Hello all who can help,
In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a virtual moron when it comes to knowing much about speakers, receivers, components, etc....I want to upgrade my speakers and found this website and thought that maybe I could catch some good insight for the more knowledgeable people on here. I want to obviously maximize the value that I can get for my money
I am looking to spend around $800-$850 max for a pair of speakers...these will be not part of anything else, simply the best 2 speakers I can find for around that price in a 2 channel system. They will be powered with a Sansui 9090, nothing more except possibly a sub, but even that I may try to avoid.
I have looked at Paradigm Monitor 11 v5, Polk Tsi500, Canton GLE (bookshelves) and Paradigm Studio 40s V5, that I have found locally that are right in that range, I am wondering if anyone has any specific thoughts on these models in particular or if there are other options I should be considering that are affordable. I assumed floor standing would be best bet but once again what do I know
I would say this will be about a 50/50 split on music and movies with the music being more acoustic styles playing through Ipod, CD, as well as a Pioneer PL2 turntable, the room these will be in are vaulted ceilings at about 17ft and its a 20X25ish room......please help before this idiot makes one of those 10 cardinal mistakes the sticky note at the top of the forum talked about. THanks all!!
In order of preference,
1. Paradigm Studio 40s V5
2. Canton GLE (i would get a sub)
3. Paradigm Monitor 11 v5
4. Polks
I would also look at the Image series from PSB, particularily
http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Image-Series/Image-T5-Tower
What I would do is to take a pad of paper with you, write down the make and
model of each speaker you audition and what you liked and disliked about the
speakers you were auditioning. Was the bass tight and deep or was it boomy
and loose sounding? Were the mids life like or were they hollow or just too
pronounced? Was the treble irritating and harsh or were they dark and not
revealing or were they smooth that made you want to listen for more? How was
the imaging?
Bring music with you that you are very familiar with and know quite well. To
make it easier to audition HT speaker systems, listen to the main speakers in 2
channel mode with music. Music is much harder to reproduce accurately then a
movie soundtrack so if the speakers do well with music, then they will do well
with HT. Speakers that do HT well may not do well with music. When auditioning
the center channel of the same brand and series as the main speakers, pick a
difficult source like an announcer that mumbles alot. If you can understand what
the mumbling announcer is saying, then you have a good center channel.
I would go to speciality stores first and start auditioning speakers first
instead of going to the internet first. Once your likes are determined, you can
mention them here and fellow members can make internet brand recommendations
based on your likes/dislikes. The specality stores are better setup acousticaly
then the big box stores which will make auditioning a little easier. It will
give you an idea of what you like in a speaker.
Keep track of what amp or receiver is powering the speakers you're auditioning.
Try to get a receiver/amp that closest resembles what you have or want to get.
It just reduces another variable when audtioning speakers.
One thing to keep note off. When auditioning speakers, make sure the volume
levels are matched between the diiferent speaker pairs because the louder
speaker pair will always sound better. Listen to levels that you think you
would listen to most of the time because thats how you are going to be using
them most of the time.
