$1000 speakers or $5000

C

cka69335

Enthusiast
Hi Everyone,

This is my first posting, and I am totally confused on the type of speaker to purchase. First of all there is the wife, that does't see the need for "expensive" speakers. I've been looking at the B&W's 604's and the Klipsch 82's. I personally heard the Klipsch (sounds great like a listening to a live show), but have not hear the B&W's. I heard more about the B&W's than the Klipsch, and wanted to know is there anyone out there that could help me with this disission :confused: I'm also open to other speakers out there. My budget per the wife :eek: is about $1000 - $1200. Or should I push it to the limit and get more epensive speakers >$1500:eek: . Below is my current set up...

Please Help me!!


Emotiva Ultra Theater Series
Boston Acoustics VR1's -- Fronts
Boston Acoustics VRC -- Center
Boston Acoustics DSi485 -- In-ceiling speaker
Polk 505 -- Sub
 
ParadigmDawg

ParadigmDawg

Audioholic Overlord
The 1-1.5K mark leaves you a lot of good choices. The only way to find a speaker is to listen for yourself. Try to find as many in your price range and go audition them. Here is a list of my favorite most of which I auditioned 3 months ago.
Paradigm studio series
Warefedale Evo series
PSB Image series
KEF IQ series
Monitor Audio RS series
Ascend CMT-340
AV123 Rockets
Aperion Intimus 633

If you like the sound of the BAs you may just want to upgrade to a nice SVS sub and watch your system come to life.
__________________
 
Last edited:
billy p

billy p

Audioholic Ninja
The 1-1.5K mark leaves you a lot of good choices. The only way to find a speaker is to listen for yourself. Try to find as many in your price range and go audition them. Here is a list of my favorite most of which I auditioned 3 months ago.
Paradigm studio series
Warefedale Evo series
PSB Image series
KEF IQ series
Monitor Audio RS series
Ascend CMT-340
AV123 Rockets
Aperion Intimus 633

If you like the sound of the BAs you may just want to upgrade to a nice SVS sub and watch your system come to life.
__________________
Hey Greg, I know you choose the Digms! The balance of speakers that followed in that list, where they in order of preference. There are some decent speakers on that list and I am just curious.

Billy p
 
Hipnotic4

Hipnotic4

Full Audioholic
Dont buy speakers based on your max budget...just because speakers cost alot do not mean they will sound good. (Just look at bose. Nuff said.)

What you should do is first figure out what the speakers will primarly be used for. Then do some research and read reviews on what speakers people reccomend for stereo or HT or both..whatever you need em for

..Then once you narrow down some choices..try to audition some speakers and figure what type of sound your after.

I know money does play a huge role, but just because you have 5g limit doesnt mean you wont be happy with speakers in the 800 dollar range..
 
mazersteven

mazersteven

Audioholic Warlord
ParadigmDawg

ParadigmDawg

Audioholic Overlord
No balance on the list. It came down to the MAs, Rockets and the Digms for me.

Hey Greg, I know you choose the Digms! The balance of speakers that followed in that list, where they in order of preference. There are some decent speakers on that list and I am just curious.

Billy p
 
Haoleb

Haoleb

Audioholic Field Marshall
Check out the Axiom M80's too. Or even M60 depending on your room size.
 
highfihoney

highfihoney

Audioholic Samurai
The reason you hear more about b&w is that they advertise very heavily, to the point of market saturation,they build nice speakers & are 100% quality but you gotta remember that a company that advertises as heavily as b&w puts all the advertising dollars spent tword the price of the speaker,thats a whole lotta mark up for advertising hype,also i think there are much better sounding speakers on the market over b&w products,im a former b&w owner.

If you liked the Klipsch why are you questioning your own judgement,from my experience in audio first impressions are the most accurate of all,if you hear a speaker that sounds great right off the bat then it is great, but if you hear a model that the salesman blames the bad sound on the room or something else that is lacking then pass on that model.

Unless you have the ability to hear any other speaker your thinking about buying i'd take a big pass on the other models & stick with the Klipsch,you've heard em & liked em its a win win situation.
 
T

tomahawktim

Audioholic Intern
Think about this for a couple of moments

You definately want to enjoy your speakers. Here is how:

1. Spend x amount on the speakers of your choice.
2. Spend x amount on your wife.

Fellow, give it some thought. Don't brush this off as some dumb post.
 
Davemcc

Davemcc

Audioholic Spartan
It wouldn't hurt to listen to some $5k speakers to decide if you want to make that leap. Personally, I aspire to obtain a set of Focal/JM Labs Electras for about $5k, but I'm so happy with my current set of $1k speakers that it would be hard to make that leap.
 
J

Joe Schmoe

Audioholic Ninja
Those Bostons are som d**n fine speakers. You would have to spend a lot to noticeably improve on them.
As for your specific choice, I prefer B&W to pretty much everything else out there, at every price level. On the other hand, I find the Klipsch sound fatiguing and would never recommend them.
 
Hipnotic4

Hipnotic4

Full Audioholic
Could just be me but i really couldnt justify spending 5gz on speakers. Especially with out a demo.

Alot of people dont like Klipsch just because they are sold at BestBuy..But like someone else said before..if you like them then thats all that matters.
 
sholling

sholling

Audioholic Ninja
You’re already heavily invested in Boston Acoustics and the VR1’s are pretty good speakers. Especially with all three front speakers being so well matched. If you’re upgrading I suggest you look at the BA VR3’s for around $700-1,300/pr delivered depending on where you buy them. That moves you up to a much (to my ear) better speaker while keeping your system well matched and your wife happy.

I’ve never listened to that Polk sub so I’ll leave comment to others that have. I do know from experience with a similar sized, powered, and priced sub that moving up to a higher end sub made a huge difference in my movie listening experience. I’d take the time to email SVS with a drawing of your listing room and the adjoining spaces, complete with dimensions and let them size a sub for you. You may have plenty of sub or you may not.
 
T

trailertrash

Enthusiast
If you are in the Portsmouth NH area State Street Discount has great deals on VR3's. I think they are below $800.

John
 
ParadigmDawg

ParadigmDawg

Audioholic Overlord
Keep the BA's and get a sub. The 100watt sub you have would be straining to fill the space in a waterheater closet.
 
xboxweasel

xboxweasel

Full Audioholic
I have the Klipsch RF35's, which are equivalent to the RF82's (last generation models). When I heard them, I loved them. I bought a complete set. Like highfihoney said, stick with first impressions. They usually are never wrong. Even after changing to a set of Paradigms, I still kept the Klipsch. I recently had them hooked up PC speakers. My girlfriend still prefers them over the others I have.
 
Warpdrv

Warpdrv

Audioholic Ninja
Take your time and do some auditions to see what sounds the best to you...

I ran around listening to alot of speakers, almost 2 dozen... I was coming off an old set of Polk Audio's that I really thought sounded great, My budget was around $6K...

Listened to, just to name a few.
Klipsch, Monitor Audio, Warefedale, PSB, Boston Acoustics, Canton, Definitive Technology Martin Logan, Snell, KEF, B&W, Energy, Vandersteen, Vienna Acoustic.

There are some awesome speakers out there, but I finally settled on Paradigm Studio's for the Bang for the Buck, if you can call them that... All told I have a little less then $5K invested in just speakers.... To me they sound fantastic.

Most of those in my opinion were overpriced... I really loved the sound of some better then the Digms... and the craftsmenship, but my wallet kept me coming back to these.

Do yourself a favor and take your time, I auditioned for almost 6 months, not that you should, just so your happy with your purchase in the end.
 
B

Buckeye_Nut

Audioholic Field Marshall
Alot of people dont like Klipsch just because they are sold at BestBuy..But like someone else said before..if you like them then thats all that matters.
So you think people like Klipsch because of that??

LOL........c'mon man!!

Do you think that maybe it's just possible that Klipsch has been a highly regarded maker of loudspeakers for more than a half-century because they make a fine product?

The only klipsch speakers you'll find at most BB stores are their bottom tier 'BB-Brand' Synergy line. There is a lot more to Klipsch than their entry level product!!

I realize that in some parts of the country, you can find a very limited reference selection in Magnolia, but that's more the exception than the rule because many stores around the country have yet to add a Magnolia section.

If you're interested in auditioning any of Klipsch's higher-end lines....... the dealer search results will most likely point you towards a high-end audio shop.
 
B

Buckeye_Nut

Audioholic Field Marshall
Hi Everyone,

This is my first posting, and I am totally confused on the type of speaker to purchase. First of all there is the wife, that does't see the need for "expensive" speakers. I've been looking at the B&W's 604's and the Klipsch 82's. I personally heard the Klipsch (sounds great like a listening to a live show), but have not hear the B&W's. I heard more about the B&W's than the Klipsch, and wanted to know is there anyone out there that could help me with this disission :confused: I'm also open to other speakers out there. My budget per the wife :eek: is about $1000 - $1200. Or should I push it to the limit and get more epensive speakers >$1500:eek: . Below is my current set up...

Please Help me!!


Emotiva Ultra Theater Series
Boston Acoustics VR1's -- Fronts
Boston Acoustics VRC -- Center
Boston Acoustics DSi485 -- In-ceiling speaker
Polk 505 -- Sub
Hmmm..... I thought this post looked familiar!! This must be a repost......

For now...........Spend the $1200 on a new sub, and keep the speakers:cool:
Dont worry about a speaker upgrade until your next upgrade.
 
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