Affordable upgrade similar to Polk Monitor70?

yokken

yokken

Junior Audioholic
There are very few bookshelves that will give any usable output anywhere near that low end that you want. If you want that....you're going to need a sub or a tower. And towers still wont get that low.....not at this price. Not anywhere near this price. Don't think that just because you have a sub it's going to be loud and annoy neighbors. You can always turn a sub down. You can't turn up what you can't reproduce. I really think, given what you listen to and what you're after, you'd be MUCH better off with a bookshelf/sub combo.

I told someone this in another thread that was looking for bookshelves, if I were looking for a bookshelf setup in this price range, one of the speakers I'd look at would be the ARX A2rx-c (a pair obviously). Jon might work a deal if you buy 2 so call it $400/pair. That leaves you with about $250ish for a sub and $50ish for stands. If you can squeeze another $50 and see if EMP will do the e1010i sub for $300 then that's another option. Check your local craigslist also as you might find a decent deal. The STF-2 from HSU, NXG 500, rw-12d, bic f12, etc. Some decent performers in this area that will yield a lot better results than a $500-600 pair of towers. A helluva lot better than the monitor's you're using
Thanks much for this! Any reason to go with pair of the A2rx-c's over a pair of the A1b's? Any decent stands that you can recommend? Those Swan stands are $120 for the pair and a little spendy I think, since everyone seems to be saying stands are only around $50.

Thanks again to everyone for your help. I know I am asking to be spoon-fed suggestions, and I greatly appreciate it.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
That's sort of what I was getting at with what I was saying. You don't need a crazy sub, especially since you're after quality not "boom". A decent musical sub won't annoy your neighbors any more than a tower producing the same frequencies AND will sound better for the price IMO. When you don't want as much bass, you turn the sub off - you can't do that with a tower.

For me, you have to step up to the RTiA line before you get something decent from Polk.
 
yokken

yokken

Junior Audioholic
Awesome, thanks guys! It looks like the A2rx-c are just a liiittle too heavy for those. I'll do some more looking around. Again, thanks for all your advice.
 
yokken

yokken

Junior Audioholic
Uh oh... I just found out I'm gonna be getting a nice sizable tax return. Looking at the Sierra-1's... I'd love to get a pair of those with the NrT upgrade, but part of me feels like I should just get some A2rx-c's and a good sub, and spend the same amount as if I just got the Sierra-1's... Any thoughts?
 
ousooner2

ousooner2

Full Audioholic
Uh oh... I just found out I'm gonna be getting a nice sizable tax return. Looking at the Sierra-1's... I'd love to get a pair of those with the NrT upgrade, but part of me feels like I should just get some A2rx-c's and a good sub, and spend the same amount as if I just got the Sierra-1's... Any thoughts?
I do the latter, but that's just me. I'd rather have really good sound from 20hz-20kHz than great sound from 55/60hz-20kHz. Just me and what I'd want though.

Ask yourself if you'd listen to music/movies and MISS anything that's sub bass. If you answer yes, then option 2. If no, then option 1. It's that simple :)
 
yokken

yokken

Junior Audioholic
Well, I'd consider getting a sub for the Sierras too........... :rolleyes:
 
ousooner2

ousooner2

Full Audioholic
Oh. lol. Thought it was more of a price thing. Sierras or ARX/sub. In that case it's completely up to you. I have waaaaaay too many other hobbies that take my money so I'd use a little on each lol
 
yokken

yokken

Junior Audioholic
I ended up getting a pair of the A2rx-c's after calling TAI and talking to Jon. Really nice and helpful guy. I got some Swan D-Stands as well since the market for 24" stands seems to consist of cheap wood ones (Sanus) or really expensive ones. Gonna wait to hear them and see what is lacking in bass response so I can decide whether I want a sealed or ported subwoofer. I love the ported sound and will probably get one, but I'll wait and see. But waiting is going to be hard... I'm really looking forward to them! Hopefully FedEx ground gets them here by Friday... I doubt it, but a guy can dream. Anyone know where TAI ships from?
 
yokken

yokken

Junior Audioholic
Dang!!! Was hoping it'd be in Illinois or something. Florida to Minnesota is gonna take a while :(
 
crossedover

crossedover

Audioholic Chief
hopefully weather wont come into play. enjoy the new speakers :)
 
yokken

yokken

Junior Audioholic
Thank you sir, I think I will... I almost bought a third one as a legitimate center channel, but then I'd have to get a stand for that since my TV isn't wall-mounted... I don't really want to mount it since I'm in an apartment, but maybe if I can talk my building maintenance people into mounting it for me, I could get another one... :D
 
crossedover

crossedover

Audioholic Chief
Are we sure it is Florida and not Reno, NV?
I knew Jon was in florida at one point, but hadnt spoken to him in 3 years: from the website "We ship from Northern Nevada USA and have a B-stock and return location in the eastern US" guess he is still doing some business down here but shipments from Nevada, my bad :(
 
ousooner2

ousooner2

Full Audioholic
I should get some sort of cut of EMP and ARX sales. Geez! Selling speakers on a few forums like nobodies business!! :D
 
yokken

yokken

Junior Audioholic
So I canceled my order for the A2rx-c's, almost pulled the trigger on some Sierra-2's, decided that they're just too much money at the moment, called Jon, talked for half an hour about audio, technical difference between the A2rx-c's, A3rx-c's, and A5s, and ended up buying a pair of A3rx-c's. He made me very confident in my purchase. I was unaware that the top woofer is crossed over differently from the bottom woofer, giving it more of the midrange duty. The A2rx-c has the same crossover for both woofers. I probably won't have them until next Wednesday, given the winter conditions and ground shipping ($80 :() but I am still very excited. Another big thanks to Jon, and thanks to everyone who gave their advice!
 
yokken

yokken

Junior Audioholic
The A3rx-c's shipped today, should be here on Tuesday! I'll be working from home and running them all day to give them time to break in before I do some more critical listening after I'm done working. I'm prooobably going to want a subwoofer, and I was thinking the SVS SB-1000 or the new SB-2000. I won't know how satisfied I'll be with the Arx's bass response until I get a chance to hear them, but I figured I'd get some input now so I know what to get if I decide I want to go with one. I posted a thread here. I'd appreciate any feedback you guys have on those subwoofers! It seems to be a slightly less trafficked forum, so I figured I'd post the link here. Sorry if that's a no-no.
 
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