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The Best 50 Dollar A Pair Speakers Ever ??

I believe I posted in this thread somewhere about two years ago, but I have no idea where. I still have a couple pairs of these Insignias, and they continue to be awesome. Not the last word in fidelity, but with a few simple mods--I stuffed the cabinets and stopped up the ports with black socks--they sound even better than stock. Of course you can go all out and buy the improved X-over and water putty the enclosures, but by that point you might be better served to find something nicer used.

I never paid full price for these, though I got to the party late so no $50.00 for me. I think I paid $70 once and somewhat less the next time. It's a rare thing that a house brand product actually increases in price over time, and that one stays around as long as these things have.

For the curious, they're bright-leaning and lean in signature, yet they have this incredible ability to stifle sibilance in virtually every recording I throw at them. They image well and project a very nice soundstage. Bass is typical bookshelf speaker fare: not very deep but tight and punchy. Not the most refined or detailed speakers, but a great starting point for budding audiophiles, and musical as all get out.
 
Over the years I have bought many different vintage speakers, including B&W's, Klipsch, Bose, Bostons, Jamo, Polk, KEF, Cerwin Vega, various James Lansing incarnations, Allisons and many more for under $50. The best so far of all though was last week when I bought a pair of Audio Physic Tempo III's ($3495 list)! THAT was a good day!

However, if vintage bargains don't count then the best I have bought new were some KRK studio monitors I got on sale one day at a music store clearance for about half their normal price - which was actually just a little more than the $50 price point. I think if you get a good deal on small studio monitors like these, they are likely to be a higher quality design overall than low-end home audio speakers. The exception may be rare instances like these Insignias...I have had good and bad experiences with this brand. Sometimes they hit a home run, often they are junk.

I am also nostalgic for the Radioshack Minimus 7's someone mentioned - talk about hitting a home run. I have several pairs in storage - can't resist them when I find them, usually too cheap to pass up, plus the later Pro 7 version and a couple of later Minimus 77s. I usually keep them around until I need a good gift for someone who needs nice small home theatre speakers.
 
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I'd have to say my Yamaha NS-AP4400M bookshelf speakers were probably a better deal, although I've never heard these Insignias. I just prefer to have 3 way speakers instead of 2. They were only $60 (including shipping) brand new in the box. Some guy on ebay was selling a bunch of them early this year. I even convinced my penny-pinching, cheap-equipment-using brother to buy them the same day he heard them.
 

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rawfoodguy said:
...The best so far of all though was last week when I bought a pair of Audio Physic Tempo III's ($3495 list)! THAT was a good day!
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Holy cow. Please tell the story.


rawfoodguy said:
...I am also nostalgic for the Radioshack Minimus 7's someone mentioned - talk about hitting a home run. I have several pairs in storage - can't resist them when I find them, usually too cheap to pass up, plus the later Pro 7 version and a couple of later Minimus 77s....
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I agree, but I have found them to be inconsistent. Over time, I think contractor(s) that made them for RS changed parts somewhat (or they were just inconsistent with manufacturing methods. I've had 3 pairs over the years and all three sounded a little different.

At my mom's I set her up with a pair of 7AV many years ago (this is the magnetically shielded version, which I bought on clearance). This model sounds inferior to the original 7. It's more forward and "honky" sounding and the highest frequencies are reduced. Either they changed the drivers, or just the presence of the bucking magnets screwed up the balance of the original.

Now the tweeter in one of them has quit and I'm probably just going to dump the 7AV and replace the pair with the original 7.


Squonk07 said:
(Talking about the Insignias:) ...with a few simple mods--I stuffed the cabinets and stopped up the ports with black socks--they sound even better than stock. Of course you can go all out and buy the improved X-over and water putty the enclosures, but by that point you might be better served to find something nicer used.
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Agreed. Polyfil/acoustastuf makes a big difference in the Insignias. I didn't personally like the sound with the port closed.


Squonk07 said:
…They image well and project a very nice soundstage…. Not the most refined or detailed speakers, but a great starting point for budding audiophiles....
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I agree with those points. In fact, I gave a pair to a niece for her birthday. She is a budding musician and I want her to have a nice system, to be able to better appreciate the music she listens to.
 
Haven't gone through the whole thread so these may have been mentioned, but another candidate for best cheapies would be the "main" speakers I have in the office, the Radio Shack LX-4s. With addition of an inductor these are killer little speakers.
 
Wow. Those tweeters alone are worth $50. You really got the steal of the year there. Congrats.
 
My son uses a pair of Insignias for his computer sound, driven by an Accurian amp (remember those?). It's the ultimate 2007 "fad" system! Total investment: $55. He raves the 'Sigs.
 
I went to BB the other day to check these Insignia speakers out. Took a while to locate but they did have them set up. Not bad but I did not have much time. They also had a pair of new Pioneer speakers by Peter Jones, BS21. I need to go back and compare.
 
Doc Rock said:
Haven't gone through the whole thread so these may have been mentioned, but another candidate for best cheapies would be the "main" speakers I have in the office, the Radio Shack LX-4s. With addition of an inductor these are killer little speakers.
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Are they one of the models with the "Linaeum" ribbon tweeter?

At the summer speaker shootout of the Connecticut Audio Society, we had two Linaeum models available for comparison. Both sounded wonderful. (Sorry not sure of the model numbers.)
 
80sKid said:
Are they one of the models with the "Linaeum" ribbon tweeter?

At the summer speaker shootout of the Connecticut Audio Society, we had two Linaeum models available for comparison. Both sounded wonderful. (Sorry not sure of the model numbers.)
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Yep. They have a monopole Linaeum tweeter and a Kevlar cone 4" speaker with a tiny port in the back. Here's a link to a review by Dick Olsher:
http://www.blackdahlia.com/tipindex/Tip__3/tip__3.html
I did the air core inductor mod and replaced the stock padding with with some better stuff and now they live in my office, supplemented by a small Klipsch sub. They sound fabulous, and toward the end of the run were in the price range we're discussing.
 
At the audio group meeting, the Linaeum models we heard had a 5 to 6.5" woofer and an 8" woofer. The latter sounded fuller, but also had a little bit of mid-bass bloat. But they were unmodified and that could probably be tamed with better damping inside the cabinet.

These speakers were among the best budget speakers I've ever heard.
 
I have owned a pair of BIC DV62si bookshelf speakers for about ten years now that I have modified to sound much better than the $110 they cost. I'm going to be testing them against a thousand dollar pair of Ascends later this month. IMO the BIC DV62si is the best value in speakers. Decently solid cabinets, binding posts and good drivers. They are good quality for the price. I augmented the cabinet damping, tweaked and upgraded the crossovers.
 
I got a pretty good deal on these Insignias just the other day. I payed the bargain price of $0. They were getting rid of them because one of the tweeters "went bad." Turns out that the connector just came undone on the xover. They sound pretty good. The wood is sort of soft because of the "scoring" they did to make the wood curve. Since I didn't put any money into buying them I may do that wood filler mod.
 
I cast a vote for the Minimus 7. My Klipsch's were $60 though. Sweet blackfriday wheeling and dealing at the pawn shop.
 
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