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The Best 50 Dollar A Pair Speakers Ever ??

I'm using them with a Super T-Amp that is anywhere from 11 to 5 watts. hey play loud enough and are rated at 90db efficiency. Haven't bottomed out the woofer yet but that may be bass bloat that is controllable with port obstruction methods mentioned above. Rolled socks in the port reduces the amount of bass.
 
mfell said:
I just picked up a set of the Insignias and hooked them up to my Sansui G-5700. They sounded pretty good till I hit three then they were distorting like crazy. It seems I don't have a speaker in my house that can handle the Sansui. When breaking these in is it a good idea for them to distort? This old Sansui has been putting the hurt on all my woofers. I have a set of AR92s that I haven't tried yet. Those may be the only things that can handle the 5700. I think I may burn them in with a Pioneer SX650. I will give them a week.

Mike
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How loud is it when you're doing this?
 
I had my brother's Insignia's hooked up to my modded G-9700 and the walls were shaking (okay, it was the stuff I had on the other side of the wall in the garage) yet the speakers never distorted. I'm surpised your G-5700 had that effect on them. And I had it turned up past 3...
 
mfell, have you tested the DC offset on your 5700 recently. If not it might be a good idea to check it soon. If it is killing speakers you may be introducing some DC into your speakers.
 
Spasticteapot said:
Anyone know what kind of wattage these require? I was thinking of using a 15wpc amplifier to power them (41hz Amp32) and was wondering if it's got enough "oomph".
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IMHO, the Sonic T-Amp is not the best match for these speakers. That said, 15 watts will get you started, but I think you'll end up wanting more. I heard some pretty good sound, but the speaker was hooked up to an amp that was worth 30 times what these were worth.
 
Dusty Chalk said:
IMHO, the Sonic T-Amp is not the best match for these speakers. That said, 15 watts will get you started, but I think you'll end up wanting more. I heard some pretty good sound, but the speaker was hooked up to an amp that was worth 30 times what these were worth.
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The SI T-amp puts out about six watts per channel. The amplifier I hope to use outputs about two and a half times as much as a T-amp.
 
KingBubba said:
mfell, have you tested the DC offset on your 5700 recently. If not it might be a good idea to check it soon. If it is killing speakers you may be introducing some DC into your speakers.
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Actually it is the CD by the band "The Grays" that is killing the speakers. It has so much low end.

Thanks

Mike
 
Dusty, I agree with what you said about Insignias with the Sonic T-Amp. I compared them with a "regular" Sonic T-amp with 4A SLA power supply vs. a Super T with the same power supply. IMO the Super T is more open, dynamic (if that is possible with 5 watts) and has slightly better bass. I think the Super T is a better match with the Insignias than the siound I got when I put the Insignias in my main system (see below). In my main system they sounded congested and boxy vs. the Rega Elas I use regularly.

With an old Sherwood S8900 A the Insignias sounded pretty good too. IMO and with a Super T they are much better than my Minimus 7s (and even double Minimus 7s) but not as good as my 25 year old ads 200c mini-monitors.

The Insignias are not what I would buy for critical listening but I'm sure having fun moving them around the house in different applications and enjoying the music along the way. For me, the $40 price is somehow liberating because they shouldn't sound as good as they do. Haven't heard them in a really good system though.
 
I bought a pair

They are great. They really are pretty cool, cabinet is super ringy but its sounds good with my SX450. They cost more to go get than to pay for when you get there. $45 is darn near "no money." Buy them just for fun, break in, take apart, put back together, give away to someone for christmas.

They have slightly more efficiency/dynamic range than my Sony ssk30ed.

Otherwise the Sony's are better. Similar curved back cabinet, 6" woven woofer, nice tweeter, real crossover parts. Sony's costed 60 a pair at circuit city. Got same cabinet stiffening treatment the Insignias need so desparately.

GR Research has a mod kit for the insignia

http://www.gr-research.com/

I would pay more than $60 for a pair of Sony ss-X30ed.
 
$50? Money well spent!

Just picked up my pair at BB for $49.99 + tax and I have to say I am impressed. I got them at BB right off the shelf, packed them in my car, drove 2 hours to my family's home for Thanksgiving. Needless to say, I was desperate to get these wired up and cranking. I forgot that there is no amp or receiver here to power them up, so I went on a scavenger hunt. Thinking I was going to have to wait to get them back home before I could get these fired up...buried deep back in the garage was an old early 80's vintage Fisher system. I pulled out the receiver (CA-226), found some old speaker wire laying around, brought them inside and got started. Right out of the box they sound good, but not yet great. I think that has a lot to do with how I have them set up, but also because I haven't played them loud and long enough to break them in. But I will later. Out of the box, they handled everything I threw at it: classical (Wagner, Balakirev), jazz (early Louis Armstrong, Django Rheinhardt) rock: Pink Floyd (Fearless, Echoes, Time), The Band (The Weight, Up on Cripple Creek) and they have handled everything with ease. Not sure how many watts I'm pumping in (no dataplate on the Fisher receiver) , but they are very clear and the imaging is sweet. I really think everyone else who claimed that these could easily go for $100 + are right. These will be my secondary set of speakers run off my Harmon Kardon 440Vxi in my bedroom. They're that good...mostly because of the affordability. I was planning on buying much more expensive bookshelf speakers for my bedroom, but these saved me. Thanks to the original poster!!! :music:
 
I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on a pair just yet, but I just got back from Best Buy and they sure look purdy! I just don't need any more good speakers!
The one's on display had a black cloth tweeter - isn't this different? Weren't the ones that started this thread made with mettalicized dome tweeters? If this is new, then these newer models with cloth tweeters could be the really sweet ones as I noticed a trend of "a little bright" in this thread.
 
mfell said:
Actually it is the CD by the band "The Grays" that is killing the speakers. It has so much low end.

Thanks

Mike
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Mike, can't thank you enough for posting this. I used to record 120 Minutes on MTV every week and lay the songs I liked over to cassette. I had "Very Best Years" on one of those tapes a loved it. When you reminded me of this CD I ordered it. Just got it today and I'm really enjoying it! And you're not kidding, they mixed this thing with BASS! Especially "Everybody's World".

Take care,

Ed
 
My pair should get here soon.

Upgrades I'll perform, likely with a day of getting them:

-Bondo. Lots and lots of Bondo.
-Some fiberglass batting.
-A 41hz Amp3 amplifier module being installed into the left channel. The speaker binding posts will be the output to the right channel. (Clever, eh?)
-Crossover tweaks - likely using cheap stuff from Madisound's surplus, and my massive supply of spare capacitors.
 
Sorry if this was asked already but do these have any tweeters or no?

EDIT: Just noticed it says it has a 4/5" tweeter but I don't see any tweeter, Is the picture wrong?
 
whatever said:
Sorry if this was asked already but do these have any tweeters or no?

EDIT: Just noticed it says it has a 4/5" tweeter but I don't see any tweeter, Is the picture wrong?
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They are coaxial drivers. The tweeter is in the center of the bass driver.
 
Yeah, I realized the tweeter was in the middle of the woofer after a bit more reading..

And.. I just got home from best buy with them, Havent hooked em up to my H/K 3480 yet but first impressions are very good, they really look great.
 
I went to Best Buy yesterday to buy a set of these, unfortunatly they were sold out... However, I did get to listen to a set of mildy abused floor models through a Yamaha HT reciver, and I was impressed. I wasn't expecting much in the way of bass, but the little guys certainly seemed to happily pound out some bass-heavy Eagles tracks. I'll be going back for a pair next weekend.

Spasticteapot, I like your idea of modding them to be self-powered. I hadn't though of that, but it seems like it would work well. Lots of open space inside, and tollerence for a wide variety of power input. :scratch2:
 
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