Bookshelf Speakers w/ Great Mids?

[Stattman]

I'm looking for a small pair of speakers, bookshelf size, maybe a little smaller that can balance out the mids on my system. I recently bought a pair of JBL LX-55's that sound great, I have them hooked up to my Rotel RX-503 and I'm getting clear highs and solid bass, but they a lacking a bit of middle punch. I already had to turn down the bass and treble EQ on my receiver and I'm still getting weaker mids. I feel a nice pair of smaller speakers with good midrange drivers would do wonders to balancing out my system. What pair of speakers for $100 or less, vintage or new, could accomplish this? Bonus points if they are JBL to match the rest of my system. I was looking at Boston Acoustic A40's and JBL Northridge E30's, both I found on Craigslist for OK prices. The A40s I can get for $40, but they need new surrounds, the E30's are in perfect shape but I don't know if they are worth the $150 he's asking.

 

[Drumolator]

Sony SS-B1000's are very good for the money, which would be lass than $100 new. Peace and goodwill.

 

[xero-D-hero]

Well,to point out the obvious,those LX-55 are somewhat mismatched with that Rotel RX-503 receiver,the JBL speakers are rated to 200wpc max,and that Rotel receiver puts out 33wpc,so right there you are going to have a mismatch,ask me those LX-55 would absolutely love more power to really sing their best.

The 405G mids in the LX series 3 ways are solid sounding mids IMHO (I have 2 pairs of LX-44's and absolutely love the mids they produce) so if it's not a case of those LX-55 being under-powered,then I'd hafta suspect that they could be due for a crossover recap or something is amiss with those mids,as that is not a normal condition.

And adding a second set of speakers may just compound the problem by altering the load seen by the amp in that receiver,but that largely depends on whether the second set of speakers are run in series or parallel,and I'm not 100% sure how that Rotel receiver handles that situation.

I mean there is no doubt that's some seriously nice gear you got there,but those two pieces of gear are'nt remotely in the same weight class,one is a flyweight and the other is a straight-up heavyweight,so it's not even really a fair fight.

HTH

Bret P.

 

[xero-D-hero]

Sony SS-B1000's are very good for the money, which would be lass than $100 new. Peace and goodwill.

I have a pair of these ^^^^ that I use to fill in the mids for my other pr. of Sony SS-B3000 which tend to be a bit light in the mids as SOP,so I'd certainly agree that they are a good "budget" speaker for solid mids,but again would defere back to my previous post and suggest that adding a second set of speakers may not solve the current situation.

If you buy the SS-B1000 to try them you may find that they sound fine all by themselves,as they would likely be a better match to that receiver than the LX-55's are.

But I'd still hang onto those LX-55's,IMO those are keepers for sure !

FWIW

Bret P.

 

[Stattman]

Well,to point out the obvious,those LX-55 are somewhat mismatched with that Rotel RX-503 receiver,the JBL speakers are rated to 200wpc max,and that Rotel receiver puts out 33wpc,so right there you are going to have a mismatch,ask me those LX-55 would absolutely love more power to really sing their best.

The 405G mids in the LX series 3 ways are solid sounding mids IMHO (I have 2 pairs of LX-44's and absolutely love the mids they produce) so if it's not a case of those LX-55 being under-powered,then I'd hafta suspect that they could be due for a crossover recap or something is amiss with those mids,as that is not a normal condition.

And adding a second set of speakers may just compound the problem by altering the load seen by the amp in that receiver,but that largely depends on whether the second set of speakers are run in series or parallel,and I'm not 100% sure how that Rotel receiver handles that situation.

I mean there is no doubt that's some seriously nice gear you got there,but those two pieces of gear are'nt remotely in the same weight class,one is a flyweight and the other is a straight-up heavyweight,so it's not even really a fair fight.

HTH

Bret P.

What you said makes a ton a sense. Adding another pair of speakers may not work the way I want them too. I know that the LX55s are a clear mismatch for the Rotel, I may have to pick up a separate receiver to power the LX55s to their full potential. It was kind of an experiment to start off considering they are the only pieces of stereo equipment I currently own.

I'm also thinking that maybe the Rotel needs a full recap to work at its full potential, it was sitting in my dad's garage unused for 30+ years so I'm sure it's due, which may be what's affecting the mids. But the dilemma is I don't have the knowledge or skill to do the recap job myself, no one I know of around my area does vintage electronic recaps, and even if I found someone qualified for the job, the cost to do so would probably be well above what I'd pay for a brand new receiver with 4x the power that would be more compatible with my LX55s.

So I may just have to bite the bullet and get a different receiver for the JBLs and keep the Rotel for a smaller, separate system. I don't have any money wrapped up into the Rotel anyway, aside from replacing the lights and the cost of some DeOxit, so it's definitely not the end of the world. What would you other AKers suggest?

 

[xero-D-hero]

That (a recap on the receiver) was another potential issue that I was going to mention,but again it seemed an obvious thing to point out.

I'm with you here,no major investment in that Rotel receiver,so no reason to get too crazy with it,but yeah those LX-55's are going to love more power for sure.

Plenty of affordable speakers that would work very well with the Rotel receiver,heck even some Minimus 7's would sound pretty dang good being driven by that Rotel.
Like I said earlier,if you do decide to buy some smaller/budget speakers just to try out here,worst thing that happens is you find they sound fine with only the smaller speakers,and you can keep the LX-55's for a more powerful system later on,which would be NBD for most folks.

I just wanted to point out that the JBL mid used in these LX-55's should sound really nice,so I'd be suspicious of just about anything other than those.

But really everyone perceives things differently,so honestly there's never an absolute answer to any audio related issue like this.besides solid diagnostic testing and maybe some good old fashioned trial & error testing and such.

Good luck with this,I hope you get everything all sorted out to your satisfaction.

Bret P.

 

[nfafan]

" Sony SS-B1000's are very good for the money, which would be lass than $100 new. Peace and goodwill. "

Really surprised to see these mentioned here on AK. Nice little speakers and the darlings of Amazon shoppers for a long time. Will find a home for these somewhere in the house.

 

[xero-D-hero]

I like my Sony SS-Bxxxx's for what they are,ie: a budget minded all purpose speaker,I'm listening to some Pink Floyd WYWH right now and it sounds pretty dang good.
(system is an Adcom GTP-450 with a GFA-535 MkI power amp and a Rotel RE-1010 EQ ~ source right now is the cable music "classic rock" channel)

All these SS-B speakers really need to be even better yet are some legit crossovers and a bit of cabinet damping material and such.
Admitedly choosing a crossover would be a lot easier if Sony had passed along the driver specs to consumers,but I guess that's not much of a concern for them.

I mostly bought them because I knew for sure that they would work w/the wall mounts I was looking at using,as my bedroom is "spatially challenged" to say the least.
(Pinpoint AM-40 for the SS-B3000 and AM-10 for the SS-B1000)

But yeah,they sound good enough for me ~ for the time being.

If I do eventually decide to replace them with some other speakers,it'll likely be with my second pair of LX-44's and either my LX-22's or my MR25's.

But I'm kinda planning on doing some upgrades to them first to see how that deal works out,,,someday...

Honestly right now they're still kinda breaking in a bit more as I dont play that system all the time.

And yeah,I got mine from Amazon,LOL.

Bret P.