aperion 6b bookshelves vs infinity p362 floors

[customstevo]

I have a 200$ pioneer vsx-518 receiver, and worthless 1980 box floor speakers. The receiver brochure says it does 95 watts continuous at 8 ohms.

Sound quality is my main inquiry because I can fit both. I just need advice on the better buy. Looks like the aperions are going to be about 150 bucks more.

The living room in our college apartment is a little under 20ft by 20ft.

Most of the music is hip-hop, I already have a nice 10" velodyne subwoofer.

budget is definatley less than 500, so the aperions would be a big investment for me. I don't really have any future plans for a system right now all I care about is 2.1 stereo sound.

heres the aperions:
http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-6B-Bookshelf-Speaker,111,20,257.aspx

and the infinity's:
http://www.infinitysystems.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=P362BK&ser=PRI&Language=ENG&Region=USA&Country=CA

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Alex2507]

Most of the music is hip-hop.

No, Stevo. None of the music is hip-hop. The hip-hop is best described as some kind of racket.

Based on speaker sensitivity I would get the Infinities. They will sound much louder than the Aperions. Plus the Aperions are much to beautiful for the hippity hoppity.

 

[customstevo]

how about SQ, my receiver is going to get ditched for a better one with pre outs.

Plus im in an apartment so it doesn't have to be obnoxiously loud at this point.

the small footprint is a plus, but I have room

 

[lsiberian]

how about SQ, my receiver is going to get ditched for a better one with pre outs.

Plus im in an apartment so it doesn't have to be obnoxiously loud at this point.

the small footprint is a plus, but I have room

Hip hop folks might prefer MTX stuff. It's tuned to be boomy for that crowd. So you might take a look.

 

[customstevo]

uhhhh yeahh okayy. cuz I have a velodyne woofer already, if you didnt read I asked about SQ, and an apartment with neighbors and not needing it to be obnociously loud. I wouldn't put mtx in my car, thanks for the post though.

 

[customstevo]

I don't need any sarcastic input, I am posting on here because I have been doing research on speakers, and want to get feedback and opinions from people who know more about them than me before I spend 500 dollars on something I did not gather enough information about.

I am in college, and getting decent speakers in my room for this amount of money is a big decision for me. Im obviously concerned with quality reguardless of what type of music is played by me and my roomates. I obviously listen to other stuff but the majority is going to be rap and other radio jams.

Thanks for any helpful input anyone has that can accept the fact that people have different tastes.

I am also open to check out other sets of speakers but these are two that I have narrowed down to among the hundreds out there.

 

[Nugu]

Get the 362s, they have the best reputation for being the best floor standers for the $ out there.

 

[sholling]

I haven't heard the Aperions but I have heard the Infinities and they are decent speakers. They'll still need the help of a subwoofer but they're an investment that should last you for many years.

Oh and yes you've taken some good natured ribbing about hip-hop. Don't worry about the ribbing, or any opinions on your music - those Infinities will play the crap out of anything from a mellow Acoustic Alchemy to a rockin ZZ Top and everything in between just fine. But speakers are subjective so I do suggest that you grab a few of your favorite CDs and audition them for yourself.

 

[just listening]

I've heard both models, the fact is the 362's are bottom-end budget speakers designed to play fairly loud but will lack any true resolution. They are popular on this forum because they are dirt cheap.

The Aperion 6B are a far better sounding speaker, with MUCH better resolution. Their depth and detail will make mince-meat out of the 362's. However, they are just 84db efficient and are not designed to be a part of Friday afternoon dorm stereo wars. Secondly, your Pioneer receiver is not a solid match, it doesn't have the balls to accurately drive the 6B's.

In all do honesty, since you're a college student, whatever speakers you get are going to be beaten up, between drunkards, normal dorm life, and moving. Do yourself a favor, either search Craigslist for a pair of vintage Cerwin Vegas, Polk 10b's, or something similar. Or, buy the 362's and let them get mangled. When you want to hear quality sound, get yourself a good set of headphones and amp.

 

[PENG]

The guy obviously is serious about sound quality. The P362 sounds quite neutral and I think it will be tough to find speakers in the <$1,000/pair that can do better.

 

[customstevo]

yeah the only reason i am hesitant to buy old gear, is because thats what i did last time, granted i had no idea what I was buying, and I dont want to get another pair im going to have to upgrade from again when i get a better receiver.

so the receiver wont push the aperions much huh? Im open to all suggestions, the p32's look like a pretty good option, but I do agree with them being college beater speakers,

I dont know what to do I because I need speakers for my living room, these ones I have now sound worse than my logitech thx 2.1 computer speakers.

Again I am all set with the sub which is the heart of my system unfortunatley right now.

 

[Matt34]

yeah the only reason i am hesitant to buy old gear, is because thats what i did last time, granted i had no idea what I was buying, and I dont want to get another pair im going to have to upgrade from again when i get a better receiver.

so the receiver wont push the aperions much huh? Im open to all suggestions, the p32's look like a pretty good option, but I do agree with them being college beater speakers,

I dont know what to do I because I need speakers for my living room, these ones I have now sound worse than my logitech thx 2.1 computer speakers.

Again I am all set with the sub which is the heart of my system unfortunatley right now.

The P362 are much more than "college beater speaker" and have the measurements to back it up regardless of anyone's subjective opinion or the relative cheap asking price.

http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/605infinity/index3.html

 

[just listening]

i don't want to derail this thread, but facts are facts, the P362 is a budget speaker with limited resolution. I bet Dr. O'Toole would admit to that fact. Pull out the x-over and take a good look at it, I'll bet it's pretty basic stuff, stable but basic. At $300-400 a pair the 362's are a fine value, no question. But, measurements tell only the first half of the story, one's ears will take it from there.

The OP is going to living dorm life, followed by apt living. He'll be moving back and forth from home to school. Because space in the dorm room will be at a premium and the OP has a subwoofer, if he chooses to go new, the Primus 162 bookshelf speakers would be a much wiser decision. The 162's are easy to place and since they are front ported they will perform better on a shelf or against a wall.

Now, if the OP wants to kick it up a notch from there with bookshelves the Elemental Designs W6-6T6 would be a nice possibility, and once again they are front ported.

With the 162's that would give him even more $$ to treat himself to a high quality headphone amp and cans where he'll get to experience truer higher quality sound. That way when he is done with school he'll have a better idea what high fidelity is all about and build a system around something special like the Salk Song Towers or Magnepan 1.7's.

 

[shadyJ]

I don't think the Primus speakers are that lacking in resolution as much as you say. I do have some fairly decent cans (Denon AH-D2000) and the Infinity's are not enormously far behind them in articulation. But cans will always have the edge over speakers with respect to detail because your ears are shielded from outside noise. Also, the p362's have a supposedly very good mid-range driver which is missing in the p162's.

 

[AJinFLA]

i don't want to derail this thread, but facts are facts, the P362 is a budget speaker with limited resolution.

So something is a "fact"...because you said so?
If you claim to have seen a ghost or heard Santa Claus on your roof, these would be "facts" also??

I bet Dr. O'Toole would admit to that fact. Pull out the x-over and take a good look at it, I'll bet it's pretty basic stuff, stable but basic.

Well here's a fact. It's Dr. Floyd Toole, not "O'Toole" (confusing him with yourself perhaps?).
He would admit to no such "fact", that exists only in your mind.
And only a technically illiterate internet user is going to look at a physically constructed electrical filter and call it "stable but basic" without any idea of it's transfer function characteristics.
But at least now we know where the purely psychogenic lack of "resolution" comes from.

 

[tonedeaf]

I own em,and I like em.You won't be sorry you bought.(362's)
Perfect speaker for your needs.
You will be hard pressed to find better at the price point.
Good luck,enjoy.
P.S. Be careful they are top heavy,I won't tell you how I found out

 

[just listening]

So something is a "fact"...because you said so?
If you claim to have seen a ghost or heard Santa Claus on your roof, these would be "facts" also??



Well here's a fact. It's Dr. Floyd Toole, not "O'Toole" (confusing him with yourself perhaps?).
He would admit to no such "fact", that exists only in your mind.
And only a technically illiterate internet user is going to look at a physically constructed electrical filter and call it "stable but basic" without any idea of it's transfer function characteristics.
But at least now we know where the purely psychogenic lack of "resolution" comes from.

You crack me up with your pathetic insult, do you really think that a pair speakers selling online right now for $400 a pair new has terrific resolution. Remind me to tell Dr. Toole (I admit to misspelling) that Harman Int'l should cease selling their Revel line because guess what, the Primus 362 at $400 is the end all, be all of speakers.

Every speaker built in the budget arena has significant limitations, simply because the speakers are designed to sell at a certain price point that honestly forces the manufacturer to purchase parts that are of lesser quality than their next series up.

The graphs from Stereophile show a rather consistent/stable line across the frequency range for the P362. However, any person who has been around audio long enough knows that measurements cannot tell everything. You can live and die with graphs and measurements all you want but I'll use them as a baseline, then let my ears go from there. If you doubt human hearing then you reject the Dr. Toole's ultimate goal of making sonically pleasing speakers to the human ear, not a microphone and software.

Nelson Pass said it best "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not"

 

[AJinFLA]

You crack me up with your pathetic insult, do you really think that a pair speakers selling online right now for $400 a pair new has terrific resolution.

The only thing pathetic is the education system that created your ilk. Technically illiteracy inducing commentary on electro-acoustics as if it were magic and superstition. Yes, a $400 pr can and does have your wildly variable, self defined, meaningless subjective "terrific resolution", to your ilk. You just have to be told it costs $4k and that is exactly what you will hear.

Remind me to tell Dr. Toole (I admit to misspelling) that Harman Int'l should cease selling their Revel line because guess what, the Primus 362 at $400 is the end all, be all of speakers

Not one person here claimed it as such, except the inevitable strawman you must create with your subjectivist intellect.

The graphs from Stereophile show a rather consistent/stable line across the frequency range for the P362. However, any person who has been around audio long enough knows that measurements cannot tell everything. You can live and die with graphs and measurements all you want but I'll use them as a baseline, then let my ears go from there.

When one is technically illiterate (aka "subjectivist"), data is uselessly incomprehensible and one must rely solely on subjectivism by necessity, not choice. Measurements tells plenty, if one is technically literate.
Subjectivist blather tells us nothing, except the psychogenic maladies that plague the individual, even when presented as some unerring representation of physical reality, like real data.

 

[customstevo]

but the aperions are so beautiful, do you really think I would be dissapointed running them for off of a 90 watt rms receiver, I man I don't plan on having a huge room any time soon, and if I did I would certainly beef up the power, I don't want to piss royally piss off my neighbors,

i would rather have a little higher quality at lower volume then ultra sensitive screamers as at least infinity's car audio components are rather bright

I really appreciate the feedback, minus the arguing, I really like getting the free unbiased information from you guys on here because I can't ask a shop and nobody else knows audio like people on here

so feel free to hit me up with some suggestions for what you would do in my shoes with like 300-500 bucks and coming out of college. I definatley will take anyfeedback I can im up to other suggestions

thx agin

 

[customstevo]

Yeah I obviously want cans but that's a can im not gonna open right now