Looking to upgrade from Bose 201s

[davidjosepha]

My current setup is a Pioneer SX-626 receiver hooked up to a pair of Bose 201s from early 2000s, I think. I got the 201s from my dad for free, and they're pretty nice, but I'm looking to upgrade. Any recommendations on speakers I will notice a significant improvement over the 201s with but not cost a fortune?

 

[janikphoto]

You can sell the 201's on CL for about $50 and then put in another $50 of your own money. At $100, you have several great options. What type of music do you listen to?

 

[davidjosepha]

You can sell the 201's on CL for about $50 and then put in another $50 of your own money. At $100, you have several great options.

First off, I would like to see options in the ~$100 range, but I'd potentially pay $200 or so (possibly even more, if there's a good reason).

You can sell the 201's on CL for about $50 and What type of music do you listen to?

There's my problem. I can't seem to find a good all-around speaker. I listen to a lot of classical music (mostly piano or orchestra w/ piano soloist), but I also listen to hip-hop (lots of bass, although I know getting a sub is the best option for that), old rock (big fan of Pink Floyd, obviously), metal (Opeth is a big one, Meshuggah), rock (which is a huge category, anything from post-hardcore like At the Drive-In to Porcupine Tree to Queens of the Stone Age to Radiohead), then also light singer-songwriter stuff (Elliott Smith is one of my favorites).

 

[mikeybc]

Anything from Paradigm or PSB will be a significant upgrade. many can be found used for 100 - 200 bucks. If you look hard enough and willing to stretch the budget a pair of v1 Studio 20's could possibly be found that still sound better than many speakers in the 1000 dollar range new today.

 

[shacky]

My current setup is a Pioneer SX-626 receiver hooked up to a pair of Bose 201s from early 2000s, I think. I got the 201s from my dad for free, and they're pretty nice, but I'm looking to upgrade. Any recommendations on speakers I will notice a significant improvement over the 201s with but not cost a fortune?

Dynaco A-25's. You will be floored after the Bose :yes:

 

[GD70]

Design Acoustics PS-10's.
Great sounding 3 way speaker with a 10 inch down firing woofer,5 inch mid and 1 inch dome tweeter.

Look on flea bay. I got mine for 100.00. I needed to refoam the woofers, but not a big deal.

 

[Aeon]

Gone, but not forgotten...

 

[nissan guy]

Epi 100's, smaller advents, large advents,jbl l20t,l80t,l1,l3, boston acoustics cr8, a60, a100, kits from parts express or madisound can also be good options, you can also finish them to your liking.

If you are going after new speakers the newer pioneers get rave reviews and can be had in your price range as well as some of polks offerings, check out newegg.com they have some good deals frequently.

 

[GoRNR]

The Boston Acoustics models as suggested by nissan guy-- maybe A70's, A100's, A150's, or even A200's. You may want to verify the woofers have been correctly refoamed before purchase. The Polks are another good choice as recommended by a previous post and they don't have the foam surrounds to worry about. Then again if you're up to refoaming you could probably get a good deal on any of the Bostons for a lesser investment. If you decide later to try something else, you can sell them for what you have into them (or make a small profit) and move on or upgrade. I've have or had BA A70's, A150's, A400's, Polk SDA-1A's, RTA12B's and Monitor 70's for disclosure. Others will respond with more brands and models for ya'.

 

[Markw]

If you're going new, those Dayton Audio kits that Aeon mentioned look interesting and well worth a try. IMNSHO, 6 1/2" is the perfect size for a woofer/sqawker in a two way system since it goes low enough to produce satisfying bass and yet still isn't exceptionally beamy at the top of it's useable range.

As for used, I love my Sound Dynamics RTS III speakers. Strange, they are a 6 1/2" 2-way system and I'll never part with them. If you can find someone willing to part with a pair them, I'd jump on 'em in the blink of an eye.