Internet Direct Speaker Recommendations for 2 channel and Home Theater

[MrHand08]

Hey there,

I've been doing some research for quite a while and have decided to demo some speakers from a few Indirect Direct dealers for 2 different rooms. The first room (14x20 with 8' ceilings) has carpet over wood floors with quite of furniture in the room. This room will be used for 2 channel music listening. The second room is 12x20 with 8' ceilings, which I plan to use for Home Theater. This room has wood panelling and carpeting over tile/concrete. Although I plan to upgrade from what I have, I am using an Outlaw RR2150 Stereo Receiver (100 W @ 8 ohms and 160 @ 4 ohms) for the 14x20 room and a Yamaha 100 wpc for the 12x20 room. Here is my short of speakers:

1) Outlaw Bookshelves (54-22KHz, 87 dB senisitivity, 8 ohms, 50-200 Rec power, 30 day trial period) - $1,100 (sale for $880)

2) OHM Microwalshes (45-20Khz +/- 3.5dB; 87 dB, 35"x6x6, 20-150 wpc, 4 month trial, 100 hrs break-in period) - $1,000

3) Odyssey Nightingales Tower (39-25Khz +/- 3dB; 4 ohm, 91 dB, 38"Hx6.5x6.5, 30 day trial period) - $1600

4) Odyssey Epiphony bkshlves (49-20Khz +/- 3dB; 8 ohm, 86 dB, 30 day trial period) - $600

5) Aperion 6B or 6T (specs in my last posts)

Since space for speaker placement is an issue in both rooms (cramped with furniture and the WAF), I was looking for small towers or bookshelves, but wanted soundstaging a decent amount of bass before opting for a sub. The 12x20 will eventually be turned into the HT room and the 14X20 living room will always be a 2 channel room. I'm planning to use the RR2150 for the 2 channel system. From what I've read both the Ohm's and Oddyssey's want a lot of power and can be finicky about placement.

Had anyone heard the OHMs, Odyssey, Outlaws, or Aperions or feedback on either?

I would love to listen to the Odyssey Lorelei's but they are a little too large for my wife to approve. They are $2,700.

From what I've been told and read, the Customer Service for all speakers is supposed to be excellent. I know the only way to really tell is to buy and demo them, but I'm looking to cut down to a short list so my house doesn't turn into a studio and I find myself sleeping outside!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Warpdrv]

There are plenty of other Internet direct co's out there.....

SVS MTS-01 system is a great start to look at...

 

[ironmike86]

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/SRM1/srm1.html

 

[jamie2112]

A few of you models have an 87db sensitivity and you will need more power. If you are not going to get a power amp then you should look for speakers with a higher sensitivity such as 90db and higher...I will second SVS but check out this setup with a killer sub it is still way with in your price range http://www.svsound.com/products-sys-sbs_black.cfm

 

[cornelius]

I really like my Ohms. I've had a pair of MicroWalshes for 4 years, and I still think they sound amazing. I'm running mine with a little 70W integtrated in a 12x20 room, with lots of power to spare. The Ohms are easy to place, and easy to drive - incredible speakers for two channel HT and music. Soundstage and Bass are unrivaled with these little speakers, they'll dip into the 40-ish range, and you won't miss much below that because of the amazingly pure mid-range and huge sweet spot.

Let me know if you have any questions about them...

 

[MrHand08]

Thanks all for your recommendations. IronMike, I forgot to mention I also want to audition the Sierra-1's and drop the Aperions from the list. I've read some stunning reviews on those. Another speaker I thought about is the ACI Emerald XL or Saphirre XL. I know based on the efficiency levels for the speakers, including the Sierra-1, I would do better with more power. I could always supplement the Outlaw RR2150 with an amp for now or eventually go with separates. I'll have to look into that later next year.

I was looking at SVS or HSU subs to add to the 2 channel eventually in the 14x20x8 room.

There's a lot to demo. I know my wife will hate this, but I thought I might try the Ohm Micro Talls, Odyssey Nightingales, Ascend Sierra-1, and the Outlaws. I'll keep 1 or 2 pairs, but auditioning all 4 pairs will run me about $4,400. My budget for both pairs of speakers is around $2,500-$3,000.

As for HT, a few people have suggested the Atlantic Techs HT systems (6200e or 8200e), but they're a pricey.

 

[Steve.]

Many of these ID brands have approached what you'd expect to pay locally so where's the great deal ? Many also don't make their own product so they are in effect the middleman, they are passing the "savings" to you... the "educated" consumer.

Last year I bought a new pair of PSB Platinum M2 speakers for $1100 that will smoke any ID bookshelf out there. If I can buy a $2000 MSRP speaker for almost half, how much profit is built into the ID guys speakers ? It's got to be at least 50 % like retail and the ID guys have even less overhead. I'm sorry but I think it's more of a perceived value because you think you're buying it from the "manufacturer" who in most cases isn't really the manufacturer. I've heard a number of ID speakers and in all honesty the Ascend Sierra is the only one that borders on being a great speaker, most of the others were OK but not great.

 

[jamie2112]

AV123 is having a huge sale on the Rockets http://av123.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,292/category_id,19/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,37/

 

[Warpdrv]

I beg to differ with ya Steve.....

I have had a couple speaker shootouts already, and products like the Ascend Sierra and the SVS MBS-01 offer some of the best sound I have heard in their price range thrown up against speaker that are more then 2 times their price, such as Dynaudio S1.4, and even my own Paradigm Sig S4's.

They offer up a supreme value and sound spectacular.....

$1K for a set of bookshelves is a great price point, and the PSB M2's represent a great product, but I doubt their list price will place them in the category of smoking these other products I mentioned.

You seem to be a little biased, unless you can point to your own speaker shootout where everyone involved came up with the same point of view as yours.

 

[j_garcia]

Steve is smoking some crack there . You are entitled to your opinion, but I'd have to agree that you are way off base on that generalizing comment. I have heard a large percentage of the internet direct brand speakers and never came to the conclusion that I could get a lot more from a mass market brand for the same price, and in fact I have found in most cases, the opposite is true.

 

[rnatalli]

Definitely give the Sierra's a listen.

 

[Gimpy Ric]

A little over a year ago I started a thread "Recommend a pair of bookshelves for $600.00" Adam has a friend with Aperion Audio bookshelves who was very happy, so I gave them a shot and ordered the then top of the line bookshelves for $299.00 each. I was so blown away, I traded up to the 633 Towers, and I have a complete 5.0 system from Aperion. I have an SVS sub.

Give them a try, they pay shipping both ways, how can you lose? Customer service is excellent. Build quality is superb, they use 1" High Density Fiberboard where as many speakers are just 3/4" Medium Density Fiberboard. 10 Year warranty, full price trade in - trade up for one year. And I like the sound, I've owned older JBL's (Back when they made good speakers), Boston, Klipsch and Polk. The Aperions run with this crowd.

Ric

 

[Warpdrv]

Well SVS recently sent me a full set of M Series, to give me a chance to review them once again, and I have been going back and forth with the towers and bookshelves and my Paradigm Sigs.... This weekend I will be doing more critical listening with movies to get a more thorough evaluation of them for HT.

So far, I will be completely frank, and state that the new crossovers are amazing. The changes they have made are noteworthy.

 

[Gimpy Ric]

Well SVS recently sent me a full set of M Series, to give me a chance to review them once again, and I have been going back and forth with the towers and bookshelves and my Paradigm Sigs.... This weekend I will be doing more critical listening with movies to get a more thorough evaluation of them for HT.

So far, I will be completely frank, and state that the new crossovers are amazing. The changes they have made are noteworthy.

I'm interested in the towers vs. the bookshelves. Are you crossing both over at 80Hz. to your sub?

Ric

 

[Warpdrv]

My son is running the bookshelves in his setup in both full range and with a sub, I have been running both with sub and full range setups in my room to see what they are capable of.... against the Sigs...

The MTS's do much better in the bass dept then my Sig S4's, I'll be running them along side of my Studio 100's for a better comparison for full range. I can tell you they do extremely well.... I truly have an appreciation for them, the tweeters on the SVS's are spectacular.... smooth and rich not tinny sounding nor piercing at all..... very nice soft dome tweet...

 

[zumbo]

From what I gather, ID speaker brands are a step-up from big-box store brands, and many are a step-up from premium entry/mid-level models.

However, speakers are the most important part of getting the best sound. I don't believe in skimping here.

For my personal taste, mid/high-end model lines from premium speaker brands is worth the investment.

 

[Gatsby191]

A little over a year ago I started a thread "Recommend a pair of bookshelves for $600.00" Adam has a friend with Aperion Audio bookshelves who was very happy, so I gave them a shot and ordered the then top of the line bookshelves for $299.00 each. I was so blown away, I traded up to the 633 Towers, and I have a complete 5.0 system from Aperion. I have an SVS sub.

Give them a try, they pay shipping both ways, how can you lose? Customer service is excellent. Build quality is superb, they use 1" High Density Fiberboard where as many speakers are just 3/4" Medium Density Fiberboard. 10 Year warranty, full price trade in - trade up for one year. And I like the sound, I've owned older JBL's (Back when they made good speakers), Boston, Klipsch and Polk. The Aperions run with this crowd.

Ric

I had posted a while back about how I wished I would have auditioned Aperion Audio's Toweres before I pulled the trigger on my Tannoys.
I love my Tannoys, and I had auditioned quite a few of the "Big Boys" Speaker brands before I bought them. I also got a great deal on the Tannoys, which was a bit pivitol in my decision too.D)
Still, after I got a chance to see and hear their (Aperion's)towers and subs, I must admit, the build quality on Aperion's speakers(and subs) was just so solid, and the overall performance of them was just so impressive, that I probably would have chosen them over the Tannoys if I had had the chance to give them a try before I bought my Tannoys. (would have saved some decent money too!)
And, just like Gimpy Ric said, they do a 30 day in home audition where you can send their speakers or subs back if you're not satisfied with them, and they eat the shipping both ways!
That's what I call Great customer service!!
Good Luck! Joe B.

 

[mazersteven]

Many of these ID brands have approached what you'd expect to pay locally so where's the great deal ? Many also don't make their own product so they are in effect the middleman, they are passing the "savings" to you... the "educated" consumer.

Last year I bought a new pair of PSB Platinum M2 speakers for $1100 that will smoke any ID bookshelf out there.
I've heard a number of ID speakers and in all honesty the Ascend Sierra is the only one that borders on being a great speaker, most of the others were OK but not great.

 

[nova]

Dunno why you would want to limit yourself to internet direct speakers,... but to each his own

Strata Mini would be pretty high on my ID only 2 ch. list.
or some Veracity HT3's

 

[zumbo]

I would be more inclined to look at Tyler Acoustics.
http://tyleracoustics.com/