Large yet affordableish bookshelves?

[bpape]

Haven't heard the X-LS yet but have heard good things from people I trust. As for a known that I have personally heard in differnt settings, I'd have to agree with the Ascend 170. It's not overly large but does an amazing job for a bookshelf in that price range.

Bryan

 

[Tomorrow]

Dammit, never should have gone...

So a guy walks into a high-end audio store and walks out without any money.


Ha ha ha ha.


Ha ha.




Ha.



Sigh....



OK, I didn't actually buy anything yet, but am starting to look in some different directions. I went to the local Paradigm dealer today just to hear at least one of the speakers under discussion live. He turned out to also be a BW dealer, and of course there on the shelf was a pair of the 602 S3, as well as the slightly smaller S2. The S2 is just about where I wanted to keep the price, but comparing them to the S3 made a huge difference. Not one of those subtle things where you could only describe the difference in "wine-tasting" terms. It was a big, clear, decision-making difference.

Given that he also had the floor-standing models from the same series, I was of course more and more tempted to get something like that for the home theater too, rather than Polks (something I was never quite sure about to begin with, although it made an easy default choice). The whole setup going with the floor model for fronts, and S3s for rear plus another pair for the setup originally under discussion, is only about $650 over my original plans.

I'm going back armed with some of my most challenging CDs to see what the big ones can do, but I can feel my resolve and budget dreams slipping away fast.

And there are some extras I can do without that were also on my shopping list. A $300 KitchenAid blender, for one. I'll have to deal with poorly-blended coffee drinks for a while, I guess. Oh, the sad sad life of a poor student...

I'll make it work if I decide to go that way, and I wasn't planning on getting the home theater speakers until a few months from now anyway. Plenty of time to save.

I'll likely get a pair of the S3s now and see how the sound grows on me until my ship comes in this Christmas.

Way to go, Tod! Mua ha haaa haaaaaaaa. Ye sees the light...Ye does it right! Now you know what you want and can plan and save for the ultimate target.

Congrats. When done, you're gonna be really proud of your system. Audio snobbery, here we come. (Don't rub it in too much with us lesser JBL owners, lol.)

 

[Tod]

Hey, I've been running JBLs for the last 8 years, so it's about time I can upgrade, don't you think?


And the floor model was the 604. I'm tempted to at least ask about the 603 just to save a few pennies, but why hold back?


I still wish there were more local options to check out, but yes buying from a real person in a real store where I can go in and sit down and talk for an hour plus and completely forget about the laundry I left at the laundromat is a nicer experience than online purchasing. That's the one factor here that's balancing out the looks issue, since the BWs are still black boxes. There's a cherry finish that I may get though...

 

[Tomorrow]

Hey, I've been running JBLs for the last 8 years, so it's about time I can upgrade, don't you think?


And the floor model was the 604. I'm tempted to at least ask about the 603 just to save a few pennies, but why hold back?


I still wish there were more local options to check out, but yes buying from a real person in a real store where I can go in and sit down and talk for an hour plus and completely forget about the laundry I left at the laundromat is a nicer experience than online purchasing. That's the one factor here that's balancing out the looks issue, since the BWs are still black boxes. There's a cherry finish that I may get though...

Well, since you're still in a partial dream state (or laundry escape mode), you could always lust after these B&W's. http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.ranges/label/Range Prestige Series

Not your basic black box....are they?!

 

[Tod]

Just plugged the 602 S3s in and am playing Shostakovich's 10th Symphony, 2nd movement. Nice. I've got some tweaking, maybe room rearrangement to do, but so much that really pissed me off about the cheap Sonys I'd been stuck with until now is gone. Good sound, just some annoying room reflections from furniture, closet, and so on.

This month is the most financially stable I've been since 2001, so believe me I wanted more earlier and just couldn't do it. Sony. My god.

 

[Nick250]

Congratulations, very nice speakers. I liked them a lot when I demoed them.

Nick

 

[Sheep]

Just plugged the 602 S3s in and am playing Shosatkovich's 10th Symphony, 2nd movement. Nice. I've got some tweaking, maybe room rearrangement to do, but so much that really pissed me off about the cheap Sonys I'd been stuck with until now is gone. Good sound, just some annoying room reflections from furniture, closet, and so on.

This month is the most financially stable I've been since 2001, so believe me I wanted more earlier and just couldn't do it. Sony. My god.

Good on ya mate. Enjoy them.

SheepStar

 

[Tod]

One sort of irrelevant ignorant question here: Due to the constraints of having to fit a queen-sized bed, large computer desk, small desk, extra-deep file cabinet, big dresser thing, and some smaller stands into a 10x12 room, I really have no choice but to have the speakers essentially directly opposite each other on each side of my ears. It gives a very nice headphone-like experience if I don't move my head around too much. I can get the height and distance perfectly equal between speakers at least, with some of the rearranging I just did.

Is there some obscure acoustical reason why you shouldn't have speakers facing each other? If it creates some sort of wave interference thing, is my head big enough to break it up? They're currently about 34" from each ear. Nice and close, although as I said not much room for error in the sweet spot. I do like the effect though of having the music sound like it's coming from inside my head.

And I'm quite happy with them. I'm running them without the sub, and they're just about good enough as is! I was quite impressed. Turn up the bass levels a bit, and on something like Steppin Razor by Sublime I can feel my clothes vibrate. Nice. I'll probably add the sub back in sometimes, but I'm not losing much considering the quality of the sub.

It's a very very nice listening experience, far better quality than anything I've had up to now. The Sennheisers are great, but still headphones. I can't really wear them in the shower or share the sound with other people. And the bigger HT system is still pretty good for shaking the walls and readjusting my heart rhythm, but definitely a flawed sound.

These though should darn well be good enough, more than good enough, for some years. Unless of course I strike it rich somehow sooner than I anticipate.


Edit: And a very big Thank You again to everyone who suggested things on here! I much appreciate it!!!

 

[Nick250]

There are those who actually prefer "near field" listening though I don't know exactly how near "near field" is. I would think of it as a trial and kind or thing for your room.
Nick