Brands, brands, brands...

[loa]

I'm looking for front speakers, but read a lot about inside quality (coils, filters, crossover, etc.) that can't be judged from the outside (at least not by me...).
I know built-it-yourself can be very good (heard a friend's DIY speakers and they sound good and are built properly from in- and outside. I also know who built them for him.). He listened to concept speakers in a specialized store and combined his preferences in the speakers he's got now.
It's also good for the savings: it costed him € 900,- for two speakers.

On the other side I see offers for:
- Magnat Quantum 709
- Heco Celan 700
- Canton Vento 807

But are these woth spending time to assess them? I've seen the brand Canton on this site, but the others I can't really trace back. On the other hand, they cost € 550 - € 700 a piece...

Should I skip the standard speakers and focus on DIY?

I'm planning to get a Yamaha RX-V2700 or Denon AVR-3806 to attach them to.

 

[Tex-amp]

Canton is the only one of those brands we have this side of the pond. You may need to find a forum based in Europe to get info on the other brands.

 

[Jess@av123.com]

Are Heco and Magnat still in business? Not sure what happened to them after their parent company Recoton went under.

 

[audiofox]

You might want to consider the Dynaudio Audience line (their entry level line)-I am running a 5.1 Audience setup with a 3806 receiver with great success. If you can find them, Dynaudio also made superb DIY drivers, but they stopped selling to the DIY market a few years ago. NOS (new old stock) drivers regularly pop up on eBay (and sometimes Audiogon) for reasonable prices, but you may end up taking more time assembling the components because of the difficulty finding the exact drivers you need.