Another "Help me Choose Speakers" Thread

[Peterwinkle]

If I was to go Pioneer - I would get the modded towers and center, from Dennis
Murphy at Philharmonic Audio - not much difference from the stock price.

I've been looking these up and I can't find anything about his modded towers. I can find the bookshelf speakers but judging from the specs those aren't really made for a 3.1 type setup (can't really go low enough to hit the sub crossover point?). The center however, is a no brainer. It's about the same price as the stock Pioneer.

 

[zieglj01]

I've been looking these up and I can't find anything about his modded towers. I can find the bookshelf speakers but judging from the specs those aren't really made for a 3.1 type setup (can't really go low enough to hit the sub crossover point?). The center however, is a no brainer. It's about the same price as the stock Pioneer.

Dennis just started getting into moding the FS52 towers - the price is
projected to be around $275 a pair

Now the bookshelf speaker bass is -3db at 63 hz (measured), and that is
good for crossing over to a sub

He has discontinued modding the Pioneer bookshelf speakers.

We do not recommend speakers, that you can not cross nicely to a sub.

 

[Peterwinkle]

Alright... so I'm narrowing this down now. With the price on amazon right now at $65 for towers and $50 for center I thought it was settled. From what I'm reading about modded pioneers I'm now thinking it might be worth it to just spend the extra on those. Do I get the bookshelves and center now and then get the towers later when they come out all for around $530... or get all 5 speaker now for $245? The more I read about the Pioneers from audiophiles the more I'm questioning how good they are. I'm worried I'm going to regret not spending more and getting the Philharmonic Audio version.

I think I'm settled on the Outlaw sub now unless I get a better option for cheaper. anyone know what the regular, non sale price is?

 

[zieglj01]

Alright... so I'm narrowing this down now. With the price on amazon right now at $65 for towers and $50 for center I thought it was settled. From what I'm reading about modded pioneers I'm now thinking it might be worth it to just spend the extra on those. Do I get the bookshelves and center now and then get the towers later when they come out all for around $530... or get all 5 speaker now for $245? The more I read about the Pioneers from audiophiles the more I'm questioning how good they are. I'm worried I'm going to regret not spending more and getting the Philharmonic Audio version.

I think I'm settled on the Outlaw sub now unless I get a better option for cheaper. anyone know what the regular, non sale price is?

Only you can make the decision

If going with Pioneer - I would get the bookshelf speakers and the Outlaw sub >
Then I would get the modded towers and center from Dennis - the modded tweeter
and revised crossover is worth it - for good detail and definition.

Your call

 

[Peterwinkle]

and by getting the bookshelf speakers and outlaw sub do you mean regular pioneer speakers, or modded speakers? I would think for the rear speakers quality is not as important so I should be fine getting the cheap ones?

 

[zieglj01]

and by getting the bookshelf speakers and outlaw sub do you mean regular pioneer speakers, or modded speakers? I would think for the rear speakers quality is not as important so I should be fine getting the cheap ones?

Dennis has discontinued his mod on the BS22 - you would need to purchase the regular stock,
they will be fine

 

[Peterwinkle]

I wanted to give an update to this post, I ordered the towers and center from Dennis at Philharmonic Audio and I have to say I'm quite impressed. Dennis was great to deal with, he sent me the before and after frequency responses, and for the money I'm not sure there are any better options out there. Comparing them to the stock Pioneer monitors I got (I know it's not a very fair comparison), they sound much better. My problem right now is getting the lip sync matched up, my receiver has a setting that you can adjust the audio delay, but I need to delay the video... trying to figure out how to make that happen.

@Zeiglj01, thanks for pointing me to Dennis, I'm quite pleased. He built the towers and center for me and had them shipped within a week, He screwed up the billing and accidentally charged me for his Philharmonic 3's, I was very tempted to tell him to keep the money and send those instead. I already made an enemy of my wife for a few days with the cheap ones (she doesn't understand why we need more speakers when the TV has it's own), so that really would have made her mad. Maybe later on I will be contacting him again to upgrade.

I haven't gotten a sub yet, but I'm leaning towards a DIY. I'm still in the research phase, but ITS has an 18" sub, the model of it looks a lot better than anything else I could buy in the price range. There are lots of builds with that sub so it would be easy to just copy one that worked well. also, from what I'm seeing most amps comes in at least 2 channel for subs. When I start feeling the upgrade-itis itch again it will be easy to add another sub for cheap.