How about some UNDERPRICED speaker recommendations?

[MDS]

Oh, JBL's come in various flavors still, MDS...beech, black, cherry.

I was looking at the JBL site recently to see if they have anything new and didn't see any color options other than black. They also seem to have embraced the black and silver combination which I can't stand.

For now I'm leaning towards the Axioms but may wait until SVS gets around to releasing their MTS-01 and LTS-01 to see how they compare. I'm getting impatient because I'd like to do a clean sweep of the entire system in the next few months.

 

[Tomorrow]

I was looking at the JBL site recently to see if they have anything new and didn't see any color options other than black. They also seem to have embraced the black and silver combination which I can't stand.

For now I'm leaning towards the Axioms but may wait until SVS gets around to releasing their MTS-01 and LTS-01 to see how they compare. I'm getting impatient because I'd like to do a clean sweep of the entire system in the next few months.

Hey, MDS...check this out! This should be a really nice upgrade for you! I found this while checking the color issue. I didn't have a lot of time to look around, but you may be correct about black or black and silver (uuugly). As recently as the E-series (still for sale) can be had in beech (and maybe cherry). But anyway...take a look at this. I may have to go shopping myself!

http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=P52OWS&Language=ENG&Country=US&Region=USA&cat=SSS&ser=PER

 

[ggunnell]

From a post in another forum, SVS intends to offer the MTM centers from their current system, redesigned for vertical orientation, at a reduced price per pair. Based on the good report of others who heard the multiple MTM setup at CES, I would add this system to your value list. Treading carefully here, let's leave it at that, as the price discussed was not firmed up.

 

[MDS]

I've sent a few emails to SVS and Ron responds fairly quickly. They are apparently slightly behind schedule because resources have been diverted to development of their new Ultra 13 subwoofer.

The MTS-01 should be out shortly and will be followed quickly by the LTS-01. I just hope that the MTS-01 isn't just a slightly larger bookshelf version of the SBS-01. For me it's a forgone conclusion that I will buy the SB12-Plus subwoofer so I'd like to wait for these new speaker systems but as I've said before I'm getting impatient and hope that waiting won't be for naught if the new speakers are not what I am looking for.

 

[GoColts]

i agree with everything said here about JBL speakers. I've always defined them as kind of a Corvette of speakers. Not exotic or way over priced, but solid when it comes to performance...and they're always consistent. I've always thought of them as a fairly accurate speaker for the price.

On a side note, I talked my girlfriend's parents into a JBL Northridge system with 2 E80's in front, an EC25, a E250p, and 2 E10 surrounds, all with a Yamaha HTR-5890. It sounds awesome...especially since I talked them into this system instead of a Bose Lifestyle system...one more life saved....lol

 

[Seth=L]

Yamaha HTR-5890, you know that is a nice receiver. Look here at my sig.

 

[Ryan8886]

Yes...perhaps. I think people more often than not settle on a set that sounds 'good'...especially inet-only sold equipment. But the trick is attempting to do as the gone-but-not-forgotten Craigsub did. Gather as many friends/neighbors as are willing and all the brands/models of speakers you can put together and A/B/X 'em all....blind switching with someone keeping score. Suddenly you find people not being so partial to their own when gear running even a modestly designed double-blind test. I'd wager few do this before buying.

As always, the key to happiness, even with high value/low cost speakers, is to audition audition audition.

Who said I didn't? However, when one is new to this hobby, one often does not have many contacts to utilize to pull off anything like what Craigsub did. Most people I know still think Bose is the 11th Commandment!

I was merely pointing out to the fellow that quality and value can be had from inet-only brands. As with any speaker, it is assumed you have to hear it before you know if you like it or not; and the more the merrier.

I don't feel I "settled" at all. I have a system that pleases my ears. Sorry, no cherry or beech, but I tend to listen with the lights out anyway. Were I a less jovial sort, I might think that "audio-elitest attitude" you mentined above was showing through a bit.

 

[Tomorrow]

Who said I didn't? However, when one is new to this hobby, one often does not have many contacts to utilize to pull off anything like what Craigsub did. Most people I know still think Bose is the 11th Commandment!

I was merely pointing out to the fellow that quality and value can be had from inet-only brands. As with any speaker, it is assumed you have to hear it before you know if you like it or not; and the more the merrier.

I don't feel I "settled" at all. I have a system that pleases my ears. Sorry, no cherry or beech, but I tend to listen with the lights out anyway. Were I a less jovial sort, I might think that "audio-elitest attitude" you mentined above was showing through a bit.

My apologies for poor communications, Ryan. I wasn't poking at you at all. I was trying to say that...generally, the a/v gear buying public does not have the interest or resources to make informed decisions about what they really would like (edit: prefer)...simply because they haven't heard much to choose from.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Tommorow / MDS,

If you like JBL why not try Infinity or Revel? They all have the same parent company. (Harmon International as I'm sure you already know.) All three make nice stuff but to each their own.

The last two speakers I auditioned that impressed me were the Totem Rainmaker (not cheap) and the Paradigm Mini Monitor v5 (moderate). I could afford either but I'm Pennsylvania Dutch(German), Irish and Slovak. If it's not a deal...I can wait...

I can't tell you how many higher priced speakers I've listened to that sound horrible! (and look worse) I'm so fustrated with speaker shopping. I wish someone with the time and resources would set up a Philadelphia area GTG and set up a blind test. I'll bring the chips!

I really don't care what brand the speaker is as long as I get drawn into the music,
SBF1

(was I rambling?)

 

[AndrewLyles]

To paraphrase what a friend of mine says:

There are 4 kinds of speakers.
1: Those in transistor radios.
2: Those in all-in-one surround systems (cubes).
3: Almost every other brand/kind of speaker.
4. The very highest end of non-value speaker...huge cost differential over #3 with very little improvement in performance.

When I began looking for my current set of speakers I applied the law of diminishing marginal utility to category number 4. This may seem like an odd application to many, as category 4 would typically be considered "below the knee" to many. I fould that I could get good sound from Cat. 3 speakers and ones that looked good from an established retailer. What I could not get (personally speaking of course) was a speaker that really Wowed me. For that I've had expereince with two brands that were able to do so, both at prices at least above the ankle.

Magnepan's produced a sound that I still dream of, when I have a living situation that does not involve an apartment I will return to them for their unmistakeable sound.

Anthony Gallo Acoustics produced the wow factor that I was looking for. They have fantastic accuracy (in my opinion of course) and make me smile every time I use them. Additionally, I could purchase a relatively compact speaker from them that had enough extension where I did not need a subwoofer, in a small apartment that was key.

Both brands I feel provide the amazing performance for a reasonable price compared to some of their peers. From an economics standpoint these speakers are probably past the point of equilibrium but the JOY I get from them is wqell worth the price to me. After all this is a hobby for me and if you're happy with the result then you're doing fine, regardless of the price point.

 

[mkossler]

I have read a bit about speaker companies that are members of larger parents like Harman. The consensus seems to be that each company tends to continue to produce significantly different products - which I think is hard for GM-trained American minds to assimilate . Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I certainly hope it's true.

An example (although I hesitate to mention it in this forum, predilections being what they are) would be Audiovox. Audiovox is the owner of several speaker companies, not all of which have become the *ahem* entry level products normally associated with the Audiovox name.

Oh, and what is up with the black-and-silver thing going on these days? It's not just ugly, it's butt-ugly. I guess I must be in the minority, though, or they wouldn't be selling. Give me maple, rosewood, or piano black any day.

 

[no. 5]

Oh, and what is up with the black-and-silver thing going on these days? It's not just ugly, it's butt-ugly. I guess I must be in the minority, though, or they wouldn't be selling. Give me maple, rosewood, or piano black any day.

no, you are not in the minority, the black and silver thing is ugly. I like to think that they are doing it as like a yearly modle change to stay cool, like how a few years ago it was hard to find black recievers, DVD players, ect. and now it's hard to find silver (but I did'nt like silver in the first place, so I'm ok with that).

 

[jsantos615]

There have been quite a few positive mentions of JBL speakers lately. I currently have J900MV floorstanders, J-Center, and J520M (bookshelf) surrounds that were purchased sometime in 1996. They are all wood, 8 Ohm, > 92 dB sensitivity and to my ears sound pretty good. IIRC the whole set cost about $750 in '96.

Choosing speakers is complicated because not only do you want decent specs and good sound but you have to balance that with size and shape and 'decor friendly' colors. JBL is still sticking with the standard black and I haven't see any new models with di/bipole speakers in the wedge shape that is nice to have if you mount the surround speakers on the side walls. So...for my forthcoming HT upgrade JBL probably won't make the cut despite the fact that I have been happy with the sound of the ones I have.

I'm not a JBL fan at home, but I've had JBL Professional Studio Monitors in almost every audio production facility that I've worked in. I've been doing studio work since I was a teenager (I'm 36 now), so I've seen my fair share of studios (radio, TV, recording, post, live shoots, etc...). I find it ironic that a lot of the guys that bash JBL speakers use music that was mixed and mastered on JBL products as audition material for speakers around "the knee" and way above "the knee". The mid-fi home audio speakers by Harman International that I've seen, definitely use trickle-down technology from their professional speakers.

 

[gmichael]

www.av123.com

They have some pretty nice speakers, check out the Onix X-LS.

BIC is also good, Infinity Primus, and used speakers. I have two pair of NHT 1.5s and I got both pairs total under $200 ($1200 about is the retail for two pair of 1.5s). That is just an example, but if you don't mind used and scratch and dent sales it will be the best value, if you know what to look for.

Not fair. You took all my ideas.

 

[william]

I have found Magnepan MMG speakers to be a great value at $550/pair factory direct. If you have the space to place them 2-3 feet away from walls, elevate them about 12", and align them vertically (rather than their standard floor mount with slight backward tilt), you'll likely be very impressed with the resulting sound quality and presentation for both music and HT. I've found them to be very neutral and natural sounding on a wide range of material. Note that they are 4 ohm speakers and require a 65 to 100W per channel amplifier to adequately drive them. The MMGs actually have very good bass for most music, but I would definitely recommend adding a good subwoofer (such as Hsu subs) for HT applications and for music that has low bass content. Also, look at the new Hsu HB-1 bookshelf speakers. These are another great value option and less expensive than the MMG. I am currently using Magnepan MMGs as mains (for their excellent stereo music presentation) in conjunction with Hsu HB-1s and a Hsu VTF-3 Mk3 subwoofer for a 6.1 HT configuration.

 

[avliner]

I do agree that in terms of bang-for-the-buck, JBL's "popular" ranges are a hard-to-be-beaten choice.

I take as an example my Northridge E Series; they're far to be considered JBL's best effort and still they sound that good.

Very recently I've got a very modest outboard amp. for the L / R mains (my first one) and I've never heard those babies sounding that good, with lots of dymamics as I never heard before...

Listening tastes varies a lot and in my specific case (pretty reflective room), the JBL's fits as a hand in the glove, because their nature is to provide a warm sound, though.

With that being said, I'd like to say that those big companies must have their "big box ranges" , in order to keep business going on; otherwise profitability drops very quickly in to the red lines...

Let's get the 3 biggest known US brands, as an example:

JBL
KLIPSCH
POLK

They all have their Ferraris & Civics as well. Why? they're all giants and need to sell, simple as that (they wound't be what they're now only selling Ferraris, right?).

Let's not forget about the name they bear also. I'm sure that wherever you're on planet earth, if you talk about speakers, someboby will mention JBL, Klipsh or Polk in a glance. There's a lot of tradition, reliability, R&D, etc., involved on their achievements.

JBL is celebrating 60 years now. How many speaker manufacturers are that old?? As a rough reference, one can compare them to brands like Coke, Pepsi and Marboro, for sure.

Bottom line is that I'm not - by any circumstances - saying that they're the best bets in the market, but they do fit the bill in most cases, in a very confortable & affordable way. ID brands are, for sure, another excellent option, so they can produce high quality products with a much lower cost.

I'd even dare to say that I'd be equally happy if I had to go Klipsh, Polk, Ascend, SVS, HSU, AV123, Axiom, Infinity, etc., etc., etc, but I've been a JBL guy since the 70's... I might change my mind someday, who knows?

Cheers.

 

[asindc]

Wow, 4 pages in this thread and the immediate previous poster is the first to mention Polk. I know a lot of audiophiles have expressed disdain for them ever since they started selling at Circuit City, but the fact is they are very good speakers for the money. Given CC's return policy, they are much easier to audition in home than others. Great bang for the buck, with the exception of their subs.

 

[avliner]

You're right Asindc,

I'd bet that such doesn't apply only to Polk, but to JBL and Klipsch as well and you know why? Just because their selling their "popular ranges" to BB stores; that's all.

I'm sure if Wilson Audio & RBH (just to name a few) develops a popular range to be sold thru BB stores, a lot of the so-called audiophiles will start to express disdain for them either and you know why?

Just because any single human being can buy them now, at an affordable price, so all the magic involved in being an audiophile (and getting pretty expensive & exclusive stuff) fades away...

Cheers.

 

[Seth=L]

Not fair. You took all my ideas.

Sorry, I read you mind before you could.

 

[gmichael]

Sorry, I read you mind before you could.

Must have been a short story.