Best Floorstanding Speakers < $1,000?

[Melee]

I am looking to slowly build a system for my bedroom. It is 13x13x7. I do not have access to speakers to demo them as I live in a small area and the only thing near me is a small Best Buy and the only things they carry are the cheaper Klipsch and Polk's. The only speakers I have heard are the Klipsch Icon's, Polk TSi's, and I have owned a system of Polk Monitor 70's + Polk Monitor 40's + Polk CS2. I did not like the Klipsch at all as they were harsh and fatiguing to my ears. The Polk TSi's were too bright for my taste. The Polk Monitor's were decent but they were not detailed enough nor did they have a "full" enough sound. It would be great if you guys could compare the other options to these as they're the only speakers I have any experience with. My local CL community is basically non-existent and I would rather buy new for the ability to return them if I don't like them as well as warranties.

After living with my Polk Monitor's for a few weeks and being satisfied but not impressed (especially because one Monitor 70 arrived damaged and my CS2 was defective...) the upgrade bug has already bit me and I'm going to build a NICE 2.0 Setup for now and I'll upgrade as the money comes along IF IT IS GOING TO BE WORTH IT. What I mean is, I only want to do this if you guys truly think it is going to make a HUGE difference when compared with my Polk's.

I am looking to spend $1,000 or less on a combination of either just Floorstanding Speakers, Floorstanding Speakers + Center, or Floorstanding Speakers + Sub.

Musicality is my #1 Priority. I am looking for speakers with a wonderfully detailed, warm, full sound. They don't have to cost $1,000, I want the best "bang for my buck" I can get anywhere between $500 to $1,000. I do not like harsh/aggressive speakers such as Klipsch or speakers that are overly bright as some of the Polk's.

I am most likely going to go with a Discontinued Line of Audiophile Speakers as they are going to be by far the best quality I can find new.

I need those of you who have heard both to compare them to the Monitor's if you can (i.e. if they are brighter, more harsh, warmer, more detailed, etc.) and to let me know if it's a worthwhile upgrade, meaning am I going to be glad that I opted to go from a cheaper surround system to a more expensive 2.0 or 2.1 system.

This is all I'm going to spend on the Towers. I don't plan on upgrading or adding to the budget as this is more than enough already. I just love listening to music and I want the best speakers possible for that regard that are also excellent for Movies and Games.

The Subwoofer isn't a big deal since I live in an apartment and can't use one much, anyways. However, it's definitely not a bad thing if I can fit one into the budget.

These are my top choices so far as they're not that expensive and leave me quite a bit of room in my budget. What are the other options to consider in this price range for my needs and will they be worth it when compared?

1) Energy RC-50's x2 + Energy RC-LCR = ~ $800

2) Energy RC-50's x2 + $400-$500 Sub = ~ $900-$1,000

3) Energy RC-50's x2 + Energy RC-R's x2 (If I can find these) = ~ $900

What do you guys think?

Thanks for the help!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I never heard Energy RC line, but it's regarded very highly.
I'm curious where did you get your prices from?
RC-LCR costs 400 last time I checked and RC-50- $270 each
However RC-30 is $200 each.
I think your best bet would be RC-LCR + RC-30 or RC-50 depends if you want to max your budget
The front three speakers are most important to get now while they are still available - you can mix and match surrounds later and they much less important for HT.

 

[GranteedEV]

I heard a pair of $1800 energies one time, and i liked the balance of what I was hearing, but the setup they had at future shop was so incompetent I couldn't even connect my Portable FLAC player to it to listen to some demo material. I don't walk around with an aux-to-RCA converter cables.

I'll throw out some suggestions though:

Infinity Primus P363
EMP Tek e55ti
Magnepan MMG
SVS STS-02

And if you've considered building them yourself... then there's many speakers out there which compete with $3-8+k speakers.... all for under 800-1k spent.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I second the Infinity P363...

...unless you can grab a great deal on the P362 somewhere:

http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Primus-P362-Floor-Individually/dp/B000LKC372/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1298654809&sr=8-1

 

[dem beats]

I own the evergy RC-50 set up minus the sub.

Are the speakers you are referancing the RC line up currently in best buy and on the energy website? I beleive they are in fact a different speaker than the old energy RC line up. What I heard at best buy didn't have as much oomph as what I have in my basement. Then again best buy is much larger than my home.

If you are talking about the old style, I absolutely love them. They sound great without being extremely harsh like a lot of the speakers I looked at.

 

[dem beats]

These are what I own and love. Not nearly as fancy as my martin logans but amazing speakers that have done me well for 5+ years.

 

[Pyrrho]

I heard a pair of $1800 energies one time, and i liked the balance of what I was hearing, but the setup they had at future shop was so incompetent I couldn't even connect my Portable FLAC player to it to listen to some demo material. I don't walk around with an aux-to-RCA converter cables.

I'll throw out some suggestions though:

Infinity Primus P363
EMP Tek e55ti
Magnepan MMG
SVS STS-02

And if you've considered building them yourself... then there's many speakers out there which compete with $3-8+k speakers.... all for under 800-1k spent.

I would go with the Magnepan MMG at that price point. But, of course, what is best for someone depends upon their personal preferences.

 

[Melee]

Thanks for all of the replies!

On the pricing, I can snag the RC-50's for $540 and I will be waiting until 5stardeals has another of the $299 sales on the RC-LCR which will put me around $840 Shipped for all 3.

@ Infinity Primus I feel like they will be much like my Polk's. Nice speakers for the price but will leave me wanting. Would I be wrong in assuming that? I just can't imagine them comparing to the RC's or more expensive speakers.

@ SVS STS-02 I actually looked at them because they have nice subs but these didn't really tickle my fancy. It also seems like they are quite new in the "non-sub" speaker category so that makes me a little hesitant. Have you heard them before?

@ Magnapan's they are extremely unique. lol I tried to find some for sale, but I haven't been able to. Do you guys know anywhere that sells them and what kind of sound do they have? (i.e. Harsh/forward like Klipsch, bright like Polk, warm/neutral like Energy...etc.)

@ EMP Tek I looked at those earlier and they are BEAUTIFUL speakers. I love the Red Burl color. However, they have 6-ohm impedence (IIRC) and lower sensitivity than some of the others I've looked at which made me a bit nervous. I've read several reviews from people where they weren't happy with the way they sound. I'm not sure on those, though.

dem_beats, I believe you heard the CF Series that Energy currently has in production. From what I have read and from my friend (who lives in Canada now and I am in Virginia lol) who owns both the RC-50's and CF-70's, the RC's are FAR higher quality and better sounding than the CF's. I'm 99% sure that Best Buy only carries the CF's now so I would say that's why you noticed the difference.

Your RC-50's are gorgeous. I LOVE the Rosenut finish on them. I wish they were still available but now you can only find them in Black Ashe. How do they compare in sound to your Martin Logan's? I know those are more expensive speakers but since the RC's did use to be expensive audiophile level speakers, I would hope the can hold their own.

*EDIT* @ Granteed, with DIY floorstanding speakers, do they come with the cabinet or would I have to build that myself? If I simply just have to put them together then I'll definitely consider it. However, if I have to build the cabinet and such then I'd rather not. lol I don't have any power tools nor experience with woodwork.

 

[GranteedEV]

@ Infinity Primus I feel like they will be much like my Polk's. Nice speakers for the price but will leave me wanting. Would I be wrong in assuming that? I just can't imagine them comparing to the RC's or more expensive speakers.

They're very good. Because they're designed with a focus on the yields of harman research, they're not the type of speakers dependant on room acoustics/treatments. like the energies, I've never heard them with MY material but I've heard them regardless and they're very nice speakers.

@ SVS STS-02 I actually looked at them because they have nice subs but these didn't really tickle my fancy. It also seems like they are quite new in the "non-sub" speaker category so that makes me a little hesitant. Have you heard them before?

SVS, being new at the speaker design game, decided to hire a guy who wasn't. Their speakers are designed by Phil Bamberg.

http://www.bambergaudio.com/

@ Magnapan's they are extremely unique. lol I tried to find some for sale, but I haven't been able to. Do you guys know anywhere that sells them and what kind of sound do they have? (i.e. Harsh/forward like Klipsch, bright like Polk, warm/neutral like Energy...etc.)

The MMGs are only roughly $600 brand new from their website....very neutral but being planar they would be more placement sensitive.

@ EMP Tek I looked at those earlier and they are BEAUTIFUL speakers. I love the Red Burl color. However, they have 6-ohm impedence (IIRC) and lower sensitivity than some of the others I've looked at which made me a bit nervous. I've read several reviews from people where they weren't happy with the way they sound. I'm not sure on those,
hough.

Well I own them and i'm very happy with the way they sound. Much more laid back than a pair of polks or paradigms, with sweet dynamics. Have you read Gene's review of them? My thoughts mostly mimic his.

And they're rather averagely sensitive too. I think something like 88db/w/m which is plenty. I'm driving them off a 100wpc marantz receiver and it was more than I needed in a rather large room. I could probably do well adding another 100 watts but that's mostly because i'm greedy, not because the speakers ask for it.

 

[its phillip]

The rosenut finish on the RCs is fantastic, but they still look pretty good in black ash

 

[GranteedEV]

*EDIT* @ Granteed, with DIY floorstanding speakers, do they come with the cabinet or would I have to build that myself? If I simply just have to put them together then I'll definitely consider it. However, if I have to build the cabinet and such then I'd rather not. lol I don't have any power tools nor experience with woodwork.

How about an amazing sounding pipe speaker?:

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/images/photos/pluto-p2.jpg

IIRC, the guys at DIYAudio figured out digital transfer functions for it so you could replicate the crossover with a miniDSP... however bi-or-tri-amping would be necessary as it is NOT a passive speaker.

There's a few speakers out there you could put in a pre-constructed box. Most of them are bookshelves though, not towers. The only other kit I can think of would be this pricy (but very high end) one:

http://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=8671

 

[dem beats]

RC-50 vs the purity is a cruel unfair match.

That said I'll tell you how they are better than the logans.

way less in cost, and they aren't as cruel to compressed music. Also, the RC-50's to me sounded much much better than anything from equally priced and even slightly more expencive speakers. The Logans didn't slaughter similar priced speakers in every way but they do exactly what I like.

RC-50's are a bit mid bass biased, which I like. The tweeter isn't as harsh as many similarly priced rigs. I also liked how well they imaged.

They are similar to the ML's in one way and that's that they really need a lot of breathing room. They push a lot of air out of those back ports. The nice thing is they don't make that chuffing noise. I think I did the most A/B with moniter audio speakers, and the front port would make this port noise if pushed into the low hz. The only other speakers that I spent lots of time listening to were several B&W speakers that ultimately got ruled out because there was more negotiating room on the price of the energy line up and they ended up being about 40% less that the B&W's that I liked more.

 

[Melee]

@ Grant, out of all of them, which would you recommend for my taste and needs?

I actually looked for Gene's review FOREVER this morning. lol I found the original thread on here from when the E55ti's were on pre-order before their release and he said he was going to do a thorough review, but I could never find it.

@ Phillip, those do look extremely nice. ^_^ The Rosenut is beautiful, but the Black is sexy as well. They would also match my furniture far better as basically everything in here is Black w/ White walls.

 

[GranteedEV]

@ Grant, out of all of them, which would you recommend for my taste and needs?

Any of em . Ideally pick one, and take full advantage of the audition period with the internet direct stuff. Even the infinity should have some sort of 30-day return period. Or buy all five and compare them, staggered side by side in wide room. It's insane, yes, but could get you the best speaker you want, unexpectedly.


Good speakers with good on and off-axis response have a unique way of not overemphasizing a frequency range. Of course the more subtle details are what they are and you'd have to listen to them yourself. What you won't say is that they're too bright or too warm or what-have-you, unless your room acoustics are really bad (too reflective or too absorbsive). I would presume the MMGs to be a bit more room sensitive than the other three I recommended, and I can't comment too much on the Energies.

I will say that I would bet none of the other speakers you're looking at can get as loud, as cleanly, as mine

If I had to knock the EMP Teks for anything, I would say they could use a tad bit more BSC. I understand why they don't have the full BSC (else they would sound boomy near walls), but when I pull them a good 3-4 feet away from the wall, the auto-setup definitely boosts below 500hz by a solid 2db or so.

And like the review said, crossing them to a sub around 60 or 80hz is going to get you that last octave or so of bass. You can hear it mostly on hard drum. I don't consider it a deal breaker. I would argue that no commercial speaker below 3k should attempt to reproduce the full audible range. Focus on what we hear best... quality not quantity.

I actually looked for Gene's review FOREVER this morning. lol I found the original thread on here from when the E55ti's were on pre-order before their release and he said he was going to do a thorough review, but I could never find it.

It's only the third result for "e55ti review" on google

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/floorstanding/emptek-e55ti

 

[dem beats]

Phillip you have an aquos TV don't you?

That black ash on yours is much better than what I thought. They use cheeper veneer now I think.


To the op, I will also say the energy speakers I have seam to be a bit power hungry when doing some loud dynamic 5.1 action. and remember to let 'em have some room.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

@ Infinity Primus I feel like they will be much like my Polk's. Nice speakers for the price but will leave me wanting. Would I be wrong in assuming that? I just can't imagine them comparing to the RC's or more expensive speakers.

You need to go out there and audition all the expensive speakers.

The Infinity P363 may not look as sexy as the other expensive speakers, but they perform as well as many of them.

I think most of us believe that good-sounding speakers will measure very well both on-axis and off-axis.

If you look at the Stereophile measurement of the P360s, you will see that the they measure very well both on-axis and off-axis. In fact, the Infinity P360s' off-axis measurement looks even BETTER than the B&W 802D!!!

Of course, realizing how much the B&W 802Ds cost and how good they look and how well they are built will make you hear things differently.

The P363 goes down to 38Hz cleanly in most rooms, and the midrange and treble sound clear and smooth to my ears, even after I've auditioned the B&W 800D, Revel Salon 2, Linkwitz Orion, Dali Euphonia MS5, Martin Logan Vantage, & RBH T3R/P.

I'm not saying they are equals. Not at all. For one thing, some of these speakers have more bass. But I'm saying you would have to spend a lot more money than $1K to guarantee better sounding speakers than the P363.

I recently auditioned the $2K PSB Imagine T towers at a local dealer. They sounded pretty good, but IMO they don't sound any better than the P362.

Of course, there are other factors to consider, like aesthetics, prestige, wife-acceptable-factor, etc.

That is just my opinion.

 

[its phillip]

Phillip you have an aquos TV don't you?

That black ash on yours is much better than what I thought. They use cheeper veneer now I think.


To the op, I will also say the energy speakers I have seam to be a bit power hungry when doing some loud dynamic 5.1 action. and remember to let 'em have some room.

Yes, I have a LC-46D85U. The Energy RC line has been discontinued for some time now which is why great deals can be found on them. The new CF line is not nearly as nice (from what I've read).

 

[billy p]

You need to go out there and audition all the expensive speakers.

The Infinity P363 may not look as sexy as the other expensive speakers, but they perform as well as many of them.

I think most of us believe that good-sounding speakers will measure very well both on-axis and off-axis.

If you look at the Stereophile measurement of the P360s, you will see that the they measure very well both on-axis and off-axis. In fact, the Infinity P360s' off-axis measurement looks even BETTER than the B&W 802D!!!

Of course, realizing how much the B&W 802Ds cost and how good they look and how well they are built will make you hear things differently.

The P363 goes down to 38Hz cleanly in most rooms, and the midrange and treble sound clear and smooth to my ears, even after I've auditioned the B&W 800D, Revel Salon 2, Linkwitz Orion, Dali Euphonia MS5, Martin Logan Vantage, & RBH T3R/P.

I'm not saying they are equals. Not at all. For one thing, some of these speakers have more bass. But I'm saying you would have to spend a lot more money than $1K to guarantee better sounding speakers than the P363.

I recently auditioned the $2K PSB Imagine T towers at a local dealer. They sounded pretty good, but IMO they don't sound any better than the P362.

Of course, there are other factors to consider, like aesthetics, prestige, wife-acceptable-factor, etc.

That is just my opinion.

Sure doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy about auditioning the Imagine T's... as I had planned. I've heard the Infinity's on a few occassion here locally at future shop....with that said...maybe aesthetics,prestige and/or cost along with waf play a larger role in our decision, than we think. Maybe I'll need to delve into DIY research and come up with another plan or something?

 

[GranteedEV]

Sure doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy about auditioning the Imagine T's... as I had planned. I've heard the Infinity's on a few occassion here locally at future shop....with that said...maybe aesthetics,prestige and/or cost along with waf play a larger role in our decision, than we think. Maybe I'll need to delve into DIY research and come up with another plan or something?

I wonder if Funky Waves could make a box for a set of Statements

 

[dem beats]

I am a HUGE fan of the energy center FWIW.

I think I would replace all my HT speakers for those if I had the chance. It's absolutely amazing, to me, at putting the human voice forward. I have always had it up a couple DB though in the past. I just reset up and calibrated my room however, and I haven't had the urge to crank it so far.

Acudef is right though, audition and do a lot of A/B.