First time post: 10 years into my audio collection, I need direction...

[DeadPhishCheeseUmphreys]

Hello all, its time I start getting more serious about my audio. Around Summer 2004 I decided to upgrade from a $150 5.1 high school christmas present. Got a nice $500 Kenwood receiver and 3 Jamo speakers($100 pair, and a $90 center). 2-3 years later and I get some more nice Jamo's on clearance. Jamo E 640's ($250, 100-140 watts), and Jamo E 800 ($275, 100-140 watts). HOLY WOW WAS THAT AN UPGRADE. Rocked all that till the Kenwood took a crap, and got an Onkoyo TX-NR818 receiver last year.

So, thats what I got. And I am extremely happy with what it has been, they've sold me to the point where I am willing to stick with them. Now I know that Klipsch bought Jamo in 2006, and then Audiovox bought them in 2011. But I don't really know what it means. Just asked my friend last night, and he said "don't keep going with Jamo, they're no longer in business". Well it sure as hell doesn't look like it, am I wrong? Their Concert line of speakers looks JUST like what I want.

When it comes to budget, and purpose, I really don't even want to choose a direction, just leave it all open. Buy a component here, and one there and keep building on the system. But I'm not looking for > $800 a pair speakers. I understand the relationship of quality vs price is quite a hyperbola in regards to technology. I don't need to upgrade to a line that is 25% more for a pair when its only 3% better, the two need to be a bit more linear.

What I've got my sights set on right now:
Jamo C9 Center - $350
speaker-types/center/?sku=C9CEN
Jamo C93 Bookshelfs - $425 a Pair
speaker-types/bookshelf/?sku=C93
Jamo C95 Floor standing - $660 a Pair
speaker-types/floorstanding/?sku=C95

A pre-amp is not out of the question either, one has just not been necessary yet. I'm a C-hair from pulling the trigger on that Center Channel, as my center is EASILY the weak link at the moment. And these are pretty good deals, considering MSRP. For the price does it look like I could do much better? Should I just not consider Jamo anymore, I searched and don't see hardly anyone mention them on here? What have others done in my situation? Perhaps I'm wasting my money on something thats $100 over priced, and should just spend $100 more for something that should cost $200 more?

Thanks for any help!

SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC!

 

[Seth=L]

Jamo is owned by Audiovox now. The Jamo you know is long gone.

I cannot attest to their quality now, but the stuff is pricey.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Your money would be better spend on Ascend CMT-340 center and mains.
Keep your old Jamos for surround duty.

As for Receiver - Your onkyo 8070 is 2.0 only. If you're looking for surround sound you need to upgrade to proper 5.1/7.1 avr

 

[fmw]

Your next purchase should be a subwoofer.

 

[DeadPhishCheeseUmphreys]

Whoops, my bad on the receiver, way off. Onkoyo TX-NR818 7.2, preampable to 9.2. 135 watts per channel.

Knew it wasn't a 2.0 though!

 

[DeadPhishCheeseUmphreys]

Your money would be better spend on Ascend CMT-340 center and mains.

And this is what I wanted to see! Specs blow the Jamo out of the water, looks don't, but I don't listen to the looks! 240/400 at that price! Reviews rant and rave about them too. Im gonna keep looking into these...

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Your next purchase should be a subwoofer.

Whoops, my bad on the receiver, way off. Onkoyo TX-NR818 7.2, preampable to 9.2. 135 watts per channel.

Knew it wasn't a 2.0 though!

Agree. Your next upgrade should be sub, but NOT FROM JAMO
HSU, Reaction, PSA, Rythmic, SVS are way to go brands for subs

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

And this is what I wanted to see! Specs blow the Jamo out of the water, looks don't, but I don't listen to the looks! 240/400 at that price! Reviews rant and rave about them too. Im gonna keep looking into these...

Yes, With these speakers Ascend invested in performance, not looks.
Still Sub should be first thing you should buy

 

[DeadPhishCheeseUmphreys]

Yes, With these speakers Ascend invested in performance, not looks.
Still Sub should be first thing you should buy

Not so worried about the sub really. I live in an appartment, and would rather wait till I have a house to incest some real money in a real sub. The Jamo's have amazing bass, and I listen to my music so loud without a sub people still notice the bass. With the Onkoyo all the way up to 70 I'd have to have the sub at 1 out of 10..lol!

 

[Seth=L]

Not so worried about the sub really. I live in an appartment, and would rather wait till I have a house to incest some real money in a real sub. The Jamo's have amazing bass, and I listen to my music so loud without a sub people still notice the bass. With the Onkoyo all the way up to 70 I'd have to have the sub at 1 out of 10..lol!

I think you mean invest.

I understand that you don't want a subwoofer in a apartment. Do you just like to listen loud?

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I also live in apartment and I was missing so much without a sub. So far haven't got any complaints about it either. Running the sub on 1/4th of its power but I don't mind that. Just use isolation platform for it and you should be safe, unless you crank it all the way up.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Same experience here. Even running sub low steam, properly crossover will help your main speakers to even more clear

 

[DeadPhishCheeseUmphreys]

I do understand the importance of a sub, I just don't miss it. My JBL TLX-PS10 took a straight poop like 2 years ago. Cone disconnected from the coils while pumping the most awful smell ever into my appt.

I understand that you don't want a subwoofer in a apartment. Do you just like to listen loud?

Not just loud but quite often, yes. I listen to live music, have seen ~150 concerts, I love the feeling of "feeling" the music! To me adding 6 more 6" woofers in bookshelfs/center is a better use of the budget than just 1 10'-12" subwoofer. The quick hitting higher sub frequencies and midrange is what my music demands the most of. Sub would make the EDM pop though!

 

[KenM10759]

LOL...I live in a second floor apartment myself and also have a small sub (SVS SB1000.) What I do is run it at low volumes and wait for my first floor tenant to leave. She lives alone so when her car is gone it's "game on."

When the little sub is working harder it does have quite a good punch for music and because I like my music as close to "as engineered" as possible so it's not over the top and more like what you describe. Because it blends SO well with my floorstanding speakers, it's hard to tell where the subwoofer is doing the work and were the R500's are taking over. Somewhere over 60hz though, pretty sure.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I do understand the importance of a sub, I just don't miss it. My JBL TLX-PS10 took a straight poop like 2 years ago. Cone disconnected from the coils while pumping the most awful smell ever into my appt.

Not just loud but quite often, yes. I listen to live music, have seen ~150 concerts, I love the feeling of "feeling" the music! To me adding 6 more 6" woofers in bookshelfs/center is a better use of the budget than just 1 10'-12" subwoofer. The quick hitting higher sub frequencies and midrange is what my music demands the most of. Sub would make the EDM pop though!

I miss my sub everytime I don't turn it on even tho I have towers that go pretty deep alone. Get quality 12" sub and you will be surprised by the power it can bring when you have correctly configured it. Your 6" "woofers" can't compete with wuality 12" woofer. Quality sub adds a lot for music and even more for movies!

 

[herbu]

I do understand the importance of a sub, I just don't miss it.

This is a non sequitur. If you understood the importance of a sub, you would miss it. A sub is about way more than just shaking the walls.

 

[PENG]

I also live in apartment and I was missing so much without a sub. So far haven't got any complaints about it either. Running the sub on 1/4th of its power but I don't mind that. Just use isolation platform for it and you should be safe, unless you crank it all the way up.

Noted that you have the SR7008, so have you try LFC? That may allow you to crank the sub up a little without getting complains. I tried it briefly but it didn't work for me but I wasn't open minded at the time.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Noted that you have the SR7008, so have you try LFC? That may allow you to crank the sub up a little without getting complains. I tried it briefly but it didn't work for me but I wasn't open minded at the time.

No I haven't. Some how I feel I would miss too much it on.

 

[PENG]

No I haven't. Some how I feel I would miss too much it on.

Same here, I said I wasn't open minded just trying to appear open minded. I do actually feel we have been flooded with mostly marketing bs in all those sound modes and processing that are more hypes than real benefits. I paid for 11 channels of processing but will never use more than 7.

 

[3db]

Not just loud but quite often, yes. I listen to live music, have seen ~150 concerts, I love the feeling of "feeling" the music! To me adding 6 more 6" woofers in bookshelfs/center is a better use of the budget than just 1 10'-12" subwoofer. The quick hitting higher sub frequencies and midrange is what my music demands the most of. Sub would make the EDM pop though!

If your front Jamos are towers and dig into the 30s, then a sub is not necessary for most music. I turn my sub off and run my PSBs full range when listening to two channel music. For a concert DVDs, I tend to use the sub to get the "feeling" of being there.