Best new pair of bookshelfs $250 shipped can buy

[WmAx]

That point being raised, how bad is it really (if either due to budget or space restrictions) to have one sub placed within a couple feet of one of your two stereo speakers on a two channel system? I think a lot of people are in that situation and have to go with just one sub for any of a variety of reasons. For a HT I wouldn't worry as much about having it near the front stereo speakers but for a music system if you can get it close I would think for most people it's still going to give a pretty good integration.

How well a single sub will work depends greatly on the xover frequency and crossover rate/slope. 50Hz or under with a minimum 4th order slope and a single subwoofer will integrate fine in most cases. 80Hz? Not likely. And 80Hz is the general range that many bookshelf speakers should be crossed to minimize moderate to higher SPL distortion and substantially increase SQ in moderate to higher SPL situations as a result.

-Chris

 

[voltainthesky]

Do you think the price of the KEF iQ3's will come down at all since the iQ30's were just recently released? They have the exact same specs, except the xover for the iQ30 is 2.5 and the xover for the iQ3's is 2.8, same weight and everything else tho.

 

[mazersteven]

Do you think the price of the KEF iQ3's will come down at all since the iQ30's were just recently released? They have the exact same specs, except the xover for the iQ30 is 2.5 and the xover for the iQ3's is 2.8, same weight and everything else tho.

Have you gone out, and auditioned them yet? What do you care what the Crossover Frequency is?

 

[voltainthesky]

I was just stating a fact... I never said I cared what the cross over frequency is. What I did say was that the iQ3 and iQ30's are identical in every way, except for the crossover.

I've already said it at least twice in this thead, but I'll say it again, I absolutely, in no way, can NOT audition any of the speakers I am interested in.

And I'd appreciate if you don't manipulate my posts and make them sound like I was saying something that I wasn't.

For instance, you quoted me saying this:

I'm pretty much deciding a

higher sensitivity

Out of this sentence:

I'm pretty much deciding between the Infinity Primus
P162 and the KEF's at this point... the infinity has a higher sensitivity at 90db compared to the 89 i believe on the KEF's... so not much of a different, but are the infinity's a good choice?

and then you had this to say:

I hope this is not how you are choosing speakers, because of their sensitivity.

Now, all I was doing in my post was comparing the sensitivity between the 2 speakers I am interested in, and I even said not much of a difference... so why would this seem like I was choosing the speaker with the highest sensitivity? I've been leaning towards the KEF's this whole time and they are the ones with slightly less sensitivity.

 

[poutanen]

***big snip*** I've been leaning towards the KEF's this whole time and they are the ones with slightly less sensitivity.

If you want speakers with a high sensitivity, why not audition the HSU's??? Oh man I'm a funny guy!

Seriously now, has anyone other than stereomojo.com done a review of the HSU's? I'm ready to pull the trigger on a full set of the new HB-1 MK2's. If no-one has a review by the time I buy, I'll make sure I do a good review. Unfortunately almost every variable is different from my old setup. Different room, no pro-amps, and it's been 2 months since I've heard my system!!! At this point even bose would sound good...

 

[mazersteven]

And I'd appreciate if you don't manipulate my posts and make them sound like I was saying something that I wasn't.

No problem. I'm sorry if you think I'm trying to manipulate your posts, which I am not. Just trying to figure out why your getting caught up in those specifications.

O well. I have given you solid speaker recommendation for your budget. I'm out of this thread. Good Luck in your speaker search.

 

[Sheep]

I was comparing the sensitivity between the KEF and the Infinity. The Infinity is only 1db higher, so I doubt I'd be able to hear a difference. At this point, I think I'm going with the KEF's. In the future I can get a iQ2 or iQ6 center, and iQ1 rears... now I just need a sub.

You're making a mistake if you buy speakers based on sensitivity. Use paramters like Weight, Frequency Response, Impedance, build quality, rather then sensitivity. All that will tell you is how much wattage you'll need, not how it will sound (BTW, 1 dB difference is not detectable).

SheepStar

 

[Alex2507]

My monkey wants somebody to manipulate his post.
You don't even have to buy him dinner.

 

[voltainthesky]

Just so were clear- No one is buying speakers based on sensitivity in this thread, at least no posts I have read have indicated this.

 

[bandphan]

My monkey wants somebody to manipulate his package.
You do have to buy him dinner before you spank him.

done

 

[soundhound]

I'm also curious about the Energy C-200. Somebody claimed on another forum that it replaced the more expensive and discontinued C-3. To me, they appear to be pretty different speakers. If they do truly replace the C-3, then they are a steal on Amazon.com for $150. Sounds to good to be true.

They're not the same as the C-3. I think they were designed differently from the ground up. Most people seem to think they're inferior to the earlier "connoisseur" (C-) series. I've never heard them, but I own C-3s, and they are a fairly capable speaker, though very flat/neutral. Based on what I've read, I wouldn't get c-200s, though.

If it were me, I would try to get a pair of used paradigm atoms v.2 or v.3, or maybe titans if you want a litte more bass boost from the bookshelfs. I think the atoms are a better speaker than the titans, so I would go for those. Monitor audio that you mentioned are really nice speakers, but I think they might be more "flat" than you would like for your style. I agree with what the guy told you from a few pages back about getting kefs over the monitors. If that's out of your budget, I go back to recommending paradigm -- lots of bang for the buck, nice midranges, not too bright, and they sound really good with rock. With a capable sub, you can rock pretty hard with either atoms or titans.

 

[Sheep]

Just so were clear- No one is buying speakers based on sensitivity in this thread, at least no posts I have read have indicated this.

You didn't give me negative rep for my previous post did you? From what I quoted, that is exactly what it sounded like.

SheepStar

 

[voltainthesky]

No I didn't give you a negative rep, but I'm curious as to how it sounds like I was getting a speaker based on sensitivity. If I was, wouldn't I lean towards the Infinity since they have a higher sensitivity instead of leaning towards the KEFs? All I was doing was comparing sensitivity between the two, and I showed that there wasn't much of a difference.

 

[ChunkyDark]

Consumer reports recently rated some speakers and the Infinity Primus P162 came out of top. Those would be in your budget but if your patient you can get them much cheaper on harman kardon's ebay store.
Sorry to re-rail the thread

 

[bandphan]

Consumer reports recently rated some speakers

and some cars, washers, razors, baby stollers, nail clippers, shoe laces, soap, talc, socks, glue, tvs, clock radios, pickles... Dont take to much stock in a company that has to write negative reviews to stick around, the opposite of sterophile which has to keep everything flat to positive for adv dollars

 

[ChunkyDark]

and some cars, washers, razors, baby stollers, nail clippers, shoe laces, soap, talc, socks, glue, tvs, clock radios, pickles... Dont take to much stock in a company that has to write negative reviews to stick around, the opposite of sterophile which has to keep everything flat to positive for adv dollars

Here is their testing procedure for speakers:
"Sound quality was determined by a combination of judgments of a trained panel listening to each speaker in our standard room, and lab measurements taken in our anechoic chamber and other large spaces. The displayed score is out of a total of 100 points."

They use a lot of outside labs for testing things that require specific knowledge they don't have. Sometime this gets them into trouble like any sub-contractor, but through the years I've agreed with their finding more often than not.

They only tested half dozen speakers this time around so it wasn't a huge shoot-out, but since the OP was leaning toward them I thought it might be of interest to mention it.

 

[3db]

Here is their testing procedure for speakers:
"Sound quality was determined by a combination of judgments of a trained panel listening to each speaker in our standard room, and lab measurements taken in our anechoic chamber and other large spaces. The displayed score is out of a total of 100 points."

They use a lot of outside labs for testing things that require specific knowledge they don't have. Sometime this gets them into trouble like any sub-contractor, but through the years I've agreed with their finding more often than not.

Not to get picky ..but sound quality in a standard room? What is a standard room? lab measurements taken in other large spaces? what kind of large spaces..and what 3rdparty are they referring too?

I'm very skeptical of CR for Home Theater and HiFi , espcially one that recommends Bose over PSB and other manufacturers who set industry standards and use anechoic chmabers at Canada's renown NRC facilities.

 

[soundhound]

I'm very skeptical of CR for Home Theater and HiFi , espcially one that recommends Bose over PSB and other manufacturers who set industry standards and use anechoic chmabers at Canada's renown NRC facilities.

Yeah, they don't have much credibility imho. At least for audio gear.

 

[jamie2112]

CR This is the same publication that rated bose one of the top speakers you can buy.

 

[voltainthesky]

Hey guys, cool to see this thread still going. I still haven't decided on speakers lol, and I've upped my budget to $400 max.

At this point I feel it is between:
Infinity P362 (if I can catch it onsale at Frys again)
Infinity P162
Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE
KEF iQ3
Infinity P162
Axiom M3 v2
SVS SCS-01

I'm really looking for the speaker that is the LEAST fatigue sounding, since I usually always have music playing, and play music while I sleep. I also want it to sound fairly neutral and smooth, and not overemphasize one area (treble for instance). And of course, I want it to be able to sound good at low and moderate to high levels without sounding muddy or stressed. And if it helps, I don't listen to any country, classical, or jazz. I listen to mostly Rock/ Alternative Rock/ Progressive Rock/ Indie/ Electronic/ Ambient/ Experimental/ Reggae/ Hip Hop... And I really can't afford to buy all of them to audition and send the losers back... so based on that can you hypothesize which speaker I would like best?

I know that Axiom can be referred to as being bright, but I have also heard that the M3 is their least bright sounding speaker.