's for less than $50 there (nearly everyone here has found something awesome on there), and I'll take the sound of them any day over any speaker BB sells at any price point.

HypnoToad said:

Do the Indignia's handle power well? I am using a 110w rms per channel amp with no tone controls or other nastiness at the moment and the Insignias just love it.

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I've run them from a T-amp (a little weak like Robie said), a NAD 7045 receiver at 45wpc, a NAD 2140 amp (seperate) at 40wpc, and a Carver TFM-22 at 225wpc. They played well on all but the T-amp and they'd probably be ok on that in a small dorm room or similar. When I visited Specialidiot and brought them along we ran them on a Yamaha B-2 with power meters and running them around 1W average was a good listening level. At 10W average they were pretty loud in his room and were showing peaks of 100W with no audible distortion. I wouldn't throw a 100W sine wave at them but they seem to hold up well with power.

Ray

After reading so many positive reviews, and seeing them on sale, I grabbed a pair of the Insignias. I didn't have huge expectations. In fact I tempered them a bit so as not to judge them too harshly. Despite that, I still don't find them to be anything special. I've tried them with two different receivers and lots of different types of music. To me they sound incredibly congested. Nothing I've tried really sounds very good, but more modern rock music (with heavy compressed mixes) sound absolutely awful. There are no dynamics. They are going back tomorrow. I think I'll stick with the classics.

Broken.Ears said:

After reading so many positive reviews, and seeing them on sale, I grabbed a pair of the Insignias. I didn't have huge expectations. In fact I tempered them a bit so as not to judge them too harshly. Despite that, I still don't find them to be anything special. I've tried them with two different receivers and lots of different types of music. To me they sound incredibly congested. Nothing I've tried really sounds very good, but more modern rock music (with heavy compressed mixes) sound absolutely awful. There are no dynamics. They are going back tomorrow. I think I'll stick with the classics.

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Broken.Ears, sounds like you let them break in sufficiently and still don't like them, so you have your answer (they do improve with some "run in"). That's the beauty of life here at AK: To each his/her own.

InSignias: IMO, my stock Insignias are competent speakers for what they are and what they cost (my pair was only $40 on sale). Very polite sounding and fairly well made considering the price. I could easily live with a pair as daily drivers but would find them lacking for critical listening.

InDignias: The DIY InDignia project was originally suggested to see if the "big brain DIY speaker talent" at AK could collectively develop a DIY speaker that bests the Insignias at about the same cost. After watching the "big brains" do their thing, I built a pair of InDignias and did a quick comparison of them versus the Insignias. The time I spent building my pair of InDignias with my son was also great fun.

InSgnias Compared to My Other Speakers: I came to the same conclusion, they sound a bit congested and muddy when compared to the Indignias (see Zilch post above). I think I agree about the lack of dynamics too. While I prefer my DIY InDignias (as well as my other smaller speakers including Genesis Physics Model 10, EPI 70c and Spendor SA2) to the Insignias, these other speakers are fairly well regarded but were quite a bit more expensive when new and some have been updated with better caps.

My Bottom Line: For an inexpensive pair of speakers, IMO the Insignias are worth a listen even if they are a bit rolled off and congested compared to my new InDignias and my other speakers. Spend a little more for DIY InDignias (or perhaps less for a pair of good used speakers) and you'll hear the improvement. That said, while Insignias lack resolution and air, they image pretty well and are fairly efficient too.

FWIW, my pair of Insignias is probably going to college next week with my daughter with an Accurian or HK 350i receiver. Either way, she will probably have the best stereo on her floor if not her dorm compared to most modern systems.