Which speakers have you been the most surprised by?

[TOM1040]

My office system has a pair of Design Acoustics PS-10's that I paid $70 for and got them re-foamed. I've been using them ever since. They just do a lot of things right for me in that office system. They have 10" down firing woofers in them as well. Those surprised me a lot, especially for what I paid. Here's a pic of someone elses:

The other pair that suprised me a lot I have in my shop system. A pair of JBL 830T's that I also paid $70 for around 6 or 7 years ago. The dust caps were dented on the four 8" mid-woofs, and the grills are missing. I fixed the dust caps as best I could, but there's still some small dents in a couple of caps. Here's a pic of someone elses:

Both those pairs have been in those systems for more than 5 years and I haven't found anything that I feel is a good replacement for them yet.



Retro

Interesting on those JBL 830T's. I used a pair for about 6 years(daughter in college, etc.) and then stepped up a bit in the JBL line, but those 830T's sounded good to me for a while!

 

[dc270]

For the money invested I have to admit the Econowave design to have been the most impressive speaker I have owned! Mine (see avatar) finally came out to be 15" two ways, built from Infinity Kappa 9 cabinets that were re-purposed for the Econowave design.

These exceeded the sound of my Altec 19's, and eventually replaced them as my main speakers! Had it not been for the keen engineering and design insigh of Zilch they would not have bee possible.

Only second to these are my rebuilt Klipsch Cornwalls 1's. Elegant looking, a very powerful 3 way design that sounds incredible.

I have touched, worked on & listened to hundreds of great speakers and some not so much. It is very difficult to pick only two speakers out when great sound is so hard to define with speakers alone. Sometimes banging two hollow sticks found from the forest floor can give me the sound I really like as well! But seeing how it's speakers then that is my picks.
DC

 

[nissan guy]

I have a few winter projects that may surprise me as well who knows. I have a set of genesis 22's to restore, a set of spica tc-50's, a set of design acoustics ps10a's, and some ohm frs-11's. Most just need surronds, the spicas needed tweeters which i have already recieved replacements from madisound.

Liking the infinity reference fours currently. I finally refoamed them last week. I am giving them to my brother for mains in his ht rig. Very good for the 30ish i have in them.

 

[markw300d]

Interesting info there on the BIC bookshelves above. They may not be made here in the US anymore (like many others) but BIC continues to offer good value. I have a pair of the FH-65B bookshelves that have a 6" aluminum woofer and a neo-horn tweeter that has surprised the heck out of me. I happened to find them on sale for $165 a pair shipped. They are the best bookshelves that I have owned for under $200 and BIC stands behind them with a 5 yr warranty. My only knock is they are advertised at 96db 1w/1m sensitivity and they are not close to this. I can't drive them with a TA2020 T-amp like I had hoped but they sound great when given enough power.

 

[EPI-Center]

I had a very hard time letting go of the KLH Barons, which IMO bested a lot of more hyped speakers in the house....ended up giving them away to another speaker heads' kid...

 

[charles 1973]

A friend of mine had a pair of ESS AMT6's. These nearly fridge size (250 lbs +) monsters had 2 x 12" woofer's and 4 Hiel Air Motion Transformers in each cabinet. The surprise was the sound. Not only were they capable of PA Volume levels, but they did it with near high quality monitor type sound. Placed in a med size room every note seemed just right, including the midrange, which I didn't expect from this design.

I've alway's had a lot of respect for the BIC Veture speakers, Although I've never owned a pair from what I've read they appear to be, or at least in the past a very good speaker indeed. The Nova Series from RS are also one of my favorites. I had a pair of their Mach One's but believe the bigger Nova's will produce a smoother sound and have plenty of kick.

 

[hammondcrazy]

I would say another surprize was from a computer set with the subwoofer and speakers made by logitech, the bass was tight and powerfull. I played organ music through it and it went down real low. Took the plate amp off to see what was under the hood, large magnet. Torroidal transformer and fiberglass circuit boards. I was shocked by the sound I really was.

 

[markshan]

Yes, oval. With a restriction in it. I guess that's the "venturi" part.

The original V62 is also called "Venturi".

I guess that is either the "D" or the "si".

 

[audiojones]

The Smaller Advent Loudspeaker.

 

[Anubis]

I'd have to say my DCM TF-600s.

 

[Layoutpad]

The Good:

:ntwrthy: Norman Lab Model 8's (4 for 50.00 on CL) Amaze me every time I listen to them.
They always end up back up on the stands in the room whenever I try to beat them.
And believe me I've tried. They own that room now.
Great neutral book shelf speaker with great soundstage and bass response that punches way above it's smallish 2-way size.

Onkyo Model 20's ($60.00 on CL) Amazing obscure Onkyo piece of history from the 70's. Had them re-capped with poly's (to refresh the caps after 40's years) and it ruined the sound of them.
Went back to modern spec electrolytics and now they are back to imaging like nothing else I heard in their class. Very smooth, easy to listen to with great bass response.
About the size of Dynaco A-25's but they weigh about 50 Lbs. each

:nutz: Rogers JR149's ($300.00 from a friend) What can you say about Rogers LS3/5A in a convenient little R2D2 style cabinet. Didn't know what they were until I listened to them.
Amazing little monitors in their day and amazing now. They share a room with the Onkyo Model 20's

:guitar: Pioneer HPM-900's: ($100.00 CL) Kitschy 70's vinyl-woodgrain clad Japanese things that just sound amazing smooth and well-balanced (to my ears)
They also have fended off challenges from many other speakers in the particular room they "own" now.
(JBL 4312A, 4311's, Klipsch Heresy's, KEF 103.2's...all vanquished by the HPM's)

The Bad:

Pioneer HPM-100's. ($200.00 CL) After all the build-up and glowing goo-goo about them, finally gave in and bought a pair.
Tried my darndest to love em, but they are just awful, bright unbalanced things that hurt my ears after about 15 minutes.
They sure do look nice though and are well made.

:screwy: JBL 4312A's, 4311's. (Mucho $$$$) See Pioneer HPM-100's.
They work nice enough as near-field monitors (which they were designed for)
but for me, a disappointment as "room speakers" even in a smallish room.
Kind of good speakers, but not great. Especially after all the hype.
Always felt too heavy in the mids and mushy in the bass to my ears.

 

[Copa1934]

Minimus 7

I'm a tad surprised not to see this listed here only because of the many positive posts here on AK. I had a pair in my Escort wagon that I loved listening to. I don't presently use my current set for the simple reason I haven't figured out what room to use them in.

In any case, there have of course been many posts with "how to" on improving them, to be sure, but straight up they are sought after by many people. Heck I've read posts of them used like array's (huge stacks)!

 

[gearhound]

Avid 100

Yeah, they didn't look like much.
Then I go and pick them................
.......a lot heavier than I thought they'd be?
Inside was an 8" CTS Alnico woofer with a rubber surround and a modest looking CTS phenolic ring tweeter.

The verdict: A VERY smooth sounding speaker within it's frequency range of 50-16.5Khz. :yes:

Steve :thmbsp: