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Advice on budget/midrange speakers?

bronchialc

bronchialc

New Member
Hey everyone, I finally decided to upgrade my system to something worth listening to, however i've run into trouble with what speakers to buy. I mainly love vinyl, so i got the U-turn orbit with an acrylic platter, built in pluto pre-amp, and the grado black1 cartridge. In my case, the main thing im looking for are some budget speakers with an emphasis on audio quality rather than loudness, and i would like them to be powered, not passive.
Most threads i looked through didnt have the kinda of info i was looking for and i wanted to make an informed decision before purchasing anything. One of U-turns suggested speaker pairs is the Audioengine A5+ for $400.
I think this is about the max im willing to spend on speakers unless an extra hundred will make a worlds difference. And, as for setup, they will be in a medium sized living room, set up in a good way for acoustics.

So guys, what do you think? Are there any speakers that stand out for my setup?
 
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If looking for powered and quality, you owe yourself a few minutes to read this and see if it could fit your bill http://noaudiophile.com/JBL_LSR305/ These took Reddit by storm and I've found a few modified pairs posted around here.

While this reviewer places and emphasis on EQ'ing speakers to flatness I never consider that while reading his reviews, I find his conclusions about a product are pretty decent and comprehensive before he goes and adjusts things.

He reviewed the passive versions of the Audioengine A5+ and these were his conclusions http://noaudiophile.com/AudioEngine_P4/ He found them colored and unbalanced.

Interested product here but it's a hundred dollars over budget and has a lot of DAC wizardry going on that you wouldn't benefit from using an analog source. http://noaudiophile.com/Vanatoo_Transparent_One/

Powered version of the Micca MB42X that everybody on the internet seems to agree is a decent cheap small speaker and comparable in size to the Audioengine A5+ http://noaudiophile.com/Micca_PB42x/

Leaning pretty heavily on that reviewer if only because powered speakers/monitors are more of a pro-audio thing. Many reviews regarding them aren't going to address listening to them as much as they'll address using them for work. Mixing, monitoring, etc.
 
Wow, thanks for all the awesome information, i'm reading through all these reviews now and its helping out a ton. From what i'm seeing, it seems like the JBL LSR305's are as good as you can get for the price and just about what i'm looking for. I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on these soon unless anyone comes with something even better!
 
My advice (even though its not what you have requested) is to go passive. With that you can always improve components. Although thats a dangerous and easy bug to get! Just an integrated amp/receiver and a quality set of speaker and there you go...

Otherwise there are a lot of self powered monitors on the market which focus on quality true sound reproduction.

Either way go with something that is audiophile recognised, and has a broad frequency range..30Hz still sounds nice at 90db.
 
dnostereo said:
My advice (even though its not what you have requested) is to go passive. With that you can always improve components. Although thats a dangerous and easy bug to get! Just an integrated amp/receiver and a quality set of speaker and there you go...
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I was wondering about this option too, but i read around the forum here about problems you can run into when going passive. Mainly I saw that the amp might not be "tuned" to exactly how the speakers are made, causing strange problems that you wouldnt run into with powered speakers, since the system is designed to work together.
Is this an actual problem that happens or is it just a sort of wives-tale?
 
I was pondering this same subject not too long ago,mostly as it relates to the nearfield rig I was building (this system pulls double duty as my headphone rig too).

I was debating that whole active vs. passive monitor situation to use w/the NAD 106 preamp I was building that NF/HP system around as that NAD preamp has XLR outs,and that feature makes running most active monitors a much simpler prospect,anyhow after much research and consideration I opted to go with a power amp/passive speaker combo instead of actives mostly due to the fact that it's not entirely an uncommon occurence for powered/active speakers to run into grounding/buzz related issues,now I know those issues can often be dealt with pretty easily & those issues dont always affect every active/powered speaker,but thing is with my luck I'd be the one to run into those sorta issues,so I just took the more "centralized" approach as I felt it would be the best bet for what I was doing as I figured out a nice convenient way to package it all within the limited space I had available to me.

But yeah thosee JBL LSR-305 were definitely in the running till I finally made that choice,as they have a very strong reputation.

What I wound up getting to go w/that NAD 106 preamp was a EV-7100 power amp (dual mono design ~ 75/100wpc > 8/4ohms) to power some Canton GL-260 speakers along w/a Canton AS85-SC subwoofer,and a DOD 830 Ser.II EQ thrown in the NAD's tape (monitor) loop just for good measure.

The NF portion of that system is in a holding pattern waiting for me to finish building a new top for my desk so I have somewhere to put those Canton GL-260 speakers,LOL.

That preamp/power amp/speakers were < $400.00 and add the subwoofer that puts the total just bit over the $400.00 mark.

So yeah it can be done within that budget whichever way you opt to go.

HTH

Bret P,
 
Coming from a broke college student who was in this position last year, find a budget then look at what speakers are in a bracket above your budget and buy used. I scored an svs sb1000 sub that was only 6 months used for $300 on craigslist and recently bought a pair of monitor audio silver s1's on ebay for $200 as well as an lh labs geek out DAC for $45. If you dont want to buy used black Friday and cyber Monday are coming up so you could save money until then and find a huge deal and take advantage of that. I recommend buying used because thats the only way I could get the performance I was looking for, considering my budget constraint. As far as speaker recommendations I dont have any in that price range but I really enjoy my Monitor Audios. They are really detailed and get down low enough I cross my sub at 50hz.
 
I read too many posts where someone wants the highest audio quality. Unfortunately they can only spend a couple of hundred dollars. Well, that ain't going to happen. I agree with much of what 'thatToolguy' said. You would be better off saving up some money for higher quality gear.

Those people who are constantly 'upgrading' are also wasting a lot of money. I'm sure a lot of posters don't wish to hear such things. Also, calling a JBL bookshelf speaker 'Reference' does not make it so.
 
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You won't get "the best" sound for a couple hundred dollars, but you can get damn good sound if you know what you're looking for, buy used, and get a little lucky. For example I scored some KEF 103.2 speakers FOR $150+ A BoSe Radio I had laying around. Apogee Centaur speakers for $175. A Crown PSA-2 amp for $250. A Thorens turntable for $150. I could have lived with either of those speakers, for life. They are both almost indisputably excellent. Just playing devil's advocate and saying it can be done. Not if buying new, and not buy shopping Best Buy (IMHO).
 
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